Over the weekend, both the Holy Cross men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted the Saint Xavier Cougars on Senior Weekend.
Women’s Basketball
On senior day, strong performances from Kayliana Hammel, Grace Adams and newly minted 1,000-point club member Jordyn Smith powered the Saints to a 73-59 CCAC victory.
After a relatively low-scoring first quarter saw the Saints take a 12-8 lead, a high-powered second quarter ended with a Saint Xavier buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game at 30 apiece. The Cougars poured in 22 points in the second quarter to tie the game at 30-30.
The Saints started the third quarter with a 12-3 run where four different Saints scored at least two points each. The Cougars came roaring back to make it a 44-44 game with 1:32 left in the third quarter, but the Saints defense shut down the Cougars and Holy Cross took a 51-44 lead heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, the Saints hung onto their lead, with the triple threat of Smith, Hammel, and Adams always having a reply ready for the Cougars. Their offensive production, combined with the team’s defensive performance, earned the Saints a 73-59 win.
Smith played 33 minutes and scored 16 points, including a stellar free throw shooting game, going eight of eight from the line. Hammel had 17 points and seven rebounds with three steals. Adams led the team in points (19), minutes (35) and rebounds (16).
The timely win improves the Saints record to 14-12 (11-7) and gives the team a much needed conference win. As the season winds to a close, the Saints are jockeying with other CCAC teams for post-season tournament seeding. By knocking off Saint Xavier (15-10, 13-5) the Saints moved within two games of earning an opening-round home game while staying in sixth, just one game ahead of Olivet Nazarene.
The Saints will finish out their regular season later this week. The Saints will travel to Trinity Christian on Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. EST contest. On Saturday, the team will play its regular-season finale at Governors State at 2:00 p.m. EST.
By winning their next two games, the Saints could potentially move into fifth place if Indiana Northwest were to lose out and Holy Cross won its next two contests.
Should the Saints split, they would likely retain sixth place as seventh place Olivet Nazarene plays CCAC leaders IUSB. Should the two teams finish with the same record, Olivet would move into sixth place.
The opening round of the CCAC playoffs is scheduled for Feb. 27, with the semi-finals being played on Feb. 29 and the championship on March 2.
Men’s Basketball
The Holy Cross College Men’s basketball team also hosted Saint Xavier on Senior Day. But unlike the women’s team, sloppy turnovers and dismal three-point shooting doomed the Saints to a 65-57 loss to the Cougars.
The lone bright spots for the Saints were Justin O’Neal, who logged 34 minutes and 17 points, and AJ Roseman, who scored nine points and had four rebounds.
However, both O’Neal and Roseman combined for four turnovers, and the remaining starters had another six as the team combined for 14. Those turnovers allowed the Cougars to score 18 points, compared to the Saints 10 points off of 12 Saint Xavier turnovers.
A poor three-point shooting effort contributed to a poor night for the Saints as well. As a team, Holy Cross went 4 of 17 (23.5%), while Saint Xavier shot 8 of 20 (40.0%).
Roseman and freshman Drew Mata (2-2 from three, 8 points) were the only Saints to make their three-point attempts. Three-point specialist Phil Robles II had a surprisingly quiet night. Robles II, who's started 23 of 26 games for the Saints this season, came off the bench to play 28 minutes and contributed just one rebound and one steal.
The loss to Saint Xavier sends the Saints to 8-18 (3-15) on the season, extending the team’s losing streak to six games and likely the worst program finish since the 2010-2011 season. That version of the Saints finished 4-10 in CCAC play.
The Saints, who have been mathematically eliminated from making the CCAC tournament, have two games left in their regular season, both of which should be winnable.
They will travel to Trinity Christian on Wednesday to take on the Trolls, who are currently in last place in the CCAC, with a record of 5-21 (0-19). The Saints will then finish out their regular season against Governor’s State (6-20, 4-14) on Saturday.
Two wins could allow the Saints to end a poor season on a high note, giving them a bit of momentum as they head to the offseason. Two losses would officially cement the season as the second worst since Holy Cross joined the CCAC in 2009 when the team went 0-10 in conference play.
Wednesday’s game is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. EST tip off and Saturday’s game will start at 4:00 p.m. EST.
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