No. 2 women’s basketball to battle No. 4 Lehigh in PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Championship on Sunday, game to be televised on CBS Sports Network

OPENING TIP:

The No. 2 Holy Cross women's basketball team will host No. 4 Lehigh at Hart Center Arena on Sunday, Mar. 15 for the 2026 PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Championship Game. Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m. and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
Tickets can be purchased on the Holy Cross Ticket Office website or by calling 1-844-GO-CROSS.

HOLY CROSS NOTES:

The Crusaders enter Sunday having won eight-straight games and 12 of their last 13.
The Crusaders improved to 22-9 overall this season after a thrilling 61-55 win over No. 3 Army West Point, in league semifinals on Thursday.
Senior guard Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly led all scorers with 17 points, marking her fifth consecutive game in double figures. She shot 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while also contributing four rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal.
Senior guard Kaitlyn Flanagan tallied 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting while adding three assists, two steals, two blocks, and a rebound.
Senior forward Meg Cahalan recorded 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor, adding six assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a block.
Junior guard Kendall Eddy chipped in eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, while adding three steals and two assists.
The Crusaders finished with nine steals and seven blocks while forcing 18 turnovers. Holy Cross held Army scoreless over the final 2:10 of the fourth quarter, recording four stops to secure the win.

HOLY CROSS IN THE PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT:

The Crusaders have won a conference-best 13 Patriot League championships and have appeared in the championship game a conference-high 21 times since the league's inception back in 1990-91. They are looking to become the first team to win three titles in a four year span since Navy (2011, 2012, 2013).
Holy Cross last reached the championship game in 2024, defeating Boston University 61-55 to capture its second consecutive Patriot League title.
The Crusaders won the league's first conference title in 1991.

SENIOR STANDOUTS:

Holy Cross' senior class of Cahalan, Donnelly, Flanagan and Foreman have been outstanding in their final season on The Hill.
The seniors have collectively averaged 40.0 points per game this season.
Over their four year careers, Cahalan (865), Donnelly (575), Flanagan (1,037) and Foreman (898) have combined for 3,375 points.
Since first suiting up on The Hill the group is 86-43 overall and 49-23 in Patriot League play.
On Feb. 7 at Lehigh, Flanagan eclipsed 500 career assists, becoming just the seventh player in school history to achieve the feat.
On Feb. 18 at Lafayette, she became the 37th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points, doing so with a nine-point outing against the Leopards. Flanagan currently ranks 32nd in all-time scoring with 1,037 career points.
Flanagan is only the third player in program history with 1,000+ points and 500+ assists, joining Alex Smith (2010-2014; 1,644 points, 568 assists) and Anna Kinne (1996-00; 1,234 points, 532 assists).
Flanagan's final major milestone of the regular season came on Feb. 28 at Loyola (Md.), where she made her 126th career start to set a new program record. She has played in 129 career games, starting all of them.
Foreman grabbed seven rebounds on Thursday, bringing her career total to 776. She ranks sixth all-time in program history, surpassing Phyllis Townsend '84 (762) and Maggie Fontana '05 (768) on Mar. 9 vs Colgate.

SCOUTING LEHIGH:

No. 4 Lehigh enters Sunday with a 17-13 overall record and a 11-7 mark in Patriot League play during the regular season.
The Mountain Hawks advanced to the championship after defeating No. 1 Navy, 81-76 in overtime, in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Leia Edwards and Belle Bramer led Lehigh in scoring. Edwards recorded a double-double with a career-high 25 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, while pulling down a career-high 16 rebounds. Bramer posted a career-high 22 points and pulled down seven boards.
Lehigh knocked down 13-of-34 shots from beyond the arc, finishing one shy of its season-high mark of 14 made threes, which the Mountain Hawks have reached twice this season.
The Mountain Hawks are second in the Patriot League in offense this season, averaging 66.3 points per game.
Lehigh's Lily Fandre is third in the league in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game.
Lehigh holds a wide margin for the Patriot League lead in three-pointers made, averaging 8.5 per game. Navy finished its season ranked second at 7.2 per game.
Gracyn Lovette leads the team from three-point range, shooting 40-of-100 (40.0 percent) from beyond the arc this season.
Lehigh is coached by Addie Micir, who is in her fourth year at the helm and seventh overall season in Bethlehem.
Micir guided the Mountain Hawks to a Patriot League Championship in 2025, defeating Army 74-62 in the title game. She was also named the 2025 Patriot League Coach of the Year for her efforts after clinching the regular season title and a 27 win season.

THE HC-LEHIGH SERIES:

Sunday marks the 86th all-time meeting between the Crusaders and Mountain Hawks.
Holy Cross leads the all-time series against Lehigh, 50-36. Lehigh won both contests in the regular season.
In the last meeting on Feb. 7, Lehigh earned a 73–61 victory in Bethlehem, using a 15–0 run spanning the end of the first quarter into the second to pull away.
Meg Cahalan led Holy Cross with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Kaitlyn Flanagan added 14 points and four assists, while Simone Foreman recorded 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Crusaders and Mountain Hawks met in the Patriot League semifinals last season, with Lehigh claiming a 65-44 victory.
Holy Cross and Lehigh last met in the Patriot League Championship 25 years ago, when the Crusaders secured a 94-68 win in the 2001 title game.

DOWN THE STRETCH:

The Crusaders are 12-1 since picking up a road win at American on Jan. 24, 70-58. Holy Cross started that stretch with three consecutive wins and bounced back from the one loss to Lehigh (Feb. 7) with a win at Colgate (Feb. 11). They closed the regular season with six-straight wins to earn the No. 2 seed.
Holy Cross defeated No. 10 Colgate by a score of 72-36 in the league quarterfinals and earned a gritty 61-55 win over No. 3 Army in the semifinals.
Over that stretch, the Crusaders are outscoring opponents 62.8-50.9 and have dominated the fourth quarter and overtime; outscoring the opposition 244-170.
Holy Cross has held its opponents to a 33.8 field-goal percentage, while shooting 42.6 percent in that stretch.
Cahalan (16.4) and Donnelly (11.1) have emerged as the primary scoring options for the Crusaders. Flanagan has averaged 9.0 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.2 rebounds over that stretch.

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS
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