It’s not easy to be the away team when playing the top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes before more than 14,000 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, especially as a 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But the Holy Cross women’s basketball team did more than just play the Hawkeyes in a March Madness game in their house on Saturday. It was clear from the beginning that the Crusaders were not intimidated.
The Holy Cross defense forced six turnovers in the first quarter and noticeably frustrated Caitlin Clark, the nation’s leading scorer. The Crusaders trailed by just two points at the end of the first quarter.
Clark, who eventually finished the game just shy of a triple-double with 27 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds, acknowledged the strong effort by Holy Cross in her on-court post-game interview for the national ABC telecast.
“I thought they competed really well,” said Clark, who hit only 8 of 19 field goal attempts in the game. The Crusaders (21-13) held Clark, the all-time NCAA scoring leader, to just five points in the first half.
Although the Hawkeyes (30-4) pulled away in the second quarter on their way to a commanding 91-65 win, it was a defining moment for Holy Cross in a remarkable season that saw the Crusaders win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 33 years and hoist the Patriot League championship trophy for the second consecutive season.
“On this stage, to play the way that we played against a perennial power—the face of women’s basketball right now. I just can’t put into words how proud I am of our fight—how we competed,” said fourth-year head coach Maureen Magarity at the postgame press conference.
Senior Bronagh Power-Cassidy led three Crusaders in double-figures with a team-high 19 points. Fellow seniors Janelle Allen (18 points) and Cara McCormack (11 points, 5 rebounds) also turned in strong performances in the final game of their college careers.
Magarity who referred to the game as a “once-in-a-lifetime memory,” gave high praise to her seniors on the team. The veteran trio of Power-Cassidy, Allen and McCormack were named to the All-Tournament Team as the Crusaders defeated Bucknell, Loyola and Boston University on their way to the Patriot League title earlier this month.
“They’ve had so many milestones here at Holy Cross and will go down as one of the all-time great senior classes in the history of Holy Cross women’s basketball,” said Magarity.
Holy Cross was the only Division I basketball team from Massachusetts, women’s or men’s, to participate in the NCAA Tournament this season. Traveling to Iowa City to go head-to-head with Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes was an unforgettable experience for the players, who strongly acknowledged the support of the Holy Cross fans.
“It was such an unreal atmosphere,” said Power-Cassidy, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who played the game with a broken hand suffered in the Patriot League final against Boston University. “As much as the Iowa fans were amazing, I have to give credit to the Holy Cross fans. I think no matter where we go they’re always out supporting us and you can always hear them.”
“Our fans have been very ride or die since our very first game, since the very first time we put on these jerseys our fans have been there for us through and through,” added Allen.
Even legendary Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder, in her 24th season at the helm of the Hawkeyes, came away impressed with Holy Cross.
“I think they’ve really enjoyed their time in Iowa City. They’re just a really tremendous group of people,” she said. “I thought they were very fundamentally sound. They worked really hard.”
The Crusaders notched their first NCAA Tournament win in more than three decades with a72-45 rout of UT Martin in a First Four game on March 21. McCormack led the way with a career-high 23 points including seven three-pointers. It was the first win for Holy Cross in the tournament since March 13, 1991 when the Crusaders beat Maryland 81-74 to mark the first-ever NCAA Tournament win for a Patriot League team.
In Worcester, the Holy Cross faithful came out in purple to support their Crusaders at two local watch parties, one at Pepe’s Italian Eatery on Shrewsbury Street and a gathering for students, faculty and staff at the Prior Performing Arts Center on campus.
Holy Cross Director of Athletics Kit Hughes summed up the day on X after the game, writing “’Proud’ doesn’t even come close. Immensely grateful to be associated with this special group. These kids will go on to do incredible things with their lives, but they will remember this day forever. As will I.”
Mike Vigneux is a freelance writer in Worcester with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of municipal government, communications, and public relations. An avid fan of all sports, Mike enjoys telling the stories of local athletes and their teams. He holds two degrees from Clark University, a bachelor of arts in Communication and a master of science in Professional Communication. He can be reached at Mikevigs@gmail.com
