Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Meg Kelly
November 07, 2023 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
BC illustrated a trademark grittiness in rallying past Holy Cross.
Close to 600 days had passed since Kaylah Ivey last touched a basketball in a competitive game. The fourth year player had been on the floor when the 2021-2022 season ended in a Women's NIT loss to Columbia, but a knee injury and offseason surgery kept her off the court for her true junior season. Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee once referred to her as a "floor general," and rendering her out of action for the entire 2022-2023 season felt like a missing presence on a team that could and would have utilized her backcourt skill set.
The meter was up on Monday night, though, and as the final seconds expired in the Eagles' 66-61 win over Holy Cross, Ivey's ball-handling dribble through befuddled defenders stamped and exemplified BC's return in a game that showcased the start of the program's new era.
"I think at first the chemistry wasn't quite there," said Bernabei-McNamee after the team's win. "But I think as a coaching staff, we really didn't want to panic about it because I thought we would eventually click. There were times where I was not watching our team play the way that we can play, but I was glad to get a win, and now we have a lot of things to grow from."
Holy Cross offered a unique cross-section for an opening game because the Crusaders entered Conte Forum with their roster intact from last year's NCAA Tournament squad that won their first Patriot League championship since 2007 with a 24-win campaign. They had previously lost to BC by 10 as part of an early stretch of games, but returning four starters immediately gave the Crusaders a foothold against a team that experienced a retooled roster transition in the offseason.
That core was led by a four-guard lineup, and senior Bronagh Power-Cassidy and sophomore Kaitlyn Flanagan led the early charge against BC by opening opportunities at both ends of the floor. Both Power-Cassidy and Simone Foreman grabbed at least three rebounds in the first quarter, and Flanagan's sure-handed shooting led all scorers with five points after the Eagles missed all eight of their outside opportunities against the Holy Cross defense.
"We were scoring the ball from the perimeter pretty easily," Magarity said, "and we were moving the ball. We're a very unselfish team, and making the extra pass is how we broke the pressure [from the BC defense]. That created some easier looks, and it built some balance between fast break points and the movement on that perimeter. That's one of the things about our team - we have a lot of different weapons, and we're able to really work the ball."
Holy Cross used that knowledge and experience to knock BC off its center with a four-guard, fast-paced lineup in the first half, but the Eagles fixed their shooting woes in the third quarter by finding dribble-drives to the basket. They all but abandoned the outside shot in favor of drawing fouls, and both Andrea Daley and Dontavia Waggoner found themselves at the line in the third and the fourth quarters as 12 total fouls mounted on defenders who were subsequently forced to play off the BC shooters.
That, in turn, lit a groove for the Eagles, and new faces started filling the hole by simply turning the Crusader offense against its defense. Blocks on the back end from freshman Lili Krasovec sprung fellow rookie JaKayla Thompson for a drive to the hoop at one point, and Waggoner's stop-and-pop shooting demoralized Holy Cross as the small lead evaporated into a multi-possession deficit in the late fourth quarter.
"Sometimes the added pressure just makes shots not fall," Bernabei-McNamee said, "and there were points where we had the worse bounces on rebounds on a few plays, but I thought we bounced back and found a way to finish the game."
"In the first half, we made maybe one three," Waggoner said, "so we just noticed that we couldn't shoot the three but were being given opportunities. We said that we might as well be doing something that they're not giving to us [and get to the line]."
The result was a comeback win against a plucky, pesky team with numbers worth building on for Thursday's matchup against Harvard. The defensive chemistry from the beginning of the game forced 20 Crusader turnovers to a more protective five giveaways by the Eagles, and the overall athleticism led to 22 free throw attempts to Holy Cross' 5-for-5 night at the stripe. The three-point shot wasn't necessarily there, but the Eagles managed to gain 17 points off those turnovers and an additional 21 points on second chances despite being outrebounded by a 57-40 margin.
Daley led all scorers with a career-best 23 points, and her eight rebounds were one less than JoJo Lacey's team-high nine boards. Waggoner added 18 points, while T'Yana Todd hit two three-pointers in 24 minutes of reserve time. Nine different Eagles scored at least one point and played 10 minutes or more, and the lone player who didn't - Krasovec - produced the three huge blocks during her time on the court.
Holy Cross countered with double-doubles from Power-Cassidy and Foreman, and Janelle Allen added 12 points and eight rebounds as the one player who got to the free throw line for four attempts.Â
"I was really proud of the way we played," Magarity said. "We rebounded the ball better than any of our teams have ever rebounded the ball since I've been at Holy Cross, and made some nice adjustments. Credit to Boston College for how they really picked it up in that third quarter, and I thought we just had too many lapses defensively."
"We won this game because we didn't overly foul them," Bernabei-McNamee said, "and we eliminated our turnovers. Thank goodness we had those two stats in our favor because the rebounding stat was a killer, but I don't think anybody got to see what our team was made of. That's probably a good thing for scouting purposes, [and] I think that excites me because these guys have so much left in their bag and in their tank."
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The meter was up on Monday night, though, and as the final seconds expired in the Eagles' 66-61 win over Holy Cross, Ivey's ball-handling dribble through befuddled defenders stamped and exemplified BC's return in a game that showcased the start of the program's new era.
"I think at first the chemistry wasn't quite there," said Bernabei-McNamee after the team's win. "But I think as a coaching staff, we really didn't want to panic about it because I thought we would eventually click. There were times where I was not watching our team play the way that we can play, but I was glad to get a win, and now we have a lot of things to grow from."
Holy Cross offered a unique cross-section for an opening game because the Crusaders entered Conte Forum with their roster intact from last year's NCAA Tournament squad that won their first Patriot League championship since 2007 with a 24-win campaign. They had previously lost to BC by 10 as part of an early stretch of games, but returning four starters immediately gave the Crusaders a foothold against a team that experienced a retooled roster transition in the offseason.
That core was led by a four-guard lineup, and senior Bronagh Power-Cassidy and sophomore Kaitlyn Flanagan led the early charge against BC by opening opportunities at both ends of the floor. Both Power-Cassidy and Simone Foreman grabbed at least three rebounds in the first quarter, and Flanagan's sure-handed shooting led all scorers with five points after the Eagles missed all eight of their outside opportunities against the Holy Cross defense.
"We were scoring the ball from the perimeter pretty easily," Magarity said, "and we were moving the ball. We're a very unselfish team, and making the extra pass is how we broke the pressure [from the BC defense]. That created some easier looks, and it built some balance between fast break points and the movement on that perimeter. That's one of the things about our team - we have a lot of different weapons, and we're able to really work the ball."
Holy Cross used that knowledge and experience to knock BC off its center with a four-guard, fast-paced lineup in the first half, but the Eagles fixed their shooting woes in the third quarter by finding dribble-drives to the basket. They all but abandoned the outside shot in favor of drawing fouls, and both Andrea Daley and Dontavia Waggoner found themselves at the line in the third and the fourth quarters as 12 total fouls mounted on defenders who were subsequently forced to play off the BC shooters.
That, in turn, lit a groove for the Eagles, and new faces started filling the hole by simply turning the Crusader offense against its defense. Blocks on the back end from freshman Lili Krasovec sprung fellow rookie JaKayla Thompson for a drive to the hoop at one point, and Waggoner's stop-and-pop shooting demoralized Holy Cross as the small lead evaporated into a multi-possession deficit in the late fourth quarter.
"Sometimes the added pressure just makes shots not fall," Bernabei-McNamee said, "and there were points where we had the worse bounces on rebounds on a few plays, but I thought we bounced back and found a way to finish the game."
"In the first half, we made maybe one three," Waggoner said, "so we just noticed that we couldn't shoot the three but were being given opportunities. We said that we might as well be doing something that they're not giving to us [and get to the line]."
The result was a comeback win against a plucky, pesky team with numbers worth building on for Thursday's matchup against Harvard. The defensive chemistry from the beginning of the game forced 20 Crusader turnovers to a more protective five giveaways by the Eagles, and the overall athleticism led to 22 free throw attempts to Holy Cross' 5-for-5 night at the stripe. The three-point shot wasn't necessarily there, but the Eagles managed to gain 17 points off those turnovers and an additional 21 points on second chances despite being outrebounded by a 57-40 margin.
Daley led all scorers with a career-best 23 points, and her eight rebounds were one less than JoJo Lacey's team-high nine boards. Waggoner added 18 points, while T'Yana Todd hit two three-pointers in 24 minutes of reserve time. Nine different Eagles scored at least one point and played 10 minutes or more, and the lone player who didn't - Krasovec - produced the three huge blocks during her time on the court.
Holy Cross countered with double-doubles from Power-Cassidy and Foreman, and Janelle Allen added 12 points and eight rebounds as the one player who got to the free throw line for four attempts.Â
"I was really proud of the way we played," Magarity said. "We rebounded the ball better than any of our teams have ever rebounded the ball since I've been at Holy Cross, and made some nice adjustments. Credit to Boston College for how they really picked it up in that third quarter, and I thought we just had too many lapses defensively."
"We won this game because we didn't overly foul them," Bernabei-McNamee said, "and we eliminated our turnovers. Thank goodness we had those two stats in our favor because the rebounding stat was a killer, but I don't think anybody got to see what our team was made of. That's probably a good thing for scouting purposes, [and] I think that excites me because these guys have so much left in their bag and in their tank."
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's BasketballSaturday, October 24
Saturday, October 24
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Saturday, October 24
