HAMILTON, N.Y. – Senior Avery LaBarbera scored a game-high 22 points and came down with 14 rebounds as the Holy Cross women's basketball team took sole possession of first place in the Patriot League with a 62-55 win at Colgate Wednesday evening on the Cotterell Court.

LaBarbera bounced back from a couple of rough shooting performances in the Crusaders (18-9, 12-4 PL) win. She was 9-for-19 (47.4%) shooting in the double-double effort. Sophomore Janelle Allen played a monster role in the contest going 7-for-13 (53.8%) from the hardwood with 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Bronagh Power-Cassidy established a new career-high with four steals while sophomore Cara McCormack dropped nine points off the bench. Junior guard Addisyn Cross was a game-high +17 in the game.

For Colgate (6-12, 4-12 PL), Morgan McMahon led the way with 21 points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists for the Raiders. McMahon converted 9-of-10 (90%) of her free throw attempts. Holy Cross outscored Colgate 36-to-14 in the paint.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The first quarter saw a couple of lead changes and the Crusaders held a two point margin due to two McCormack free throws. McMahon was fouled attempting a three on the left wing and was awarded three free throws swishing all of them putting Colgate ahead 7-6 in the early stages. The Crusaders regained the lead when LaBarbera picked up a loose ball and went coast-to-coast for the teardrop layup making it 13-11.
• A LaBarbera three at the top of the point to start the second put Holy Cross in front 19-14. A Taylor Golembiewski triple pulled the Raiders closer at 21-20. McCormack sliced through the left side of the defense and scooped home a left-handed attempt to expand the edge to 27-24. Allen split freebies as the Crusaders led 28-24 at the intermission.
• Coming out of the locker room, Colgate pumped home the first field goal, however, the Crusaders produced eight in a row with six coming from LaBarbera. Three points came from an and1 via baseline out-of-bounds play when she inbounded the ball off a Colgate player back and the other was a step back three from the top of the point building the Crusaders lead to 10, 36-26. An Allen layup in the post added to the lead making it 41-29. Over the final 2:59 of the quarter, Colgate busted out for a 10-2 run to close the gap, 43-39 after three quarters.
• Holy Cross went on a 9-0 run to begin the fourth quarter capped off by a senior Oluchi Ezemma hoop and harm expanding the lead to 52-39. Holy Cross eventually enlarged the edge to 14 with 1:54 left, before the Raiders scored six straight to drop the deficit to eight.

OUTSIDE THE BOX:

• McMahon was 7-for-7 at the line through the opening 6:06 of the contest before missing her first free throw. She scored 11 of the Raiders 24 points in the first half.
• LaBarbera double-doubled for the 19th time in her career, the seventh most in the history of the program. She has 16 double-doubles on the season.
• Holy Cross is 17-2 when holding opponents under 60 points and 13-1 when leading at halftime.
• The Crusaders are two conference wins away from setting the program high-water mark in league wins. Holy Cross was 13-1 in league play back during 2002-03.

UP NEXT:

• The Crusaders end their road regular season schedule on the road Saturday against the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. with tip-off slated for 1:00 p.m.