The Spire

Aiden Konold ’26

Sports Editor

In recent years, women’s basketball has been gaining traction as a global game. WNBA superstars Jonquel Jones, Lauren Jackson, and Satou Sabally were born outside of the United States. So were Bronagh Power-Cassidy and Callie Wright, senior members of the Holy Cross Crusader women’s basketball team. 

Callie was born in Marksman, Ontario, in Canada, nearly 530 miles west of Holy Cross, and Bronagh, who earned 2022-23 Patriot League Championship Game honors, grew up in Dublin, Ireland. 

Bronagh’s dad, Brendan, grew up playing the game, and her sister, Saoirse, played constantly. As a toddler, Bronagh played basketball with Saoirse in the garden where she grew up. When Bronagh turned six, she and Saoirse played one on one, and as she grew older, her dad joined. 

Every Saturday morning, Bronagh and Saoirse attended a basketball academy located across the street from their home. 

“My sister was a huge part in me finding a love for basketball because she’d be playing all the time,” Bronagh said. “I looked up to her so much, I just wanted to be like her.” 

Bronagh played six varsity basketball seasons at Holy Faith Clontarf Secondary School in Dublin, where she served as team captain. After spending her entire life in Dublin, Bronagh decided to attend Marianapolis Preparatory School located in Thompson, CT, where her sister, Saoirse, also spent a post-grad year. 

The adjustment to living in a new country was a challenge, but Bronagh had little time to process the cultural differences between Ireland and the United States. 

“Immediately I was thrown into basketball, thrown into recruiting,” Bronagh continued. 

Through word of mouth and open runs, weekly basketball games open to the community, coaches started coming to Bronagh’s games and practices. One day, the Holy Cross assistant coaches attended a practice and liked the way Bronagh approached the game. A few days later, interim head coach Katie McInerney visited Marianapolis. McInerney was so impressed that Bronagh was soon offered a scholarship to play basketball at Holy Cross. 

Bronagh loved the team and she felt that Holy Cross was the right fit from the get go, upon visiting campus for the first time. 

“I flew home for Christmas and I committed at home,” Bronagh continued. “I called the coaches just because I wanted to be with my family when I made that decision.” 

Callie grew up playing soccer and basketball. In Ontario, where Callie grew up, basketball was pretty popular, especially after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship in 2019. “After that, every kid wanted to be a basketball player,” Callie said. 

Callie started getting letters from colleges in the seventh grade as an AAU basketball player. She spent her high school career at Bill Crothers Secondary School in Marksman, her hometown, where she scored 1,000 career points and corralled 1,000 career rebounds. By her senior year of high school, Callie committed to play college basketball at the University of Memphis. 

Callie’s first head coach at Memphis, Katrina Merriweather, resigned midway through Callie’s sophomore season, forcing the Tigers to find an interim head coach. 

“It was hard,” Callie said. “When new head coaches come in, they bring in their own people. You can’t really get to show what you can do.”

Over two seasons spent with the Tigers, Callie played in 20 games, before deciding to put her name into the transfer portal. 

“I just knew it was time to go and I had to look for something better,” Callie said. “It just wasn’t the education I wanted.” 

When Holy Cross started recruiting Callie and grew interested in her once she entered the transfer portal, everything clicked into place. Callie met with Coach Magarity and her assistants, FaceTimed Bronagh, and loved Holy Cross’ emphasis on the student-athlete. 

“I [had] a good feeling,” Callie said. “Once you’ve been through the recruiting process once, you go where you feel most wanted. It [Holy Cross] felt like home.” 

Bronagh and Callie have loved their time spent at Holy Cross, but being a student-athlete at a school as academically demanding as Holy Cross comes with its challenges. When players miss class for road trips, they work with professors well in advance to get work done before missing class. And players hold teammates accountable. 

“We’ll let each other know what we need to do,” Callie said. “If there’s certain classes that we’d recommend, we talk to each other about it.” 

The same support that made Bronagh and Callie feel at home when they arrived at Holy Cross helps them on the court. 

“Having that atmosphere really just helps you when you’re on the court,” Bronagh said of the Crusader home court advantage. “I think that just stands for the Holy Cross community wanting to support their student-athletes and being there for each other.” 

That same support has made living in a completely different environment much smoother for Bronagh and Callie, but the journey is far from over. 

“I think just as any kid growing up playing basketball no matter where you are in the world, your dream is to go to the tournament,” Bronagh said of the Crusaders’ appearance in March Madness last season. “To be able to say we’ve done it is surreal, but doing it once makes you want to keep doing it.” 

The Crusaders’ women’s basketball team will have played the Colgate Red Raiders by time of print. Holy Cross faces off against the Army Black Knights (10-11, 7-4 Patriot League record) this Saturday, February 17th on the road, the next step in the Crusaders’ journey to repeating as Patriot League champions.