ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. -- Five Christopher Newport women's basketball players finished in double figures and the Captains outrebounded St. Mary's College of Maryland (3-15, 0-5) by a final count of 49-30 in a runaway victory on the road Wednesday night, 99-51. Christopher Newport improved to 16-4 overall and 5-0 atop the Capital Athletic Conference with the league victory running the team's win streak to eight straight games. 

Despite the lofty scoring total of 99 points, no single Captains player notched more than 12 points in the game. The game-high was recorded by rookie Anaya Simmons, which highlighted a quartet of double-figure scoring performances off the bench. Freshman Marissa Gallagher (11 pts), freshman Katy Rader (10 pts), and sophomore Phylicia McInnis (10 pts) each finished with season-high's while starter Sondra Fan rounded out the group of five with 11 points of her own. 

The Captains opened the contest with one of the most dominant quarters of Captains' basketball since the NCAA switched to four frames of action in 2015-16. Christopher Newport held the home team to just one made basket on 14 attempts (7.1%) including an 0-7 effort from three-point range. The lone bucket of the opening stanza would come as time expired in the first quarter when Caitlin Mays hit a shot for SMC. The Captains forced 10 Seahawks turnovers in the first ten minutes and outscored St. Mary's by a count of 28-5 to set the tone early. 

The lead grew quickly as the Captains hit three-pointers on four of their first five possessions and raced out to a 14-2 lead just over three minutes into the game. Sophomore Jessica Foster buried a pair while Sondra Fan and Bailey Hodges each took turns setting up the other's shot from long range. Natalie Terwilliger added to the run with a jumper in the lane off an assist by Julia Ng. The game-opening burst would see Christopher Newport build a 25-point lead on a 28-3 run. Foster's two three-pointers led the scoring along with six points from Simmons as nine different Captains entered the scoring column in the first quarter alone. 

With a comfortable lead, the second quarter was dominated by the Captains' reserves as Rader and Gallagher poured in 11 of their combined 21 points in the frame. Rader was 3-for-4 from the field and also grabbed two rebounds as Christopher Newport outrebounded St. Mary's, 19-9, in the second stanza. That number included 10 offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points. 

At halftime, the Captains were collectively perfect from the free-throw line, knocking down a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe. Christopher Newport built a 30-point advantage at halftime, 52-22. The captains shot 41.5% (17-41) from the field in the opening half while holding St. Mary's to just 22.2% (6-27). 

Fan got things moving quickly in the third quarter with two more three-pointers in the first three minutes of action. The lead would balloon to as many as 42 points on a Julia Hobbs layup with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter off a feed by Simmons. Simmons led the Captains in the game with 5 assists as Christopher Newport dished out 23 dimes on 32 made baskets. Then, rookie Lizzie Thibodeau drained a three-pointer with 3:55 remaining in the fourth quarter for a game-high 51-point lead. Christopher Newport 

The terrific free-throw shooting continued through the second half as Christopher Newport concluded the game knocking down 26-of-31 attempts from the line. The Captains hit 83.9% of their shots from the charity stripe marking the highest percentage with at least 25 made since 2009-10 when the Captains were 29-of-32 (90.6%) against Peace College on February 1, 2010. Leading the effort individually was Gallagher, who converted all seven of her attempts from the free-throw line. Marlise Brunson was 4-for-4 as well while 10 different Captains hit at least one shot with the clock stopped in the game. 

The tormenting Christopher Newport defense forced 36 turnovers and scored 34 points off of the St. Mary's giveaways. The most staggering split in the game came in bench scoring as the Captains reserves outscored the Seahawks bench by a final count of 71-4.

A wire-to-wire victory for the eighth straight win of the season, Christopher Newport saw all but two of their 18 players score in the game. Simmons filled the stat sheet in her minutes with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals while going a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor. Rader had 10 points and 5 rebounds with an efficient 4-for-5 performance and McInnis also missed just one shot in her 10 point effort, going 4-for-5. 

St. Mary's had three players finish in double figures led by Kyaira Priest with 13. Gina Seifert tacked on 11 and Caitlin Mays had 10. 

Christopher Newport will return to action on Saturday, February 1 at 2:00 pm against Mary Washington.