WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross women's basketball team used a dominant fourth quarter to pull away from Lafayette in a 70-48 victory over the Leopards on Saturday afternoon at the Hart Center Arena in Worcester.

With the victory, the Crusaders improve to 10-7 (4-2 PL) on the season. Lafayette falls to 7-10 (3-3 PL).

Holy Cross held a 41-33 lead after three before outscoring the Leopards by a 29-15 margin in the fourth quarter en route to the win.

Junior Kendall Eddy led the hosts with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while seniors Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly added 12 and Simone Foreman contributed 11 of her own.

Teresa Kiewiet paced Lafayette with 11 points in the setback.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Foreman buried a three just over two minutes into the game to cap a game-opening 10-2 run for the Crusaders. Lafayette would battle back to cut the lead to two before freshman Asia Wilson sank a three of her own for an 18-13 lead after one.
• The two sides traded runs for a majority of the second quarter and a late three from the Leopards in the final minute made it a 32-25 game in favor of Holy Cross at halftime.
• An Eddy jumper opened the scoring in the third quarter and sparked a 9-0 run capped off by a floater from Eddy to beat the shot clock which extended the lead to 41-25 at the 5:09 mark.
• From there, Lafayette responded with an 8-0 run of their own that sliced the lead to 41-33 after three.
• Kiewiet hit a layup to begin the fourth before Donnelly buried a three on the other end, Eddy registered a steal and hit a three of her own and Donnelly sank another triple for a 9-0 run in a 0:51 span.
• Lafayette was unable to get any closer than 12 the rest of the way and the Crusaders stretched the lead to as many as 26 at 69-43 with 1:11 to play.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The 29 points in a quarter is a season-high for Holy Cross and the most they have scored in a quarter since also scoring 29 in the fourth at UMass on Nov. 20, 2024.
• Donnelly (2-4), Eddy (3-3) and Foreman (2-4) all made multiple threes as the Crusaders sank a season-high nine and shot a season-best 47.4% (9-of-19) from beyond the arc.
• Eddy has made three or more treys in four of her last seven games dating back to Dec 21.
• The 12 points for Donnelly marked her second-highest total of the campaign.
• Senior Kaitlyn Flanagan added eight points, six assists, four rebounds and a steal in the victory.
• Holy Cross shot 49.1% (26-of-53) from the floor and held a 34-29 edge on the glass behind six boards from Foreman.
• The Crusaders forced 19 Lafayette turnovers on the day and matched their season-high with 13 steals that had previously been set in a win over Brown on Nov. 12.

UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross hosts Navy on Wednesday evening at the Hart Center Arena with opening tip slated for 6 p.m.
• Wednesday is the Morgan's Message Mental Health Awareness game and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night. Tickets are on sale through the Holy Cross ticket office.

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