WORCESTER — Everything the Holy Cross women’s basketball team lacked in Saturday’s lopsided loss to Bucknell — toughness, communication, discipline — the Crusaders rediscovered in Wednesday night’s game against American at the Hart Center.
Holy Cross trailed the Patriot League’s first-place team by nine with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and battled to send the game to overtime.
Sophomore forward Lauren Manis, who had a rough shooting night (8-24) against the Eagles’ excellent defense but helped lead the fourth-quarter comeback, scored HC’s first two baskets of overtime.
American senior guard Emily Kinneston’s jumper broke a 61-61 tie with 44 seconds left, and the Eagles held on for a 68-63 victory.
AU (16-4, 9-0) hasn’t lost since Dec. 17. HC is 9-11 and finished the first half of league play 4-5.
“This game hurts,” said HC senior guard Infiniti Thomas-Waheed, who sank the tying free throws with 1:16 left in regulation, “but I think we learned a lot.”
Senior guard Tricia Byrne, who did not score in the loss to Bucknell, buried two clutch 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter. The second came after a much-needed defensive stop and nice hustle play by freshman Jenay Faulkner to chase down the rebound. Faulkner got the ball ahead to Manis inside, and she kicked it out to a wide-open Byrne, whose trey pulled HC within two points with 3:20 left.
“That was a crucial basket,” Manis said.
Faulkner and Thomas-Waheed pulled down key defensive rebounds, and the Crusaders had their chances to win in regulation.
After a missed 3-pointer by AU junior guard Elina Koskimies with 33 seconds left, HC coach Bill Gibbons called timeout.
HC worked the clock, and Thomas-Waheed drove inside. The play was for her to penetrate and pass underneath to Manis. Thomas-Waheed lost the handle, and after a scramble under the basket, the ball went out of bounds off the Eagles’ Michael Harris with 7.6 seconds to play.
During the inbounds play, Manis was called for a foul, giving the Eagles possession. Kinneston missed a shot with 1 second left, and the teams went to OT knotted at 57.
HC turned the ball over twice in the final minute of overtime.
“I thought we showed a lot of fight coming back and had our chances to win it,” said Gibbons, who remains at 598 career wins. “There were a lot of positives, and we showed we can beat that team. I like the way we fought and responded.”
The Crusaders are 1-2 in overtime games this season.
American beat its first eight PL opponents by an average of 13.6 points. The Eagles came in with the league’s best field goal percentage, but the Crusaders held them to 37 percent.
American forwards Harris and Cecily Carl made it tough on Manis, the Patriot League’s leading scorer, but she finished with 18 points (13 in the second half and OT) and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.
“They definitely made it tough on everyone,” Manis said. “We just have to keep working together and keep an eye out for open people if we want to keep succeeding in the second half (of the league season).”
The Crusaders got off to a terrific start, opening on a 17-5 run. Byrne got the offense going early with a 3-pointer and a steal and layup.
HC started 6 of 9 from the field, but after Faulkner grabbed a rebound and took it end to end for a layup, the Crusaders finished the first quarter 1 of 7.
American took advantage and outscored HC, 13-1, over the final 3:39 of the first, and the teams were tied, 18-18, at the end of it.
Thomas-Waheed, who picked up her second foul at the 3:14 mark, was on the bench for most of that run.
Senior Maria Liddane opened the second quarter with a traditional 3-point play that gave the Eagles their first lead. The Crusaders regained it, 28-26, on senior Katie Doherty’s 3-pointer. American scored the last two baskets of the second quarter and led, 31-30, at halftime.
The Eagles held HC to 10 points in the third quarter and led by seven going to the fourth.
Thomas-Waheed also posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Byrne added 14 points.
Kinneston scored 18 points, and Carl had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTandG.