NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport basketball teams will wrap up the first half of Capital Athletic Conference action on Wednesday evening as they play host to the University of Mary Washington in a doubleheader starting at 5:30 pm. First up, the nationally-ranked CNU women's program will take on the rival Eagles, followed at approximately 7:30 by the CNU and Mary Washington men's teams. 

With snow in the forecast throughout Virginia on Wednesday, fans are encouraged to stay tuned to CNUsports.com as well as follow @CNUathletics on social media. Any changes to the schedule will be posted online and shared through Twitter and Facebook as soon as readily available. For now, the game times remain as scheduled, and fans that can not make it to the Freeman Center can find live stats and live video at CNUsports.com/live. 

The CNU men will be looking to bounce back after suffering a hard-fought loss to then-8th-ranked York College of Pennsylvania. The Captains are now in a third-place tie in the CAC standings with the Eagles with matching 11-4 overall, 5-3 conference records. CNU and Mary Washington trail Salisbury by one game in the standings and the York Spartans by three games. 

The Captains will be playing at home for just the second of three home games in January and will look to improve on a 5-2 record in the Freeman Center this year. Leading the way are seniors Aaron McFarland (17.2 ppg) and Spencer Marin (12.6 ppg and 7.6 rpg), while sophomore Savonte Chappell is pouring in 7.5 points per game despite playing just over 12 minutes per game. On the periphery, sophomore Luther Gibbs has quietly put together a sensational second season and is leading the Captains in assists (44), blocks (22), and steals (20). 

Mary Washington will lean heavily on one of the league's most dynamic players in senior Eric Shaw, who will make his final regular season trip to Newport News while averaging a team-best 14.7 points per game. Bolstering the talented Eagles offense is rookie Drew Johnson, who has burst onto the scene in his first year as the league's top three-point threat. Johnson is averaging 47% from beyond the arc while hitting 3.4 triples per game. 

In the first games of the doubleheader, the nationally-ranked CNU women's team will look to maintain an arm's length lead in the CAC standings over Mary Washington, who is currently tied for third with Salisbury. The Captains (13-2. 7-1) will take on the Eagles (7-8, 6-2) looking to keep pace with Marymount who is one game up on CNU in the league standings. 

CNU and Mary Washington have mirroring styles, as neither team features a single player averaging double-figure scoring this season. The Captains, ranked as high as No. 10 this week by the WBCA, are averaging a league-best 75.1 points per game with no active player averaging more than 7.5 points per game. Both junior Jessica Daguilh and senior Bailey Dufrene are averaging 7.5 points, while Daguilh is leading the team in rebounding with 5.8 per contest, but the Captains strength lies in it's depth and consistent rotation on both offense and defense. Only two Captains are averaging more than 19 minutes per game this season. 

Mary Washington is led by Kendall Parker, with 9.5 points per game and, like the Captains, feature a tough defense that holds opponents to under 60 points per game. Unlike the CNU offense, however, the Eagles are averaging just 58 points per game after a slow start to the season. After starting the year just 4-7, Mary Washington has bounced back with a 3-1 mark in the last four games to pull one game within .500 for the year. 

Following Wednesday night's doubleheader, the Captains will travel to Frostburg State University on Saturday, January 20 to kick off the final run through the conference season. Tip off for the women's game is set for 1:00 pm.