WORCESTER, Mass. — The Holy Cross women's basketball team opens play in the NCAA tournament on Thursday night at 9 p.m. vs the University of Tennessee-Martin in Iowa City, Iowa. Holy Cross comes in on a four-game win streak, and the Crusaders say the key to beating UT-Martin is focus on themselves and play great defense.

"Yeah, I think we take the same approach going into every game," said guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy. "And I think that's focusing on ourselves, going back to our principles. We have to stay disciplined and play the game we know how to play; that's a big focus on defense."

"I think defense has been a priority for us," said guard Cara McCormack. "If we play our game, if we play the defense we know we can, we'll do great things there."

"We're going to have to really defend," said Head Coach Maureen Magarity. "I think the matchups will be interesting because they have a lot of length. But they don't play much inside, so I like the matchups. I think we'll be ready."

If Holy Cross beats UT-Martin, Caitlin Clark and Iowa await the Crusaders on Saturday in Iowa City.