WASHINGTON – American women's basketball is back in action, as Eagles hit the road for the first time in 2026 with a trip to Holy Cross on Saturday. A win over the Crusaders would make it three straight for American and fourth in five games. Tip from Hart Center Arena is slated for 2 p.m. ET, airing on ESPN+.
           
Follow Along

• Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 10; 2 p.m.
• Site: Worcester, Mass. (Hart Center)
• TV: ESPN+ 

Series History

• Dating back to 2000, Holy Cross holds a 30-22 series lead over American, including a 17-8 home record in Hart Center. The Crusaders have won five of the last six matchups and pushed their one loss of the run to overtime back in 2023, before losing by two.
• Most recently, in the 2024-25 season, the Crusaders swept the two game series against the Eagles. In the teams' first two matchups, American fell by eight, dropping 61-69 on the road in early January. In the second meeting of the year, two weeks later, AU was quickly outpaced before being held to just four points in the final quarter, Holy Cross winning by 76-44 in Bender Arena.

Tipping Off

• The Eagles, after being up by 34-20 at the halftime break against Colgate on Wednesday, were pushed by the Raiders into overtime before they could clinch the 59-56 victory at home in Bender Arena. The 25 point second quarter from American was what helped seal the victory as Colgate outscored the Eagles 30-16 in the second half, including an 8-0 run right out of the halftime break when they initiated a full court press strategy against AU.
• In overtime though, American was able to keep their composure and despite Colgate jumping ahead with back to back baskets, rallied back into the lead for their second conference victory and second win in a row. American did well scoring in the paint, tallying 32 points, but Colgate led with 40 points in the paint. The teams were near even in points off turnovers, Colgate with 15 and American with 16. American had nine bench points to Colgate's 19.
• Freshman Charlotte Tuhy ended the first half with a double-double–13 rebounds, 10 points. She improved her stats and finished the night with 17 points and 22 rebounds. She had over half of AU's 40 rebounds in the game. She also had two assists, four steals, and a block to stuff her stat sheet on the outing. Tuhy's 22 rebounds had her just two behind the most by an Eagle player in a single game, 24 rebounds, which was recorded by Mary Klima back in 1998.
• Madisyn Moore-Nicholson had another impressive outing, the sophomore with 16 points against the Raiders. She also registered two assists and two steals.
• On the season, Tuhy and Moore-Nicholson, along with sophomore guard Molly Driscoll, lead the Eagles in scoring and in rebounding. Driscoll, averaging 13.2 ppg. The sophomore has led the Eagles a team-leading six times in scoring this season and has had two 20+ point games this year, scoring 29 points on the road at La Salle (Nov. 22) and 24 points at VCU (Dec. 16). Driscoll is eighth in the PL with 23 made three point field goals on the season; she's shooting 31.5 percent from distance.
• Tuhy is second in the Patriot League in rebounding, averaging 10.1 rebounds per game behind Army's Kya Smith who averages 10.9 rpg. Tuhy averages a double-double with her points per game average sitting at 10.3.
• Moore-Nicholson is second on the Eagles squad with her 11.4 ppg average. She has seen 20+ point games in two of the previous four contests, and across the run of seven most recent games, the sophomore guard has scored 10+ points per game in each.
• Senior guards Anna Rescifina and Laura Nogues–in her third game back on the court after injury–each made an impact against the Raiders. Rescifina picked up nine points and Nogues seven. Nogues also picked up three steals, picking up where she left off last season.

Scouting the Crusaders

• After opening Patriot League play with back-to-back wins on the road against Bucknell, 58-55, and Navy, 66-55, the Crusaders dropped their first conference home game of the season, 60-57, to Lehigh. Holy Cross is now 8-6 on the season overall.
• The Mountain Hawks opened the game with a 22-point first period, compared to HC's 13. The rest of the game was close with the Crusaders trailing by one possession in the final minute and earning a few looks to tie the game but ultimately falling just short in the setback.
• Three players from Holy Cross finished the night in double-digit scoring position. Junior Kendall Eddy had 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three point range, to lead the squad and seniors Meg Cahalan and Simone Foreman added 12 points apiece. Foreman topped the Crusaders with seven rebounds on the night.
• Eddy is third in the Patriot League in steals, with 25 on the season. Against the Mountain Hawks, she led the Crusaders with two. She has also hit four threes in three of her last four games and is shooting 12-of-21 (57.1%) from beyond the arc during that stretch.
• Holy Cross shot a season-best 40.0% (6-of-15) from beyond the arc on the night and held a 30-28 edge in the rebounding battle behind Foreman's seven boards. As a team, the Crusaders shot 22-of-52 (42.3%) from the floor and Lehigh was 22-of-47 (46.8%).
• Calahan is fourth in the Patriot League in scoring and fifth in field goal percentage, with an average of 15.5 ppg and a 44.9 shooting percentage. She's also top-10 in the league in free throw percentage at 77.1.
• On the season, Calahan, Foreman, and Flanagan lead the Crusaders in scoring, with an average of 15.5 ppg, 9.1 ppg, and 9.0 ppg, respectively. Foreman leads the squad in rebounding with an average of 8.8 boards per game, and Flanagan leads the Crusaders, and the conference, in assist, 56, for an average of 4.0 per game, and is second in the league with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.2 

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