2024-25 Holy Cross women’s basketball season preview

Holy Cross women’s basketball enters a new era in 2024-25 with interim head coach Candice Green at the helm. Green is in her second season at Holy Cross and first as interim head coach. The Crusaders look to play with a faster tempo on offense under her leadership and will continue to take pride on the defensive side of the ball. There will be a new starting rotation for the Crusaders as one of five starters returns from the squad’s stretch run last year.

DEFENDING THE CROWN

The Crusaders won their conference best 13th Patriot League Tournament Championship in 2024 upending Boston University 61-55. Bronagh Power-Cassidy was named the Patriot League Championship MVP for the second straight year while Janelle Allen and Cara McCormack joined Power-Cassidy on the All-Tournament Team. 

Holy Cross earned the no. 16 seed in the NCAA bracket and traveled to host Iowa to take on no. 16 UT Martin in the NCAA First Four. The Crusaders dominated the Skyhawks 72-45 as Cara McCormack finished with a career-high 23 points and personal-best seven three-pointers. The win propelled Holy Cross to the First Round against Iowa where they battled WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark in a sold out Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa defeated Holy Cross 91-65 in a contest broadcast on ABC seen by 3.2 million viewers.

Holy Cross was picked to finish sixth in the 2024-25 Patriot League preseason poll of head coaches and sports information directors. The Crusaders earned 102 points and a pair of first place votes.

BIG SHOES TO FILL

The Crusaders have big shoes to fill in 2024-25 following the departure of one of the program’s all-time great senior classes. Power-Cassidy (graduate transfer to Villanova), Allen (graduated), McCormack (graduate transfer to Drexel) and Callie Wright (graduate transfer to Toronto Metropolitan) were four of the five starters in the lineup over the final nine games. The senior class led the program to a pair of conference tournament titles, three straight 20+ win campaigns and two regular-season championship.

Look for junior guards Kaitlyn Flanagan and Simone Foreman to take on some more of the load offensively this season. Flanagan led the Patriot League in assists (151), assists per game (4.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7) which ranked 13th in the NCAA last season. Foreman was the team’s leading rebounder at 8.5 boards per game (third in the conference). Her 288 rebounds in 2023-24 ranked ninth all-time during a single season in program history.

Forwards, senior Lindsay Berger (6.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 20.1 MPG) and junior Meg Cahalan (2.7 PPG, 0.6 RPG, 6.5 MPG) should see their minutes increase this season. 

SLOW PACE = STIFLING DEFENSE

Over the last two seasons, the Crusaders have ranked at the bottom of the NCAA in pace. Per Her Hoop Stats, in 2023-24, Holy Cross ranked 330th out of 360 teams in the NCAA in pace with 66.1 possessions per 40 minutes. This has led the Crusaders to rank eighth in opponent three-point percentage (26.4%), 19th in opponent field goal percentage (36.6%) and 26th in scoring defense (57.4) in the NCAA.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE 

After setting the program record for wins in the Hart Center Arena during 2023-24 (15-2), the Crusaders have won 69 of their last 91 games at home (69-22, .758) including five straight Patriot League Tournament games. 

Holy Cross will play four non-conference games in the Hart Center Arena welcoming ACC foe Boston College on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. The Crusaders will once again face all nine other league members as well including a men/women doubleheader against Boston University on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. which will be broadcast regionally on NESN. 

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS 
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