SALISBURY, Md. -- Sophomore Natalie Terwilliger scored 17 points in the second half to lead the Christopher Newport women's basketball team in a come-from-behind victory on the road Saturday afternoon as they downed Salisbury University (8-11, 1-3), 75-68. The Captains won their seventh straight game and improved to 15-4 overall, 4-0 in league action with the Capital Athletic Conference victory. 

Terwilliger scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting while also going 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. She only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble but powered the Captains comeback after Christopher Newport found themselves down ten halfway through the third quarter. She scored eight of ten points in a Captains run late in the third and then picked up her fourth foul and was forced to sit until there was less than four minutes remaining in the fourth. When she re-entered, the Captains went right back to their sophomore scoring leader and she scored nine of the next ten points in a span of just three minutes to put her team ahead for the win. 

The Captains led for just under ten minutes in the game, with the majority of that time coming in a back-and-forth first quarter. CNU led, 16-14, after the first ten minutes but Salisbury took off in the second and opened up a double-digit lead. Leaning on sophomore shooter Kylie Webb, the Sea Gulls pulled ahead by as many as 13 with 2:54 remaining in the first half, 35-22. Webb hit four of her six three-pointers in the game during the second quarter and had 15 points by halftime.

After Webb's fifth triple of the half went down to give the Sea Gulls their largest lead of the game, Terwilliger answered with a three-pointer of her own to key a 10-3 flourish for Christopher Newport to end the second quarter. Rookie Anaya Simmons scored four points and sophomore Sondra Fan buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to a two-possession advantage at the break, 38-32. 

In the third quarter, Salisbury managed to get the lead back to 10 with less than five minutes to go, but Terwilliger would not allow the lead to extend again. She finished against contact on nice feed by Jovia Winkey and then added a wide open layup on the back post to pull CNU closer than they had been since the first half, 45-43. With Terwilliger picking up her fourth foul, the Sea Gulls pulled back ahead by seven, 54-47, heading into the final frame. 

The fourth belonged to Christopher Newport, though, as the Captains scored the first seven points of the final frame to tie the game up at 54. Salisbury teetered back in front with a three-pointer from Jade Welbon, but freshman Sawyer Freeland made a pair of momentum-shifting plays to get the Captains tied up again. First, after a defensive rebound, Freeland brought the ball up the court herself and created an open look from the free-throw line with a pull-up jumper. Then, on the ensuing inbounds play, Freeland jumped in the passing lane for a steal and got fellow freshman Jovia Winkey to the free-throw line to tie the game again, 58-58. 

Despite the two ties, Salisbury did not allow the Captains to take the lead until Terwilliger checked back in with less than four minutes to go. Her first bucket came on the right block when junior Bailey Hodges slipped a perfect pass into her for an easy lay-in. That would give the Captains a 63-62 lead and their first advantage since early in the second quarter. Fan then grabbed another steal and back-to-back fouls allowed the Captains to extend the lead to four, 66-62, from the free-throw line. 

Salisbury tied the game with a 4-0 run, but a three-point play from Terwilliger off a feed from Julia Ng would give the Captains a lead they would not relinquish in the final two minutes of the game. Christopher Newport went 9-for-9 from the charity stripe in the final 3:11 to hold off the Sea Gulls. 

The Captains used a dominant fourth quarter to finish the game shooting 48.1% (25-52) after knocking down 70% (7-10) from the field in the final 10 minutes. The defense forced 22 turnovers and grabbed 10 steals, including a team-high three from Winkey. The rookie was stellar on Saturday, playing 23 minutes and scoring 8 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. She was also tasked with defending Webb in the second half, who managed just three points. 

Fan joined Terwilliger in double figures with 12 points while adding 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and a blocked shot. Webb led the Sea Gulls with 18 points while Kaylee Otlwoski, with 13, and Courtney Brigham, with 11, each finished in double figures. 

Christopher Newport will travel to St. Mary's College of Maryland on Wednesday, January 29 for their next game, wrapping up the first half of conference play. Their next home game comes a week from Saturday on February 1 versus Mary Washington at 2:00 pm.