Holy Cross facing tall task of trying to stop Caitlin Clark, Iowa Hawkeyes in NCAA Tournament
BOSTON -- The Holy Cross women's basketball team won its First Four matchup in blowout fashion on Thursday night, keeping alive their season. For head coach Maureen Magarity, that means keeping a special group of players together for at least a few days longer.
"This is the most special group of young women that I've ever been around. I just don't want it to end," Magarity told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche the morning after the Crusaders' 72-45 over UT-Martin. "And I think that's been the biggest message with all of us is we don't want this to end. You know, let's keep going. We don't want this to be our last practice. We don't want this to be our last shootaround, or game, obviously. So they are just an amazing group. I couldn't be more proud to be their coach."
Spirits were obviously high after the win, but the reality of what now awaits them -- Caitlin Clark and the second-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes -- set in quickly.
It's a challenge Magarity said her team is embracing.
"It's just, what an amazing opportunity we have. And they've earned this," she said. "It's just one of those things that we really had to work hard to get to this point, obviously, in the Patriot League in the regular season to work our way up to this. They're so excited. I mean, and we have to watch some film and we're gonna watch film, come up with a great scouting report. My staff has done an incredible job all year of coming up with some great scouting reports, so no pressure here. They've gotta figure out how to shut her down. So I'm sure they will. But we're just really excited to be on this stage, and like I mentioned, on a Saturday, on ABC, to play arguably the best women's basketball player -- one of the best basketball players, period, of all time -- is gonna be really special. So we can't wait for Saturday."
Clark, who became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history earlier this month, is of course a superstar in the collegiate game. And while Magarity is trusting her staff to come up with a game plan to get in her way, the difficulty will be as high as possible come Saturday afternoon.
"Yeah. I think ... face-guarding her, maybe? Limiting her touches," Magarity said of the potential plan. "But I think the thing with Caitlin -- for everybody, not just for us with the scouting report -- is just how great of a passer she is, and how good her team is. I mean, she has so many people to pass to, she's just so dynamic in so many ways. So yeah, it'll be hard. I think all five people on the court will have to do whatever we can to kind of make her feel a little bit uncomfortable and a little bit out of her rhythm. But it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting.
"Our defense has kind of been our anchor throughout the whole year. It's who we are -- our identity," Magarity added. "So we'll just have to bring that up a few notches for this game. But there's no doubt that we'll be ready. So we're really excited for this opportunity.