Abby Casper received her verbal offer from Holy Cross at the start of June. Two weeks later, the Northwest Catholic rising senior decided to test the program fit by taking her second visit to the school.
This time, Casper got an up-close view of the Crusaders, who were re-assembling on campus for summer workouts. She watched one of their morning sessions and got lunch, meshing quickly with the players. Casper felt the all-important "fit" click for her that day.
A week later, on the way to her GymRats AAU tournament, she announced her commitment. Casper is one of the top 2026 prospects to make a decision so far, choosing Holy Cross over Bryant, her first Div. 1 offer.
"It was very important for me, being able to know that for the next four years, I'll be comfortable and want to be with all these people that I'm gonna be spending almost all my time with," she said. "That was a big thing for me. So being able to meet all of them made my decision more clear that I wanted to go there, because they're all super nice and supportive, and they all work really hard."
Casper (Cromwell, Conn.) is perhaps the top CIAC prospect currently, a powerful 6-foot forward who was among our spring grassroots stock-risers for her play on D4S. She enjoys lifting, which has helped develop her strong frame, and she valued getting to see that part of the Crusaders' summer workout during her visit. Then when she watched the team go through drills, she took note of how the team welcomed the voices of the incoming freshmen.
"Just seeing how they felt comfortable asking questions and things like that, and just overall, everyone on the team was so comfortable with each other," Casper said. "They all felt like one family already."
Holy Cross enters its second year under Candice Green, who was the full-season interim head coach last year following Maureen Magarity's stepping down and who was officially promoted to the role in February. The Crusaders went 19-12 in her interim season and reached the Patriot League semifinals.
Green and the coaching staff have talked about leveraging Casper's versatility in college; she's got a solid handle for her size and can knock down 3-pointers. Casper appreciates that the staff seems accessible for individual workouts to aid player development.
"Every coach is always open for one-on-ones, which is really nice," she said. "You just text them the night before (and) they'll come in and they'll work with you for an hour or however long you want the next day, just to improve little parts of your game that you think you need work on."
Casper has won three state championships at Northwest Catholic and hopes to complete the high school sweep next winter. She cherishes the rivalry games, like last year's quarterfinal triumph over Bristol Eastern, as much as the titles. It's one reason Casper has stayed at Northwest Catholic instead of tranferring to prep school. She's created a legacy locally that she wants to complete.
"I have everything I want at my school: supportive coaching staff great teammates, getting to play with my sister and academics too," Casper said. "Winning a championship, and even another one and another one — it's hard for me to leave when I could try to win like, another one after that and make history."
The flow of 2026 girls basketball commitments is slowly picking up. Here are some more announcements from recent weeks:
- Stonehill scored a pair of under-the-radar commits during the past week in Skyler Walker (Williston Northampton/Barrington, R.I.) and Mollie Mullen (Bishop Feehan/Dighton, Mass.). Walker had a breakout performance at the NEPSAC Girls Scholastic Showcase and is a versatile, floor-spacing forward. Mullen, a 5-foot-9 guard, started on Bishop Feehan's 2023-24 MIAA championship squad and last winter's finalist team as a sharpshooter and tough perimeter defender.
- Ava Egan (Newman/North Attleboro, Mass.), a 6-foot wing and prolific shooter, committed to Merrimack on June 17. Egan joins Jenna Mishou as early local additions to the Warriors' 2026 recruiting class.
- Olivia Fleming (Northfield Mount Hermon/Windham, Mass.) announced her commitment to Lehigh on June 10. A quick-twitch, 5-foot-6 point guard, Fleming was named by NEPSGBCA as the Class AA Player of the Year last season and landed on our All-Class AA first team.
