RALEIGH, N.C. -- After facing a double-digit deficit late in the third quarter, the Christopher Newport women's basketball team went on a late surge into the fourth quarter to take the lead, but Meredith College managed to respond and hold off the rally by the nationally-ranked Captains. Christopher Newport fell, 69-66, and falls to 4-3 on the season while the Avenging Angels are now 3-2 on the year. 

Senior Kiana Kirkland scored a team-high 14 points and sophomore Natalie Terwilliger added 12 off the bench for Christopher Newport. Sophomore Julia Ng also added eight points to go with a team-high 12 rebounds in the contest. 

The game started as a back-and-forth affair with Christopher Newport racing out to a nine-point advantage, 13-4, in the first three minutes of action and Meredith answering to close the period on a 15-6 run to tie things up, 19-19, headed into the second. Rookie Anaya Simmons scored five points in the first quarter while grabbing three rebounds and Ng added four points and two boards for Christopher Newport. 

The momentum carried into the second stanza for the Avenging Angels, however, as the home team outscored Christopher Newport, 17-8, to take a nine-point lead into the locker room, 36-27. The lead would extend to as many as 12 in the third quarter when Lindsay Bell knocked down a pair of free-throws with 2:05 remaining before the Captains snapped into form. 

In the final two minutes of the third quarter, Christopher Newport scored eight of the last ten points and cut the game to a two-possession lead, 54-48. Junior Bailey Hodges led the burst with four points, including a buzzer-beating layup on the left side, while adding an assist on a Natalie Terwilliger bucket. Sondra Fan added two points from the charity stripe to help Christopher Newport right the ship heading into the final ten minutes. 

Sophomore Jessica Foster buried a three-pointer with 8:04 remaining to pull within one and, after a turnover, Terwilliger slipped in the go-ahead layup for the Captains. After a timeout called by Meredith, the Angels teetered back in front, 58-57, but Kirkland grabbed a steal and a three-pointer in transition to re-take a lead they would not relinquish until the final two minutes. The team's traded buckets for the next three minutes before a key three-point play by Kate Perko for Meredith gave the home team a 67-66 edge with 2:05 remaining. From there, both teams played solid defense and the only points on the board were a pair of free-throws by Daia Dawkins for the final score, 69-66. 

The Christopher Newport defense forced 25 turnovers while only giving away the ball 13 times. Perko had 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead the way for Meredith, who also got a double-double from Bell with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The captains shot 31.3% (25-80) in the game while the Angels were hitting at a 44.3% clip (27-61). 

The loss marks the first time the Captains have dropped back-to-back contests since the 2015-16 season. Christopher Newport will return to action on Tuesday, November 26 at home when they welcome Methodist University to the Freeman Center. Tip-off against the Monarchs will be 6:00 pm.