Aiden Konold ’26
Chief Sports Editor
The Holy Cross Women’s Basketball Team traveled to Chestnut Hill late Monday afternoon to take on the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Boston College Eagles in their season opener. The Crusaders entered the game on a four-game losing streak against their Chestnut Hill rivals, and won just two of their last 19 matchups with the Eagles.
Heading into the season, questions loomed over how the Crusaders would perform following the graduation of 6-2 forward Lindsay Berger. Over the span of her four-year career at Holy Cross, Berger averaged 8.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. She was a staple on the boards on the defensive end, and consistently knocked down mid-range jumpers on the offensive end. Last season, Berger served as a team captain and her veteran voice helped aid Candice Green in her first season as the program’s head coach.
In Coach Green’s first season as the program’s head coach, her squad went 19-12. The Crusaders’ 2024-25 campaign ended in the Patriot League Women’s Basketball Championship Semifinals to the No. 1 seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks. In Monday’s season opener, Holy Cross took down Boston College, 72-71, in a statement win.
“I mean, incredible ending. I’m so proud of this crew,” said Coach Green in a video posted on the Holy Cross Women’s Basketball Team’s X account. “First, I got to give a big shoutout to our assistant coaches. Fantastic scout, fantastic sets at the end there, just really proud of those guys and then our players just executing. [We] talk a lot about individuals, but just as a team I’m just so happy we got so [many] contribution[s] from so many different people.”
Monday’s opening night win, the Crusaders’ first victory over Boston College since the 2019-20 season, offered a glimpse into what this team is capable of accomplishing this season.
Senior guard and team captain Kaitlyn Flanagan led the Crusaders with 16 points and five assists, her biggest coming on the Crusaders’ final offensive possession. Flanagan has been a centerpiece of the Holy Cross offense since her freshman year, when she started in all 33 games and was named to the 2022-23 Patriot League All-Rookie Team.
In her sophomore season, Flanagan led the Crusaders and the Patriot League in assists with 151, assists per game at 4.4, and assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7. She played a key role on the 2022-23 and 2023-24 March Madness teams, and shared responsibilities guarding Caitlin Clark with teammate Simone Foreman in the Crusaders’ 2024 March Madness game against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
This year, Flanagan will serve as a team captain for the second straight season along with Senior teammate Meg Cahalan. Both know what it takes to win, having been part of those March Madness teams, and will set a high standard for their teammates this year.
On Monday night, the entire team stepped up at crucial moments to ensure the Crusaders came out of the Conte Forum victorious.
“I feel like it was such a team win for us. Everybody stepped up at such a crucial moment,” Flanagan said postgame on the team’s X account. “Simone obviously had that huge play at the end, but there were a lot of other people that led up to that. And then team defense as well, I think we locked in, and Meg said it best, we executed when it mattered at the end.”
The final play Flanagan referenced is the one that won the game for Holy Cross. In a game that featured three lead changes and five tied scores, of course it all came down to the final seconds.
Boston College led by as many as nine points at one point and by seven points with under three minutes left to play, but the Holy Cross defense held the Eagles to just two points in the final 2:47 of the game.
With seven seconds remaining in regulation, Boston College guard Teionni McDaniel converted a layup, Boston College’s first bucket in 2:40, to put the Eagles up 71-69. The Crusaders called a timeout to talk things over with the game on the line.
Out of the timeout, Boston College Sophomore guard Lily Carmody fouled Crusader guard Kendall Eddy in an effort to keep Holy Cross from knocking down a game-winning three-pointer. Eddy missed the first free throw, but made the second to pull the Crusaders within 1.
Boston College called timeout to go over their in-bounds play. With four seconds left in the game, Holy Cross Senior guard Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly fouled Boston College Senior forward Kayla Rolph. But Rolph missed both free throws, and Donnelly corralled the defensive rebound, her ninth board of the game and the most important of the game.
The Crusaders called their final timeout with just under three seconds left. They’d get the ball just beyond midcourt out of the timeout with a chance to win the game. And just like they had all game, Holy Cross executed, this time to near-perfection.
Flanagan, the “point god” as her teammates call her, was tasked with making the in-bound pass. She lobbed the basketball over the head of Boston College Junior guard Athena Tomlinson, who stood in front of Flanagan and jumped up and down with active hands in an effort to deflect away the incoming pass.
But Flanagan’s been running the point the last three seasons for the Crusaders. The moment is never too big for her. Flanagan’s pass landed right in the hands of Foreman, who jumped over McDaniel near the block.
When Foreman landed, McDaniel and Amirah Anderson both swarmed her. In one motion, Foreman rose up and banked the basketball into the net. She fell to the ground, and watched as the ball fell into the hoop.
Assistant Coach Kat Fogarty pumped her fist, and Foreman’s teammates gave her chest bumps. The bench flooded the court, the excitement palpable. One second still remained, but McDaniel’s final heave came up short for the Eagles.
Foreman, a Senior, scored seven points in the Crusader’s 72-71 win. She converted her final two buckets in the final 30 seconds of the game. Foreman added eight rebounds and a steal in the season opener.
“I feel like we played exactly how we wanted to,” Foreman said following the game on the team’s X account. “I feel like we always talk about discipline, and just finishing the game no matter what’s on the time, what’s on the score. So I’m just really proud of how it went, and I feel like this is the energy we need to take from now all the way to March.”
Cahalan scored 13 points for the Crusaders, along with four rebounds, three assists, and a block. Eddy put up 15 points coming off the bench on 5-for-7 from the field.
“I thought Kendall [Eddy] was an amazing spark for us, she just played with a lot of no fear,” said Coach Green. “She was getting to the hoop.”
Freshman guard Asia Wilson chipped in seven points off the bench in her first collegiate game. She added two rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
“I could probably go down the line, but at the end there, Mary[-Elizabeth Donnelly] just being able to go inside to Meg, and then Flanny with the pass to Simone,” Coach Green said. “And I can’t forget about my girl Mary with the big three [-pointer].”
Donnelly matched Cahalan’s 13 points, and went 2-for-4 from behind the arc.
“And just [got] a lot of contribution from some other players,” Coach Green said on the team’s X account. “We won’t talk too much about defense. We’ll just enjoy this win, enjoy making some shots, and yeah, on to the next.”
The Crusaders (1-0) return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils (0-1) at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. The game will be broadcast on ESPN’s ACC Network.
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
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