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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Senior
Zhara Tannor grabbed a career-high eight steals to go with 13 points on Thursday night as the top-seeded Christopher Newport women's basketball team earned a 72-53 win over #4 Mary Washington in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinals. The Captains (22-5) will welcome #2-seed Southern Virginia University on Saturday at 2:00 pm for the CAC Championship after the Knights held off Salisbury in the semifinals.
Tannor led a suffocating defensive effort that forced the Eagles to turn the ball over 31 times while CNU grabbed 17 steals. CNU allowed just 16 first-half shots from their opponents, while taking more than double on the offensive end (35), and holding Mary Washington to just 27.3% shooting in the second half (6-22). Tannor grabbed eight steals for the first time in her career and fellow senior
Jessica Daguilh added four of her own.
Daguilh also scored a team-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-4 effort from the free-throw line. Rookies
Jessica Foster, with 14, and
Natalie Terwilliger, with 12, rounded out the double figure scoring for the CNU women's team on the dominant postseason victory.
The Captains struggled to get things going in the first quarter as the veteran Mary Washington squad came out of the opening tip on a 12-2 run to take a 10-point lead on Thora Gibbs layup with 5:12 remaining in the first quarter. After the slow start, the CNU offense ignited a 10-1 run of their own with points coming off of a pair of steals in the spurt. Tannor had a pair of strong takes to the basket followed by a putback by Terwilliger and a three-pointer in transition by Foster. A pair of free-throws slowed CNU's momentum only for a moment, as the Captains finished off an 18-3 burst to take a five-point lead by the end of the quarter.
With momentum swinging in their favor, the Captains continued to add to their lead early in the second quarter. Terwilliger scored seven straight points for CNU before Foster and
Kiana Kirkland buried back-to-back three-pointers to give the Captains a 36-23 edge with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. The lead would grow to as many as 16 in the first half after a steal by Tannor led to two points by Daguilh with 3:40 left, but the Eagles managed to chip it back down to 11 before halftime, 43-32.
The CNU defense forced 17 first-half turnovers and held the Eagles to just 16 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes. On the other end, CNU made 16 shots on 35 attempts while dominating the offensive glass with nine rebounds on their own missed shots.
The third quarter turned the game into a runaway victory for the Captains as CNU outscored Mary Washington 21-5 in the third stanza. Coming out of the break, the Captains defense continued it's unrelenting pressure and forced 10 more turnovers in the third quarter while holding the Eagles to just 1-of-10 shooting (10%) including an 0-for-3 mark from long range. Tannor and Foster each scored five points in the quarter for CNU while
Sondra Fan dished a pair of assists.
The Captains took a game-high 30-point lead by scoring the first three points of the fourth quarter to pull ahead 67-37. CNU coasted to the win with the big lead in hand and finished out the 72-53 victory.
Jordan Pamlanye and Erika Carter had double-doubles for the Eagles as Carter finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds while her senior teammate, Pamlanye, added 13 points and 10 boards.
Christopher Newport will return to action on Saturday, February 23 as they host #2 Southern Virginia University for the 2019 CAC Championship in the Freeman Center. Tip is set for 2:00 pm as part of a championship game doubleheader with the men's team. The CNU men will tip at 5:00 pm against #2 York (Pa.).
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