On Tuesday, the Holy Cross women’s basketball team lost to Grace College by a score of 98-88. The Saints have now started the regular season with three straight losses, all of which they have allowed over 90 points to the opponent. Holy Cross now looks to get back on track this Saturday with another home game against Michigan-Dearborn.
The Saints got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter. Trailing 20-6 with a little over a minute left in the first quarter, the Saints managed to find scoring late in the quarter to bring the score to 20-12 at the end of the first. In the second quarter, Holy Cross struggled to cut into the Lancer’s lead. Midway through the quarter the Saints were able to cut the lead to five, but Grace was able to keep the Saints at bay, maintaining a 45-38 lead into the half. Sophomore forward Allie Caldwell kept the Saint in the game, finishing the half with 11 points.
The start of the second half saw more of the same back and forth scoring with both teams struggling to get consecutive stops on the defensive end. But a flurry of jump shots and Saints turnovers led to a 7-0 run from the Lancers to stretch their lead to 18. Holy Cross had trouble containing sophomore guard Maddy Poynter, who put up 11 points in the third quarter alone. But junior center Brock Bitterman and junior guard Laney Hawkins both kept Holy Cross within reach, both scoring eight points in the quarter. At the end of the third, the Saints trailed 74-61.
Caldwell surged in the fourth quarter, hitting a pair of triples and some additional field goals, scoring 13 points in the quarter. Yet with hopes of mounting a fourth quarter comeback, the Saints again struggled to amass any sort of run that would cut into the Lancer lead. Any Saints bucket seemed to have an answer from Grace, ultimately killing any sort of hope Holy Cross had.
Despite a strong scoring performance from Caldwell, as well as Bitterman and freshman forward Sincer-Coleman Francis providing major bench points, the Saints still seem to be lacking the defense required to win games. The Saints are giving up 93.7 points a game through their first three games, a recipe for disaster no matter their offensive output.
Yet the performance of Caldwell definitely gives hope for the Saint’s future. Caldwell has been averaging 24.3 points per game, and has scored over 20 points in all three games for the Saints this season. The sophomore from Zionsville is also shooting over 90% from the free throw line, and her scoring is keeping Holy Cross in games in spite of their lacking defense.
The Saints now turn their attention to this Saturday, when they will welcome in Michigan-Dearborn. As of this writing, the Wolverines have a record of 1-2 on the season. Dearborn dropped the first game of the season to St. Francis, as well as falling to Rochester Christian in their first conference game of the season. They were victorious in their matchup with Trinity Christian, winning 79-62.
Senior guard Marissa Thomas is the Wolverines leading scorer on the season, averaging 16.3 points per game. Holy Cross will also look to contain Dearborn’s dangerous three point shooting, as they have shot 39.2% from the arc so far this year. With two players shooting above 40%, this could pose trouble for the struggling Saints defense.
Yet Dearborn has only averaged 66 points per game through their first three games, meaning this is a great opportunity for a get right game for the Saint’s defense.
The game will tipoff at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8 at McKenna Arena at Holy Cross College.
