WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross women's basketball team took control of the game with a big second quarter and cruised to a 78-56 victory over the UMass Lowell River Hawks in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon at the Hart Center Arena.

Sunday marks the third straight win for the Crusaders who improve to 6-5 on the season and UMass Lowell falls to 5-7.

Things were deadlocked at 19 apiece after one before Holy Cross stretched the lead to double digits in the second period and never looked back.

Junior guard Kendall Eddy and senior forward Meg Cahalan led a balanced scoring attack for the hosts with 14 points, while fellow senior Simone Foreman tallied 11 points and junior forward Janie Bachmann added 10 of her own.

As a whole, six Crusaders scored eight points or more.

Jaini Edmonds and Sabrina Larsson paced the River Hawks with 15 points apiece.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• UMass Lowell led 8-4 in the early going before senior Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly sank a jumper to spark an 8-2 run capped off by an Eddy three and a Bachmann free throw to make it 12-10. The two teams traded baskets for the final three plus minutes of the quarter and the River Hawks' Paris Gilmore sank a late jumper to even the score at 19 after one.
• Holy Cross held a 30-28 edge with 3:40 to play in the second quarter when junior Simone Lewis hit a layup and the Crusaders scored the final nine points of the quarter including a buzzer-beating three from Eddy on the right wing to extend the lead to 39-28 at the half.
• After UMass Lowell opened the scoring in the third quarter, Holy Cross immediately responded with another 9-0 run and Eddy sank a three that forced a River Hawks timeout at 48-30 with 6:29 remaining in the period.
• Junior Hannah Griffin connected on consecutive threes shortly after the timeout and Eddy beat the buzzer once again as the Crusaders took a 59-39 lead into the fourth.
• Bachmann scored five straight points to start things for Holy Cross in the fourth and the lead ballooned to as many as 26 points later in the quarter. Griffin corralled a rebound and found Eddy for a transition layup that made it a 74-48 game with 3:41 to play as the Crusaders rolled to a third straight win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Holy Cross shot a season-best 55.7% (34-of-61) from the field and tallied a season-high 28 assists on the 34 made field goals.
• Eddy paced the Crusaders with a career-best eight assists and senior guard Kaitlyn Flanagan added seven of her own. For Eddy, the eight dimes doubled her previous best of four that had been done twice.
• The seven assists for Flanagan also marked a season-high and the Crusaders' 28 assists were the most for the team since posting 30 in a win over Connecticut College on Dec. 7, 2023.
• Additionally, 78 points marks a season-high for Holy Cross, just eclipsing the previous high of 77 that had been set at Marist on Nov. 16.
• 55.7% is the best field goal percentage for the Crusaders since also shooting the same percentage in a win at Lafayette on Feb. 19, 2025.
• Head coach Candice Green's squad held a 34-24 edge on the glass behind five from Donnelly and four apiece from Cahalan, Flanagan and Lewis.
• Holy Cross has now won seven straight meetings against UMass Lowell dating back to the 2016-17 campaign.

UP NEXT:

• The Crusaders will open Patriot League play on Dec. 31 at Bucknell with opening tip set for 1 p.m.

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