'We’re in the right mind frame': Holy Cross women's basketball opens Patriot League slate by beating Bucknell
WORCESTER — The Holy Cross women’s basketball team went 14 days between its last nonconference game, on Dec. 20, and Wednesday night’s Patriot League opener, and it was the longest layoff HC coach Maureen Magarity has been a part of as a coach or player.
Magarity wasn’t really worried, though, about how the long break would affect her veteran and very motivated team.
“I think having those extra couple days off were beneficial for their bodies,” Magarity said, “and they’re the kind of group that’s in the gym all the time.”
The defending Patriot League champion Crusaders had a great week of practice leading up to the game against Bucknell, and they used a third-quarter surge to put away the Bison, 69-54, at the Hart Center.
“We came back refreshed and ready and excited to go,” said senior guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy, who scored a game-high 21 points. “We’re in the right mind frame for the new year and ready to attack this (league) season.”
Holy Cross went 6-5 in its out-of-league schedule and entered the week ranked in the NCAA top 10 in several defensive categories, including seventh in scoring defense. In all seven of their wins, the Crusaders have held their opponents under 55 points.
HC is 6-0 at home for the first time since 2000-01.
“You’re starting a new season, basically,” sophomore guard Kaitlyn Flanagan said. “It was really important to get off to a good start (in PL play).”
Flanagan dished out seven of HC’s 25 assists (on 28 baskets), and the Crusaders turned the ball over only six times.
“The assist-to-turnover ratio was incredible,” Magarity said. “We are so unselfish. I’m loving the way we are playing.”
HC extended its winning streak to three games.
Bucknell (3-9, 0-1) is 1-5 in its last six games and has yet to win on the road this season.
The Bison, though, played the Crusaders hard, trailed by three at halftime, and, at one point, were 7 for 12 from 3-point range. HC came into the game ranked eighth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense (23.4%).
Bucknell’s Blake Matthews and Isabella King sank 3s early in the second half, but, behind Power-Cassidy, who scored 11 points, and senior Janelle Allen and sophomore Simone Foreman, who dominated the glass, the Crusaders seized control in the third quarter.
HC outscored the Bison, 13-3, over the final 3:39 of the third, and Foreman’s 3 from the corner just before the buzzer gave the Crusaders a 50-41 lead heading to the fourth.
“At halftime, we talked about our weak-side rotation,” Flanagan said. “That was big for us. We were letting shooters get wide-open shots, and they were knocking them down because they’re a good team. That was the biggest adjustment, and we talked about stringing together stops and scores. We were going back and forth with them a lot, and at the end of the third, we were able to get stops and scores back to back, and that really helped us.”
HC scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, and Power-Cassidy’s 3 gave the Crusaders their largest lead, 59-43, with 6:30 left.
“I credit everybody,” Power-Cassidy said. “Kaitlyn had seven assists; that shows we all have to be ready to score at any moment, and we all have to be aggressive. When we can all be aggressive and all play together, that’s when we’re at our best.”
Flanagan scored 10 points. Allen finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, and Foreman with 11 rebounds.
“I’m really, really pleased with how we showed up,” Magarity said. “Bucknell gave us a great game. Defensively, we threw a lot of different things at them, and they gave us a great game.”
—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross women's basketball upends Bucknell in Patriot League opener
