Army West Point Black Knights Fall to Holy Cross

WORCESTER, MA – Army West Point Women’s Basketball’s (12-9, 6-5) four-game winning streak came to an end as the Black Knights fell 74-54 to Holy Cross (15-7, 9-3) on Saturday afternoon.

Sabria Hunter led Army’s offense with 13 points and 11 rebounds for her tenth double-double of the season. Sam McNaughton contributed 12 points and one rebound. Alisa Fallon recorded seven points, four rebounds and one assist.

The first quarter was a battle between the two teams. Holy Cross got on the board first, but Hunter helped Army respond quickly. She sank two free throws for the Black Knights, going 3-of-4 from the line in the period. McNaughton hit a jumper and a layup to tie things up at 6-6 with 6:35 left in the quarter. Army kept the momentum going to lead 12-11 at the media timeout. Hope Brown was key on defense for the Black Knights as she held Holy Cross’s leading scorer to just five points. Holy Cross broke away to lead 18-13 at the end of the period.

Holy Cross’s offense brought trouble to Army in the second quarter as the Crusaders shot 46 percent from the floor and 100 percent from the free throw line. Holy Cross jumper to a 28-18 lead with 6:15 left on the clock. Natalie Rhine stepped up to hit a three-pointer to cut the Crusaders’ lead to seven with five minutes left. Army took off on a 6-0 run to chip away at Holy Cross’s lead, 28-24. The Crusaders bounced back upping their lead to 32-24 with just over a minute and a half left on the clock. Kate Murray hit a layup and drew contact to take a trip to the free throw line. Though she missed the free throw, Lindsey Scamman was there for the rebound and dished to Brown for the layup. Army went into the break trailing 34-28 to Holy Cross.

The teams open the third quarter with the trading of points before Holy Cross took off on a 5-0 scoring run while Army’s offense hit a slump for just over two minutes. Hunter broke Army’s silence with a layup that pushed her to 10 points. Fallon followed with a jumper to cut Holy Cross’s lead to 42-36. The Black Knights had trouble with the Crusaders’ offense in the final minutes of the quarter letting them finish with a 50-37 lead.

Army was unable to slow down Holy Cross’s momentum at the start of the fourth quarter, trailing 61-40 with 6:03 on the clock. McNaughton rallied the team with a jumper for a small run to cut Holy Cross’s lead to 65-44. It was not enough as the Crusaders went on to outscore Army 24-17 in the quarter to win 74-54.

“The Holy Cross post players established themselves early. They dominated the paint. Their guards distributed the ball well and their offense was efficient. We did not execute our game plan. We need to shoot the ball better and convert on offensive rebounds in order to succeed. We were outplayed and outworked today. I’m looking forward to seeing how this group responds as we prepare for Boston U. on Wednesday,” said head coach Missy Traversi.

Army welcomes Boston U. to Christl Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 9. The game is schedule for 6 p.m.

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