Jack Faggiano ’27
Staff Writer
Holy Cross Women’s Basketball kicked off their season Monday night with a tough nail-biter loss to Quinnipiac, but there were a lot of reasons to be excited about this team in Candice Green’s debut as head coach. With the loss of Bronagh Power-Cassidy, Flanagan is expected to be this team’s number-one option on offense, and she did not back down from the challenge against the Bobcats. She picked up right where she left off last season, scoring a career-high 21 points on 7-11 shooting and hitting two big threes. Oh, and she also dished out seven assists, one off of a career-high in that category. Flanagan wasn’t the only player fans got excited about watching in Monday night’s game, however. Lindsay Berger was phenomenal, recording sixteen points and six rebounds as the starting center. She showed her tremendous capabilities in her spacing and her play in the paint. There is a lot to look forward to with Berger, as she too will take on a bigger role after the departure of Janelle Allen.
In a furious comeback attempt in the final minutes led by Flanagan, Berger, Donelly, Eddy, and Bachmann, the Crusaders nearly overcame a 77-68 deficit with just over two minutes to go. Janie Bachmann led the energy on the defensive side, recording a big steal and three defensive rebounds in the last two minutes. Holy Cross started to attack the rim, and were able to cut the lead to five with 1:43 to go. On their next offensive possession, Flanagan found Berger open on the elbow, and she drilled a jumper to cut the lead down to three with a minute to go. Suddenly, the Crusaders had life. They got another crucial stop, and had a chance to tie the game now with twelve seconds left. Kendall Eddy had a great look from three to give us overtime in the Hart Center, but she couldn’t cash it in, and the game was over.
A big factor in the loss was the massive difference in offensive rebounds and turnovers. The Bobcats had fourteen offensive rebounds and ten turnovers to Holy Cross’s three offensive rebounds and fifteen turnovers. This led to Quinnipiac getting twenty-three more shot attempts than Holy Cross. It’s hard to win games when your opponent takes that many more shots than you. But as I said, there’s a lot to get excited about with this team as they look to win their third straight Patriot League title. They travel to UMass-Lowell on Saturday for an afternoon game at 1 p. m.
Featured image courtesy of Worcester Telegram
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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