The Holy Cross College women’s basketball team had a challenging task ahead of it: improve on a historic, 17-win season.
In 2022-2023, the Saints went 17-13 — including 11-9 in CCAC play — before getting knocked out by Indiana Northwest in the first round of the conference playoffs.
The Saints began the season with a decisive, 81-69 home win over Huntington in late October before traveling to Kansas to play in the Benedictine Classic.
When the squad returned from Kansas, it concluded its out-of-conference schedule with losses to Bethel and Goshen but captured a road win over Indiana Kokomo.
The Saints started the CCAC regular season with a sound 69-56 win over Roosevelt before losing to Indiana South Bend at home. The Saints rebounded with a dominant victory over Saint Ambrose before losing an overtime nailbiter to IU Northwest.
If the overtime loss was a disappointing result, it didn’t bother the Saints. Instead, the team steamrolled Calumet 73-42, going into the break with a 3-2 CCAC record.
After an up-and-down start in January, the team went on an 0-3 skid, dropping games to Governors State and Roosevelt along with a devastating 80-45 loss to Indiana South Bend.
However, at the month's end, the Saints seemed to find their stride, putting together a five-game winning streak with wins over St. Ambrose, IU Northwest, Calumet, St. Francis and Judson.
Olivet Nazarene snapped the streak at McKenna Arena with a 94-72 blowout win, but Holy Cross bounced back, winning games against Saint Xavier and Trinity Christian. The Saints closed out the regular season with an 83-74 road loss to Governors State.
The Saints finished the regular season with an overall record of 15-13, one shy of tying last year's record. However, the team did set a new conference win total by going 12-8 in CCAC play.
The new record was good enough to make the CCAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed, resulting in a rematch against the third-seeded Saint Xavier Cougars. The two squads played an incredibly tight game, with the Cougars possession a one-point lead going into the half. Senior forward Neva Longhofer and junior forward Grace Adams combined for 16 points in the third quarter to give the team a narrow lead.
Adams, who would finish with 31 points, scored 11 in the fourth quarter as the Saints completed a comeback victory over the Cougars, winning 87-78. The win was the program's first CCAC playoff win since the 2018-2019 season when the Saints knocked off Saint Xavier 65-60.
The Saints weren’t the only team to pull off a significant upset. The seventh-seeded Olivet Nazarene University Tigers beat the second-seeded Governors State team, resulting in a home playoff game for the Saints.
The CCAC semifinal game started as a low-scoring affair but threatened to turn into a blowout as the Tigers took a 12-point lead with 3:38 remaining in the second quarter.
The Saints were called for 27 fouls, including eight in the second quarter, which helped the Tigers build and maintain their lead. Olivet made 24 of 36 shots in total.
However, a 3-pointer from senior guard Lauren Morris made it a five-point game and seemed to energize the Saints. With 4:40 in the game, a junior guard Jordyn Smith jumper tied the game at 61, resulting in a tie game at the end of regulation.
The Saints had multiple chances to win the game, including when Longhofer had a free layup but missed due to a tailing defender. Holy Cross also had the game's final possession, but Smith came up just short on what could have been the game-winning bucket.
The team loses Longhofer and Morris heading into next season. Longhofer made 21 starts in 29 games and averaged 6.1 points in 18.3 minutes per game. Morris started in 28 of 29 games and averaged 10.8 points per game in 26.4 average minutes.
The Saints return plenty of talented upper-level student-athletes, however. Rising seniors Jordyn Smith and Grace Adams were incredible for the team this year. Adams led the team with 18.6 points per game and averaged 10.1 rebounds in 30.1 minutes. Smith averaged 11.4 points and 4.5 rebounds.
In addition to Adams and Smith, the Saints have a rising junior guard in Kayliana Hammel and a rising sophomore guard in Lilly Toppen, both of whom had excellent sophomore seasons. Hammel averaged 11.5 points per game and led the team in 3-point shooting (40.8%) while almost averaging two steals. Toppen played 30 games for the Saints, coming off the bench in all but one. She averaged 21.8 minutes, 6.6 points and 1.9 rebounds.
So, while the season may have ended in heartbreak, the Saints will look to continue to build on two successful years.
