YORK, Pa. -- Sophomores Sondra Fan and Phylicia McInnis powered a dominant run in the third quarter as Christopher Newport women's basketball pulled away from York College of Pennsylvania (14-9, 5-3) for a 68-49 victory on the road that would clinch the 2020 Capital Athletic Conference Regular Season Title for the Captains. For the third time in the last four seasons, Christopher Newport earned the top seed in the CAC Championship with the win which saw the Captains improve to 18-4 with a perfect 7-0 record in CAC action. 

The win was the 10th straight for the Captains who have also won 14 of the last 15 games with the lone setback coming to top-ranked Tufts University by just five points. It was also the 200th career coaching victory for head coach Bill Broderick, who becomes just the second Christopher Newport helmsman to reach that plateau. Of the 200 career wins, 191 have come on the Christopher Newport sidelines since joining the Captains eight seasons ago; he is now 191-41 at CNU for a winning percentage of 82.3%. 

In the conference road game, the Christopher Newport offense opened the game torching the nets with four of their first five shots going down including a pair of three-pointers. Jessica Foster and Natalie Terwilliger drained triples to open the scoring and Sondra Fan hit a tough runner in the lane to cap an early 8-0 burst. The Captains looked in control early as the offense took a 16-4 lead with less than four minutes to go in the opening quarter. At the end of the stanza, Julia Ng knocked in a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the wing off an assist by Fan and the Captains' appeared to have all the momentum up 21-10 on the road. 

The hot shooting went quiet for the Captains, however, in the second quarter as York (Pa.) slowly chipped away at the Christopher Newport lead. After just over six minutes expired in the second quarter, York had outscored the Captains 11-4 and the lead was trimmed to just four, 25-21. The only scoring in the final three minutes would be five combined points from the free-throw line as Jasmine Norman and Marissa Gallagher combined to go 4-for-4 for the Captains and Alana Bortner hit one for York as both teams limped into the locker room without a field goal in nearly four minutes of play. Christopher Newport carried a seven-point edge into the break, 29-22. 

Out of the locker room, it was Fan and McInnis that took control for the Captains and triggered a high-flying showing for the entire team. Fan hit back-to-back three-pointers to get things started and then, with just over five minutes left in the quarter, McInnis hit her first. She then jumped a passing lane on the opposite end for the steal and set up Anaya Simmons for a layup. On the ensuing possession, McInnis again intercepted a pass by the Spartans and raced to the bucket for a fast-break finish of her own. 

The lead would continue to mount as Simmons scored twice more and assisted on a bucket by Julia Hobbs before rookie Jovia Winkey called her own number in the paint for a short jumper that gave the Captains a 20-point lead, 50-30. The back-breaking blows would come from Fan and McInnis as the former raced down the court and finished with a nifty spinner off the glass and the latter splashed in a triple from the corner off an assist by her hot-hitting teammate. 

Fan then hit the first shot of the fourth quarter, another three, to put the Captains ahead by 24, 58-34. With the game in hand, the Christopher Newport defense never relented and matched the York Spartans on every shot down the stretch. The defense was particularly impressive on the Spartans perimeter shooting as the Captains did not allow a make from beyond the arc until there were less than three minutes remaining in the game. York finished 3-for-21 from deep, a 14.3% effort, with all three makes coming in the final three minutes. 

In the game, the Captains held York to just 28.3% shooting from the floor and forced 22 turnovers. Ng, Hodges, and McInnis each recorded three steals and Hobbs added three blocks for the Captains to lead the way. 

Three Captains finished in double figures with Fan pouring in a game-high 13 points followed by McInnis and Simmons with 10 each. Fan added five rebounds, three assists, and a steal while Simmons also filled the stat sheet with six rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal. 

Christopher Newport still has three games left to play in the regular season, starting with a home game against St. Mary's (Md.) on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. Following those three games, the Captains have earned a first-round bye in the 2020 CAC Championship and will host the winner of the #4/#5-seed matchup in the CAC Semifinals with a game time TBD on Wednesday, February 26.