WORCESTER, Mass. – The No. 1-seeded Holy Cross women's basketball team's Patriot League tournament run came to a surprising end as No. 8-seeded Navy's Jennifer Coleman hit a circus shot buzzer-beater as the Midshipmen upset the Crusaders 50-49 on Monday evening in a quarterfinal round matchup.

Trailing by six with 1:37 left, Coleman hit three straight threes, including the game-winner as time expired. With one second left, Coleman curled into the right corner, smothered by a Crusader defender, spun around, and managed to bank in a wild three-point attempt high off the glass. Navy (10-20) advances to the Patriot League semifinal round to take on Bucknell Thursday evening in Pennsylvania.

Senior Avery LaBarbera paced Holy Cross (20-10) with her 18th double-double effort of the season, scoring a team-high 16 points and grabbing a game-best 13 rebounds. In 20 minutes of play, sophomore Janelle Allen scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds.

Coleman dropped 27 points and was the volume shooter for Navy, going 10-for-27 (37.0%) from the floor, but 6-for-13 (46.2%) from deep with 13 boards. Sydne Watts was the only other player who reached double-figures in the contest, with 13 markers.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• LaBarbera buried a second-chance three deep on the left wing to put the Crusaders ahead 5-2. On the next possession, LaBarbera anticipated the passing lane and picked off the ball, and went coast-to-coast for the easy lay-in. A senior Oluchi Ezemma layup a few possessions later put Holy Cross ahead by seven, 9-2. Navy went on a 9-4 quarter-closing scoring binge to come within two, 13-11 through one quarter.
• In the second, both teams struggled to generate offense as six combined points were scored. A Kristina Dinza layup at the 8:28 mark gave Navy its first lead, 14-13. On the next possession, sophomore Cara McCormack roped a laser through the paint to an open senior Madison Demski on the right block for two. Two free throws, one by sophomore Bronagh Power-Cassidy and one from freshman Grace Munt, were the only two other points the Crusaders could score over the final 5:49 of the half.
• Holy Cross built up an eight point advantage when junior Addisyn Cross knocked down a three-pointer on the right corner. Navy slowly kept crawling back as a Coleman second-chance bucket dropped the deficit to two possessions, 35-29, with 21 seconds left in the third.
• An Allen post move score with six minutes left increased the Crusader lead to 10, 41-31. From there Navy outproduced Holy Cross 19-8 over the final moments of the contest.

OUTSIDE THE BOX:

• Both teams combined to shoot 2-for-19 (10.5%) from beyond the arc in the first half while totaling 24 total turnovers.
• The Crusaders dominated Navy in the post, scoring 34 of their 49 points in the key.
• This marks only the third time in Patriot league history that a No. 8 seed has upset the No. 1 seed (3-21).
• Coleman scored 21 of her 27 points in the second half, shooting 8-for-16 (50%) and 5-for-8 (62.5%) from three.
• It is the first time Navy has come to Worcester and beat Holy Cross in the conference tournament (1-4).

UP NEXT:

• The Crusaders earned an automatic bid to the 2022 Postseason Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) and will play a first round game either March 16, 17, or 18.