Women’s Basketball Bests Holy Cross

Wednesday, January 20

West Point, N.Y.

7 PM

Army West Point

15-2, 6-1PL

Holy Cross

7-11, 4-3PL

Holy Cross

Army West Point

Women’s Basketball Bests Holy Cross

January 20, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Three players scored in double figures to help the Army West Point women's basketball team to a 77-58 Patriot League victory over Holy Cross on Wednesday evening at Christl Arena.

With its fifth straight win, Army improves to 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the league, while Holy Cross falls to 7-11 and 4-3.

Senior Kelsey Minato scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting and also added four rebounds and four assists. Minato's registered her 707th career field goal with a three-pointer 1:28 into the second quarter to pass Katie Macfarlane (USMA '04) for first on Army's all-time field goals list before raising her total to 711 by the end of the night.

Senior Brianna Johnson knocked in a career-high four three-pointers and finished with 14 points, while sophomore Aliyah Murray posted the first double-double of her career with 11 points and a career-best 13 rebounds, including six that came on the offensive glass. Senior Jean Parker totaled eight points, two rebounds and two assists.

Lisa Mifsud paced Holy Cross with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Tricia Byrne, Molly Hourigan and Infiniti Thomas-Waheed all scored nine points. Hourigan also tallied eight rebounds and three blocks and Byrne collected six rebounds.

"Holy Cross has been doing a great job and we were really concerned about that," said head coach Dave Magarity. "I think this game really came down to our ability to get them playing a little fast. In the first quarter, I was concerned, they were doing a great job of getting open and making the extra pass. Aliyah came off the bench and went for the first double-double of her career and we're really excited about that, and we feel like we have other players who can do that. I thought Madison Hovren gave us better minutes tonight as a freshman and Bri was terrific tonight."

Parker knocked in a three-pointer 2:20 into the contest to make the score 7-4, in favor of the Black Knights, before Thomas-Waheed hit consecutive triples during an 8-0 run for the Crusaders that left the visitors with a 12-7 advantage at the 6:13 mark of the opening period.

Army answered with nine straight points of its own, including a fast-break lay-up by Hovren after she stole the ball at the opposite end of the floor. Minato capped the scoring stretch with a three-pointer with 4:21 remaining in the first, as Army moved out to a 16-12 lead.

The Black Knights maintained their lead into the second quarter until sophomore Katie Dougherty made a lay-in that closed an 8-2 run 39 seconds into the second period to bring the game to a 22-22 deadlock.

The hosts took back the lead after a three-pointer from Johnson with 8:55 on the clock in the second frame before Army continued to an eventual 16-4 run over a 7:23 span to further distance itself from Holy Cross. The Black Knights received points from five different players during the run, including five from Minato and four from Murray.

The Crusaders netted five of the final eight points of the half, including three from Thomas-Waheed, to bring their deficit to 10, 41-31, at halftime.

Holy Cross trimmed Army's lead back down to single digits on four occasions early in the second half, doing so far the final time at the 6:39 mark, following a triple by Mifsud that made the score 48-41.

Parker converted her second three-pointer of the evening 21 seconds later to build the lead back to 10 and kick off an 18-2 run that moved the Black Knights out to a 66-43 advantage by the end of the quarter. The hosts made four three-pointers over the course of the 6:18 run and shot a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line.

Army led by as many as 28 in the fourth quarter and Holy Cross finished the game out on a 10-1 run that included five points from Byrne and lasted the final 3:43 of the contest.

Army is back on the court on Saturday, Jan. 23, when it faces Navy at Madison Square Garden at 11:30 a.m. The matchup will be broadcast to a national television audience on CBS Sports Network.

GAME NOTES: Army earns its fourth straight win over Holy Cross to improve to 25-34 in its all-time series versus the Crusaders … the win marked the 85th for Army's senior class, making it the all-time wins leader for a single class in school history … the Class of 2016 improves its record to 85-27 and passes the career mark of 84-41 set by the Class of 2015 … Minato hit her 707th career field goal with a three-pointer with 8:32 left in the 2nd quarter to pass Katie Macfarlane's (USMA '04) previous team record of 706 … Murray posted her first-ever double-double and finished with a career-high 13 rebounds … Magarity picked up the 497th head coaching win of his career (497-441).