Holy Cross women's basketball team hitting stride as Patriot League slate begins

Senior guard Avery LaBarbera leads Holy Cross in scoring and rebounding and has seven straight double-doubles.
Senior guard Avery LaBarbera leads Holy Cross in scoring and rebounding and has seven straight double-doubles.

The Holy Cross women’s basketball team won five of its last seven out-of-conference games and opened its Patriot League slate with a win at Navy, then the Crusaders had to wait 10 days before playing again as COVID protocols within the Loyola and Lafayette programs postponed HC’s next two games.

“I was worried,” second-year Holy Cross coach Maureen Magarity said, “because I felt like we had some momentum.”

The Crusaders (10-6, 4-1) have kept it going by winning three of their last four.

Senior guard Avery LaBarbera, who leads HC in scoring and rebounding and has seven straight double-doubles, has been tremendous. She scored 30 points and ripped down a career-high 17 rebounds in HC’s win over defending PL champion Lehigh earlier this month.

Magarity was pleased with HC’s balanced offensive effort in the last two games, including Monday night’s win over Loyola when four players scored in double figures. Senior Maddie Demski scored eight of her 12 points during a decisive 20-0 run.

Junior guard Addisyn Cross has keyed HC’s defense, the PL’s top unit, which is holding opponents 55.1 points per game.

“We’ve all been on the same page,” Magarity said. “We’ve been locked in defensively.”

Holy Cross hosts Lafayette (7-7, 3-1) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hart Center. Currently, spectator attendance for HC men’s and women’s basketball and men’s ice hockey games is limited to team complimentary pass lists and season ticket holders.

Larry Hampton still brings back good memories

Halifax, Nova Scotia resident John Murphy recently was cleaning out some old newspaper clippings and came across a full-page story about former North High basketball great Larry Hampton, who starred at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for one season.

The article brought back great memories for Murphy, who was a grade 11 student during Hampton’s year in Canada and a basketball statistician for St. Mary’s University, located in Halifax.

“I had a front row seat every time Acadia came to town,” Murphy wrote in an email. “Larry Hampton was, by far, the single most electrifying player in all of Canada the year he played at Acadia.”

Hampton, a standout guard, led North High to the 1980 state championship game. The Polar Bears fell to a Patrick Ewing-led Cambridge Rindge and Latin team at a sold-out Hart Center.

Hampton originally planned to play at George Mason University, but instead joined his brother, Bo, at Acadia for one year. Hampton later enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson University and led FDU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1984-85.

Murphy said that in the pre-Internet era he kept up on Hampton’s career in Street & Smith’s basketball magazines. Google recently led him to a story about Hampton that was part of the T&G sports department’s “Where are they now?” series.

“Larry Hampton wasn’t good,” Murphy wrote, “he was great, and people came to games to see him play. There are still many, many basketball fans that remember well his year at Acadia.”

Head of the Class

South Carolina junior Aliyah Boston, the former Worcester Academy star, has registered 11 straight double-doubles for the nation’s No. 1 team. In Sunday’s win over Arkansas, Boston scored 19 points and had 13 rebounds.

Anna Maria senior guard Franchesca Hammond of Worcester scored a career-high 32 points in a loss to Rivier.

WPI senior guard Alex Scariato registered her first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in a win at Middlebury.

Bates junior Stephon Baxter of Worcester scored a game-high 25 points and matched a season high with four 3-pointers in a loss to Amherst.

Fitchburg State sophomore guard Kerns Monvilus averaged 17 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals in two games.

Assumption senior forward Christopher Stalmok of Paxton scored the winning goal in the Greyhounds’ 2-1 victory over Saint Anselm.

Colby-Sawyer senior Kelsey Brown of Douglas won the 100 breast, 200 back and 100 fly events in a meet against Norwich. She, along with her sister Alyssa, was also part of the victorious 400 medley relay team.

Springfield junior Lefteri Roba of Worcester finished first in the 100 breast and 200 breast events in a tri-meet with Roger Williams and Wesleyan.

Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross women's basketball team hitting stride as Patriot League slate begins