The grind of the East Suburban Catholic League is unlike perhaps any other in IHSA girls basketball. Led by Class 4A powers like Benet and DePaul Prep, few conferences boast the big-school firepower that it does.

And at the other end, don’t sleep on Joliet Catholic.

A Class 2A school playing in a much larger conference, the Angels took plenty of tough losses during their 2-10 conference slate this season, but the lessons learned there have obviously translated to success against schools closer in size, as evidenced again when the Angels visited Bishop McNamara in both teams’ regular season finale on Wednesday.

From the start, the Angels left little doubt about the result, using a stingy defensive effort that forced the Irish to miss their first 14 field goal attempts and forced six first-quarter turnovers, while Abby Dulinsky supplied the offense with a game-high 14 points as Joliet Catholic wrapped up the regular season with a 55-33 victory.

The win allowed the Angels to finish the regular season 13-15, more wins than the past two seasons combined.

“I think just building our energy every year, adding people obviously helps, and just building our chemistry as a team,” Dulinsky said. “Being able to pick each other up and playing with each other obviously helps.”

Dulinsky scored 12 of her points on a 5-for-12 shooting effort in the first half, nearly outscoring the Irish herself as the Angels took a 31-14 lead into halftime and never looked back.

While the junior guard was cooking on offense, a stout team defensive effort, something coach Matthew Adler has been able to reliably count on through the course of their 12-5 nonconference season, was in postseason form a week early.

“It’s been something we’ve really focused on, not living and dying by shots going in, but what can we focus on in their game plan?” Adler said. “It’s being able to not let them dictate the game. We have so much speed and depth on our bench, we can push teams, be able to sub and not take a step back. … The girls have really pushed themselves too. Our team energy has really helped us."

While senior night didn’t go as planned for the Fightin’ Irish (11-16), the lopsided score down the stretch allowed for not just senior point guard Eliana Isom to enjoy senior night, but also senior guard Kanai Jackson.

Jackson missed all of her junior season with a torn ACL, and after returning to action last summer, suffered another torn ACL that cost her her senior campaign as well.

But Jackson’s rehab has gone well enough that not only did she get to warm up with her team ahead of Wednesday’s game, she got to play in it. Before the game started, she took the floor as part of a ceremonial tip off, the chance to sink one last 3-pointer.

And then she got to check in for the final minute or so with the game decided.

“I was kind of happy and sad at the same time, but grateful,” Jackson said of the opportunity. “I know if I could play I’d be out there helping my team.”

Her coach, Khadaizha Sanders, was a little nervously hesitant to throw Jackson in the game at first, but with the way Jackson’s stayed devoted to the program, it was also the least she could do.

“You know the potential the kid has, how much work she put in,” Sanders said. “You can’t control injuries, and for her to have the journey that she’s had and still be going at it and want to get to it, it just speaks to her resilience and who she is as a player and person.”

Isom and Keneyce Davis tied for a team-best seven points, with Isom adding four rebounds, two assists and a steal and Davis adding eight boards.

After Dulinsky, the Angels saw six players score between three and nine points. Gabrielle Gavin had nine points, four rebounds and a steal, while Emma Birsa went for eight points, five boards, two assists, a steal and a block.

Both teams will return to action at McNamara next week for the IHSA Class 2A Bishop McNamara Regional. The top seed of the regional and No. 2 seed in their sub-sectional, the Angels will face the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between (7)Beecher and (10)Herscher in Monday’s semifinal matinee. The three-seed Irish will host No. 6 Reed-Custer Monday night.