BALTIMORE – Sophomore guard Cara McCormack came off the bench and scored a season-best 14 points as the Holy Cross women's basketball team escaped the Reitz Arena with a 58-49 win Wednesday night in Patriot League action.

McCormack scored 11 of her game-high 14 points in the third quarter shooting 4-for-6 (66.7%) from the floor and 3-for-4 (75%) from three-point land in the stanza. She was one of three Crusaders (16-7, 10-2 PL) to reach double-figures as sophomore Bronagh Power-Cassidy dropped 10 points and senior Avery LaBarbera tallied 10 points with seven rebounds.

Sophomore Janelle Allen helped close out the game in the fourth quarter scoring five of her eight points in the final period. Allen also blocked a career-high five shots and became the first Crusader since Infiniti Thomas-Waheed (vs. Lehigh, 2/13/2016) to block five shots in a single game.

Loyola (4-18, 1-11 PL) guard Taleah Dixon was the only Greyhound to reach double-figures with 10 markers. Reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week, Lex Therien was contained to nine points and 11 rebounds shooting only 3-for-9 (33.3%) in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Power-Cassidy drilled a three on the Crusaders' first possession from the right-wing after a skip pass by LaBarbera for the 3-2 edge. LaBarbera then found senior Kelly Petro on the left-wing via bounce pass for a triple as the guests doubled up Loyola 12-6.
• The Crusaders took their biggest lead of the first half, 14-7 when Allen powered in a layup after being double-teamed on the right block. Loyola crawled back to deadlock the score 17-17 on a 10-3 burst when Bri Rozzi connected on a trifecta from the top of the point. The Crusaders eventually stopped the run and held a 20-19 lead at the intermission.
• A junior Addisyn Cross driving hoop and harm regained the multiple score margin at 26-21 with 7:52 left. McCormack kept the team in the lead knocking down a catch and shooting three in the corner for the 29-24 lead. McCormack kept up her hot shooting scoring 11 of the Crusaders 13 points in a 4:45 stretch to increase the score to 39-28.
• Going into the fourth, the Crusaders had a 40-33 advantage, but the Greyhounds dropped their deficit to one via an 8-2 spurt and a Tanedo triple. From there Allen scored the next three points for Holy Cross, one at the line and two on the right block to increase the score to 45-41. A Dixon pull up jumper lowered the deficit to 47-44, however, Power-Cassidy threw in a dagger three to move Holy Cross in front 54-47 with 1:14 left.

 
OUTSIDE THE BOX:

• Allen recorded four of her five blocks in the first half.
• Holy Cross used an eight-player rotation and all eight players scored in the contest.
• This was the seventh time this season that the Crusaders held their opponent under 50 points.

UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross looks to sweep the regular-season series with Bucknell on Saturday at home with tip-off slated for noon.