CNU Women's Basketball Game Notes
ARLINGTON, Va. -- In a testament to how talented the Capital Athletic Conference women's basketball league is, the top two teams playing for the conference title on Saturday are both ranked in the nation's top 20. The 17th-ranked and second-seeded Captains and 19th-ranked, top-seeded Marymount Saints will battle for league supremacy and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at 5:00 pm in Arlington, Va.
Both teams enter Saturday's title bout with matching 23-3 overall records, while the two teams split against eachother in the regular season. In the first matchup, Marymount captured a 77-67 victory over the Captains at homebefore CNU flipped the scoreboard in their home game with a 70-52 win over the Saints. The first game was missing CNU's leading scorer,
Sam Porter, who had injured her hand in the previous game kicking off a stretch of eight games without the All-Region forward.
The Captains are defending champs of the CAC and will look to capture their second league title with the contest on Saturday. Marymount has won a league best 12 titles and is looking for their first since 2012-13, the year before Christopher Newport joined the conference.
Both teams advanced to the final via blowout victories in the CAC Semifinals on Thursday night. At the Freeman Center, the Captains turned away third-seeded York, 93-69, and in Northern Virginia, the Saints held Mary Washington to just 10 made baskets in a 50-31 victory. The teams are among the nation's elite defensively, with Marymount ranked 16th nationally in scoring defense (50.1 ppg) and CNU ranking third nationally in turnovers forced (31.4/game).
Running point all season, junior
Zhara Tannor leads the Captains with 98 assists while also adding nearly seven points per game. Porter is scoring 10.4 points per game while adding 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 steals per game in 17 games played. Sophomore
Micah Maloney has also enjoyed a breakout second season, ranking second on the team with 8.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
On the other bench, Marymount also features a veteran squad that spreads the ball around. Regan Lohr leads the team with 14.1 points per game while Nicole Viscuso (12.8), Leah Hurst (10.9), and Tyffani McQueen (10.3) are all also averaging double figures. Hurst has 77 steals and 142 assists to anchor the talented Marymount squad.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be provided by Marymount with links available at CNUsports.com. They can be found on the women's basketball schedule.
