WORCESTER, Mass. – Wednesday night's contest was a battle between the top two teams in the Patriot League when the second-place American University women's basketball team took on league leading Holy Cross. Despite a seven-point halftime lead, the Eagles struggled to hit their stride in the second half and the Crusaders came out the victors to when they came back to grab a 59-48 win. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• It was the bigs who changed the game offensively. Lauren Stack topped the crew with 11 points while Emily Johns and Molly Lavin followed up with nine and seven points respectively.
• Lavin added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.  
• Senior guards Anna LeMaster, Ivy Bales, and Kayla Henning led on the boards with six rebounds each. Henning added nine points as well.
• At the end of the game, Johns had fouled out while both Stack and Bales had four fouls. LeMaster and Bailey Garbee each had three fouls to their names.
• Bronagh Power-Cassidy came into the game a top-five leading scorer in the league, averaging 15.0 points per game and topped that, leading for the Crusaders offensively with 22 points and showing out on defense as well with 10 rebounds. Holy Cross was led defensively by Simone Foreman with 11 boards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• It was a hot start in the Hart Center Wednesday night. For the Crusaders, Power-Cassidy hit an opening three, but it was responded to when Bales hit just her sixth three of the season to keep the pace.
• Lavin came up clutch in the ebb and flow of the first quarter with a three pointer of her own and a steal. Fellow forwards Stack and Johns put in work as well on the offensive end. Johns went 2-for-3 for four points while Stack led the team with six points.

• Holy Cross retook the lead when they sank a layup and two free throws, but Stack's final effort of the quarter had the Eagles down just one, 16-17, through the opening 10 minutes.
• Quarter two saw the tide favor the Eagles. Lavin's efforts on both ends of the floor, paired with LeMaster's five rebounds had the Eagles keeping pace until a three for Holy Cross late in the quarter brought them back within one, 25-24.
• Anna Rescifina and Henning with back-to-back jumpers afforded a little more room for AU with their efforts, putting the squad up 29-24 with less than a minute to go.
• Another Rescifina basket and a buzzer-beating driving layup from Henning later, the Eagles were rolling into halftime with a seven point, 33-26, lead. In Patriot League play, it was the first time the Crusaders trailed at the midway point. American held Holy Cross to just 31% from the field while it shot 42% from the floor.
• The Crusaders didn't let being down count them out, and they came out of the locker room firing. They climbed back up to just a one possession game when free throws put them within three, 40-37, with three minutes to play in the quarter.
• A series of Eagles' fouls made it so it was a three-point game with a minute to play in the penultimate frame and a Crusader's layup as time wound down meant AU carried a one point, 42-41, lead with 10 to play.
• Holy Cross retook the lead for the first time since the start of the second quarter on a layup from Power-Cassidy and stretched that to a three point lead with 5:31 to go, up 42-45 over American.
• That lead was pushed when the Crusaders added another three and a driving layup to take a commanding eight point, 50-42 lead with 3:44 remaining.
• It was fouls and foul trouble that would be the demise of American. The count was 17 fouls on AU and six on Holy Cross in the second half, and Johns wound up fouling out with 3:09 left to play. Stack picked up her fourth with one minute remaining. Seven of the Crusader's points in the final frame were from the free-throw line.
• Offensively the Eagles struggled, shooting 3-15 in the third quarter and 2-14 in the fourth. Holy Cross wasn't much better though, going 5-15 in the third but came out firing in the final frame, going 5-13 from the field.
• Final from Hart Center ended up being 48-59 with Holy Cross taking the victory, sinking four free throws in a row to seal the deal and remain undefeated on the league.

UP NEXT
The Eagles stay out on the road and will be heading up to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on the Colgate Raiders on Saturday, January 27th at 2 p.m.
 
Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets!
 
KEEP UP WITH US
For the latest on American University Women's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_WBasketball) and Instagram (@auwbasketball).