Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Holy Cross*
Bucknell Women's Basketball Falls to Holy Cross, 56-41
2/11/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. - Brittany Keil and Kaitlin Foley combined for 26 first-half points and a stifling Holy Cross defense held Bucknell to a season-low 23 percent shooting as the Bison women's basketball team fell to the Crusaders 56-41 Saturday afternoon at the Hart Ceter.
Lauren Schober (Chicago, Ill./Regina Dominican) led Bucknell with 13 points and added a team-high 10 rebounds for her second career double-double, while Keil paced Holy Cross with 16, all in the first half. Foley added 12, with 10 coming before halftime.
Bucknell opened the game missing its first 13 shots before Kesha Champion finally converted a short jumper in the lane with 12:22 to play in the first half to cut its deficit to 12-2. The Bison were able to claw back into the game and narrowed the gap to seven points on three occasions. However, the Crusaders went on another 12-0 run to open a 32-13 lead. Schober beat the buzzer with a short jumper in the lane to make the halftime score 32-15. Keil and Foley combined to shoot 12-for-19 from the floor in the first half, while the rest of the team was just 2-for-12.
Bucknell opened the second half with a 12-5 run to cut its deficit to just 37-27 following a layup from Hope Foster (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) with 14:30 to play. However, Holy Cross held the Bison without a field goal for nearly eight minutes as it opened a 46-30 lead with less than seven minutes to play.
The Crusaders led by as many as 17 points in the second half as Laura Aloisi made 7 of 9 free throws and tallied 14 points in the second half to pace the Crusaders, who were 13 of 23 from the line overall.
Kesha Champion (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) was the second Bison in double figures with 10 points and six assists. Lindsey Hollobaugh (Loganton, Pa./Central Mountain) added nine points and nine rebounds. She made 1 of 4 3-pointers as Bucknell was just 2 of 15 from 3-point range.
The Bison forced 17 Holy Cross turnovers, but the Crusaders forced 18 and shot 40 percent from the floor. It was the first Bucknell opponent to shoot that well from the field since the second game of the season.
The loss ended Bucknell's seven-game winning streak and dropped the Bison's record to 15-8 overall and 8-2 in the Patriot League. They are still one-half game up on second-place Army in the standings depending on the result of Saturday's Army-Lehigh contest. Holy Cross improved to 11-12 overall and 7-3 in the Patriot League.
Bucknell continues its road trip Tuesday, Feb. 14, at Lafayette at 7 p.m.
