WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross women's basketball team pulled away in the second half to record a 61-42 win over Army West Point on Sunday, Jan. 10 and sweep the weekend series.

After a tight first half in which the Crusaders (2-2, 2-2 Patriot League) only led 23-20 headed into halftime, Holy Cross outscored the Black Knights (4-5, 1-3 Patriot League) 38-22 in the final 20 minutes to come away with the victory.

The Crusaders were led by a balanced effort once again, with freshman guard Cara McCormack posting a team-high 12 points. Sophomore guard Addisyn Cross scored 11 points to match her career high, set just a day ago. Freshman guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy had nine points and five rebounds, including seven points in the third quarter; junior forwards Madison Demski and Oluchi Ezemma had eight points each, with Ezemma recording seven rebounds and three assists.

Alisa Fallon and Natalie Stralkus each had 15 points to lead Army West Point.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Crusaders jumped out to an early 9-3 lead with 6:07 left in the first after Cross connected with Demski for a layup. After Army scored six unanswered points to even things up with 2:20 to go in the frame, Ezemma hit a late jumper to put the Crusaders back up by two after one quarter.
• Demski hit back-to-back threes to give Holy Cross a 17-11 lead with 6:39 left in the second. The Crusaders' lead grew as high as eight, 23-15, with 1:59 to go, but the Black Knights stuck around, closing out the quarter on a 5-0 run to cut within three.  
• Sarah Bohn had a layup to bring Army within one point early in the second half; the Crusaders responded with a third-quarter surge to put the lead out of reach for Army quickly. Power-Cassidy – who scored seven of her nine points in the third quarter – pushed the lead to six with a 3-pointer and a layup. The Holy Cross advantage grew as high as 15 with 2:05 left in the third, and Army would not come within single digits for the remainder of the game.
• Holy Cross led by as much as 22, 52-30, after a 3-pointer from McCormack with 6:34 to go in the game – capping off an 11-0 run by the Crusaders. Army responded with an 11-2 run, including seven unanswered points from Stralkus, to cut the lead to 13, but a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Kerry Flaherty and back-to-back baskets from Cross put the lead back at 20 with 31 seconds remaining.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

• This is now the second straight game in which Cross has scored in double figures – during Saturday's game at Army, Cross also scored 11 points.
• Holy Cross forced more than 20 Army turnovers for the second consecutive game, after the Black Knights turned the ball over 25 times on Saturday.
• McCormack has reached double figures in three of her four collegiate contests.

UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross hosts Colgate for a pair of games at the Hart Center on Jan. 16 and 17.
• Tipoff on Saturday is set for 3 p.m., while Sunday's game is scheduled for 2 p.m.