Brendan Grudberg ’28
Sports Editor
The Holy Cross Women’s Basketball team has done it! The Crusader squad loaded with experience completed the three-game homestand in the Patriot League championship on Sunday afternoon, defeating Lehigh 77-70 in front of many faithful fans. With the team punching its ticket to the Big Dance for the third time in four years, it’s appropriate to look at the whole tournament run and see how second-year head coach Candice Green’s squad was able to fulfill their preseason expectations in her first season as the official head coach.
The Crusaders’ postseason run began last Tuesday, March 10th, when they hosted bottom-seed Colgate, who beat Bucknell the play-in round despite just two regular season wins in the conference. While Holy Cross had the clear advantage on paper, Colgate was a team who had played them relatively well in the regular season, even sending their first matchup into overtime on January 28th.
However, it didn’t take much for the Crusaders to establish their dominance in this one. First Team All-Patriot League forward Meg Cahalan got off to a scorching hot start, scoring 10 of the team’s 13 points including two straightaway threes to get the crowd rocking. Cahalan’s three-point shot has been the one aspect of her game to regress this season, so her hot start from outside set a trend the Crusaders would continue: reaching another level in the postseason.
From there, Holy Cross didn’t look back. They beat Colgate in dominant fashion by a score of 72-36 to move onto the semifinals.
Meg Cahalan led the way with 21 points, with fellow starters Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly, Simone Foreman, and Kendall Eddy also scoring in double figures.
It was a great shooting night for the Crusaders, shooting 46% from the field and 35% from three, but above all was their phenomenal defense on the Raiders. Colgate was held to just 14-59 (23.7%) shooting from the field, and turned the ball over 18 times. It’s been Holy Cross’s stellar defense leading them to success all season long, and this game was no exception.
The lopsided victory meant many first-year and reserve players got some postseason action, which was great to see. 10 Crusaders got on the board, including first-year guard Kimora Berry for her first career points.
Following the quarterfinals, the Crusaders were guaranteed to host again in the semis, this time against a much tougher Army team. Both 14-4 in conference play, Holy Cross got the tiebreaker over them for seeding, but Army possessed a higher net rating in the regular season, and the two teams each notched a 15-point win in their two regular season matchups.
However, it was relatively smooth sailing for Holy Cross in this one. They held the lead for the final 29 minutes of the game, though it was much closer than the previous round. Army even mounted a pretty extreme comeback effort, cutting the deficit to two points around the two-minute mark, but clutch free throw shooting from Cahalan and Donnelly secured the victory.
Hot shooting propelled the Crusaders in this one, as they converted a remarkable nine-of-16 three-point shots. Leading the barrage was Donnelly, who found the net on three three-pointers and scored 17 points overall. Flanagan and Cahalan added 13 and 11, respectively, and Cahalan also had a great playmaking performance with six assists and zero turnovers.
The defense came up big once again, forcing 18 Black Knight turnovers compared to their season average of 12.7, the best mark in the Patriot League. Conference All-Defensive Team guard Kendall Eddy was responsible for three of those, and Kaitlyn Flanagan added pairs of steals and blocks herself. With the win over the Black Knights, the Crusaders yet again secured their spot in the Patriot League finals, just one game away from another banner.
Meanwhile, down in Annapolis, Md., No. 1 seed Navy was in a tough battle with No. 4 seed Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks gained some of our respect back by taking the win over the Midshipmen in overtime, meaning the Patriot League championship would be up at the Hart Center.
The Crusaders came in as the better team on paper, but Lehigh had swept the regular season series to that point, setting up for a phenomenal matchup. “The Spire” published a full recap of this game, so I’ll keep the review brief, but in short, Holy Cross fell back on what had worked all season – defense and inside scoring.
The Crusaders took control early, being up by as much as 14 in the first half, but a 13-4 run by Lehigh made it a five-point game at halftime. The Mountain Hawks continued the comeback, even taking the lead briefly in the third, but Meg Cahalan’s layup to put them up 37-35 would give Holy Cross the lead for good.
It was another phenomenal free throw shooting performance, as the ’Saders went eight-for-eight down the stretch to seal the deal, and finish the tournament a remarkable 26-28 (92.8%) from the free throw line.
The Crusaders’ inside scoring was incredibly efficient (26-for-43 from two-point range), but they struggled from three (five-for-17), overcoming Lehigh’s hotter shooting day (nine-for-24) en route to victory. The senior trio of Cahalan, Foreman, and Flanagan led with 16 apiece, with Flanagan adding Patriot League Tournament MVP honors on top.
As for March Madness, it will certainly be an uphill battle. No. 2 seed Michigan, a team that has suffered just three double digit losses this entire season and finished sixth in NCAA NET rankings (ncaa.com), is on the other side for round one.
My best advice for the Crusaders is to not let Michigan speed them up–they were one of the fastest teams in the Big-10 this year – and to watch film on Iowa. The Hawkeyes are the only team to beat Michigan twice this year, and each time was a comfortable win.
A win is definitely unlikely, but the Crusaders have heated up significantly in the postseason, combining their hot shooting of 2024-25 with the elite defense of 2025-26. Regardless, the journey to getting there has been phenomenal, and extremely fulfilling to the senior class who have etched their names in Crusader history with their third career league title.
Catch the Holy Cross women’s basketball team take on Michigan at 5:30 p.m. EST today, Friday, March 20th, on ESPN2 or WCHC 88.1 FM, as the College has approved three students to cover the game in Ann Arbor!
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
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