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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- After building a 15-point lead with less than eight minutes to go, the Christopher Newport women's basketball team held off a late surge from LaGrange College (2-3, 0-1) for a 78-70 win at home. The game was the conference and home opener for CNU, who improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the USA South. 

CNU got a strong opening half from junior Tia Perry and an impressive second stanza by sophomore Camry Green. Perry scored 12 of her game-high 21 points in the first 20 minutes while Green poured in all 14 of her points after halftime.

After CNU scored the opening bucket, LaGrange ran off 12 of the next 14 points to take an eight-point lead, 12-4. A jumper from Nicole Mitchell was followed by a three-pointer by the Panthers' Heather Miller leading to a nine-point edge and a timeout called by Captains head coach Bill Broderick. 

Christopher Newport trailed 15-6 just five minutes into the game, but regrouped after the timeout. Led by Perry, the Captains answered with an 18-2 run to flip the score in their favor, 24-17. The junior scored six straight points in the run, while junior Nicole Mitchell hit the game-tying bucket. CNU's lead grew to as many as eight, at 27-19, but for the remainder of the first half, the two teams teetered back to a 34-34 tie. 

The Captains shot 39.4% from the floor (13-33) and LaGrange finished the opening half 12-of-30 for a 40% effort. Both teams knocked down three trey's, and the stats across the board were very even. Perry had 12 points, Mitchell added six while Kelly Halverson and Brandi Holland each added five for CNU. Heather Miller and Katie Covington each had nine for the Panthers.

Early in the second half, the Captains gave themselves some breathing room against the hot-shooting Panthers. LaGrange hit a dry spell from the floor and the CNU defense forced a flurry of turnovers early in the half to go up by double digits just 4:24 into the frame. In that span, the Captains picked up three steals and outscored LaGrange 13-3 for a 10-point edge that would grow to 15 with 7:15 left in the game. 

The Panthers, coming into the game averaging nearly 30 three-point attempts per game, started to heat up from beyond the arc. After opening the second half just 1-for-9 from long range as CNU built their lead, the Panthers finally started to connect in the final seven minutes and cut into the Captains lead. Madison McDonald and Caroline Brashier hit a pair to cut the lead down to nine with 4:36 remaining, and then a pair of traditional three-point plays got the Panthers back within one possession. First, with 1:34 remaining, Covington knocked down a layup and free-throw to make the score 68-62, and then a couple possessions later, Miller did the same with less than a minute to go for a 70-67 deficit. 

With the game on the line, Mitchell went to the line for two shots for the Captains and knocked down both. She then helped the CNU defense hold with a steal on the next possession, leading to an impressive open fast-break layup by Perry. Mitchell reached the ball deep in the corner and while falling out of bounds had to send a pass cross court to Andrea Hobbs. Hobbs found Chantal Thomas up the sideline, who hit Perry streaking into the paint for the big basket. 

Another three pulled LaGrange within four, but Thomas and Camry Green went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to ice the win, 78-70. Green, who was held scoreless in the first 20 minutes, led the dominant surge in the second with 14 points. She finished with a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds. 

CNU knocked down 52.2% of their shots in the second half to finish 44.6% from the floor in the game (25-56). LaGrange finished with nine three-pointers in the game, hitting 39.1% of their shots from beyond the arc (9-23). 

Perry's 21 points were a game-high, while Green and Mitchell each finished with 14. Mitchell added three blocks, two steals and finished just one rebound shy of a double-double. For LaGrange, three players were in double figures with 19 from Miller, 14 for Brashier and 12 for Covington. 

The Captains will play Piedmont College on Sunday at 2:00 pm to wrap up the home-opening conference weekend. The Lions (4-2, 0-1) are coming off a one-point loss at North Carolina Wesleyan on Saturday, 79-78.