Fergus Falls made 10-of-12 first half free throws and hits six 3’s in the opening half as they took a 34-30 halftime lead.  They increased their lead to 41-34 early in the second half, but the Stars rattled off eighteen straight points to build a 52-41 lead with just over ten minutes to play in the game.  Three-pointers on back to back possessions by Sam Evavold and Ellie Colbeck cut the lead to five at 52-47 and a layup by Lily Pearson brought the Otters to within three points at 52-49 with just under five minutes to play.  A three-point play by Rachel Kawiecki, which featured the only free throw of the game for Holy Angels, gave the Stars a five-point lead.  Another basket by Kawiecki put the score at 56-49 with just over three minutes remaining. Holy Angels led 58-51 when the Otters started exerting intense full court pressure which led to four consecutive possessions with a turnover by the Stars.  A steal by Tori Ratz led to a layup by Sabrina Fronning, assisted by Ratz to cut the lead to 58-53. Then, it was Sam Evavold’s turn as she came up with the steal and the layup to trim the lead to 3 points at 58-55.  An errant pass led to another turnover which resulted in a basket by Fronning, assisted by Colbeck, to make it a one point contest at 58-57. Good pressure on the ball led to another Holy Angels turnover and put the Otters in a position to setup for a winning shot.  After a timeout with eight seconds to play, Colbeck drove to the basket but had the ball stripped away, resulting in the Otters eighteenth turnover of the game. Colbeck committed a foul after losing the ball but only seven-tenths of a second remained and the clock expired on the successful inbounds pass by Holy Angels.

Fergus Falls shot just 36.2% (17-47) from the field, but dished out 15 assists on their 17 makes.  They were 34.6% from beyond the arc. The Otters held a 35-27 advantage on the boards. Lily Pearson (14 points, 10 rebounds) recorded a double-double, making 4-of-7 field goal attempts.  Ellie Colbeck had 16 of her game high 20 points in the first half and made 5-of-11 3’s and 5-of-6 free throws. Sam Evavold connected on 5-of-9 shots and 4-of-8 3-point attempts, finishing with 15 points.  She also led the team with 4 steals. Colbeck and Fronning finished with 5 and 4 assists, respectively. Evavold added 7 rebounds, Fronning had 6, and Colbeck grabbed 5.

Holy Angles made 44.4% (25-54) of their shots and 39% (7-18) of their 3’s.  They were led by Kassandra Caron (20 points, 4 steals) and Francesca Vascellaro (19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals).

Holy Angels improved to 22-7 with the win.  They will face top-seeded DeLaSalle at noon Thursday at Williams Arena in a championship semfinal.

The Otters (23-5) will play a consolation semifinal against Hibbing (27-3) at 2:00pm Thursday at Concordia University in St. Paul.