WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross women's basketball team got contributions from all four seniors as they picked up a 71-63 victory against Navy on Senior Day in front of their friends and family Saturday afternoon in the Hart Center Arena.
The win sends the Crusaders to 16-10 and they become the first Patriot League (10-5) team to 10 conference wins. Navy falls to 10-16, 6-9 with the loss.
In a pregame ceremony seniors
Callie Wright,
Janelle Allen,
Bronagh Power-Cassidy and
Cara McCormack were honored for their contributions to the program and the College.
Allen scored a game and career-high matching 20 points going 6-of-6 from the charity stripe with two massive free throw conversions coming with the Crusaders holding a 64-63 lead with 34 seconds left.
Power-Cassidy tallied 17 points converting 7-of-14 (50%) shots from the field notching 15 of her points in the second half including
the go ahead bucket with 1:32 to play.
McCormack recorded her first career double-double with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, she also tallied four assists and knocked down three three-pointers.
Wright earned her first start as a Crusader and handed out a career and game-best five assists.
Navy had four players in double-figures including Zanai Barnett-Gay who dropped 18 points with seven rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- With the game tied 8-8 at the 4:20 mark the Crusaders used a 13-3 burst getting a pair of McCormack triples and one from sophomore Kaitlyn Flanagan to lead 21-11 at the end of one quarter.
- A Navy layup with 7:59 left in the half dropped their deficit to six points, 24-18. Power-Cassidy scored her first points of the game driving through traffic to make it 29-21. Coming out of a timeout, Flanagan found junior Lindsay Berger via a baseline out of bounds play to reestablish a 10 point, 34-24 lead. Navy scored six straight until McCormack connected on her third three of the half for the 37-30 halftime edge.
- Wright dished the rock to Power-Cassidy for a triple which opened up a 10 point, 44-34 advantage. Power-Cassidy knocked down a corner three on the Crusaders' last possession of the third stanza as they led 53-42 through three.
- Navy opened the fourth quarter on a 17-3 burst to take their first lead since the opening stanza, 59-58 with 3:59 to go. Navy grabbed the lead again with 2:26 left before Power-Cassidy scored the game-winner with 1:32 left. Holy Cross got stops and made seven free throws to ice the game.
OUTSIDE THE BOX:
- Flanagan also reached double-digits scoring 11 points with three assists and two steals.
- Holy Cross improved to 54-6 (.900) under head coach Maureen Magarity when they lead at halftime.
- The Crusaders are 11-3 (.786) when McCormack records three or more assists.
- McCormack needs 12 more three-pointers to move to 10th place on the program's all-time three-pointer list.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
UP NEXT:
- Holy Cross hits the road for a pivotal Patriot League matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 28 against Colgate (14-11, 7-7 PL) with tip-off set for 6 p.m.
- Season tickets and single-game tickets for the 2023-24 campaign are now on sale through the Holy Cross Ticket Office.
FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS
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