WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Holy Cross women's basketball team took down Loyola (Md.), 49-40, in front of a crowd of 1,009 at Hart Center Arena on Saturday afternoon. The win moved the Crusaders to 16-9 overall and 10-4 in the Patriot League, while the Greyhounds dropped to 11-14 and 7-7.

Senior forward Meg Cahalan led all players with 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor. She added five rebounds and four assists in her team-leading seventh 20-point game of the season. Senior guard Simone Foreman was the only other Crusader in double figures with 10 points as Holy Cross' 49-point total was the second lowest in a win this season.

Senior point guard Kaitlyn Flanagan contributed five points and three assists and now sits six points away from 1,000 for her career. Junior guard Kendall Eddy added five points, three assists and a career-high nine rebounds.

Loyola was led in scoring by 12 points off the bench from Amandine Amorich. Holy Cross held Greyhound leading scorer Lex Therien, who ranks second in the Patriot League at 16.1points per game, to seven points and five rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Holy Cross led for the entirety of the first half, taking a 26-17 lead into the break.
• The Greyhounds outscored the Crusaders, 10-4, in the third.
• Loyola, which chipped into an 11-point deficit in the second and third quarters, worked its way in front at 33-23 early in the fourth on a layup by Amorich.
• Cahalan pushed her point total to 17 on a fast-break layup with 5:49 left to give HC a 34-33 lead, which the Crusaders held on to the rest of the way.
• A 12-0 run, beginning with Cahalan's layup, extended the Holy Cross lead to 44-33 with 1:42 to play on a Foreman fast-break layup.
• Foreman and Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Donnelly put the game away with a pair of free throws apiece down the stretch.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Holy Cross allowed a season-low 40 points and held Loyola to a 28.3 shooting percentage from the floor; matching the season-low performance by an opponent with Bryant (12/7).
• Holy Cross now leads the all-time series with Loyola, 18-8, having won 13 of the last 14 match-ups since 2019.
• Holy Cross allowed 50 or less points for the 10th time this season and 65 or less for the 18th time in the last 20 games.
• Since January 24, Holy Cross is 6-1 and outscoring opponents by an average of 62.6 to 54.1, outscoring the opposition 158-110 in the fourth quarter and overtime..

UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross is back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at Lafayette at 6 p.m.
• The Crusaders earned a 70-48 victory at home over the Leopards on Jan. 17.

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