SALEM, Va. -- With another decisive victory on Thursday evening, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team tied the program record for consecutive victories with the Captains' 30th straight win. Led by Sondra Fan's fourth 20-point game in the last five outings, Christopher Newport reached the century mark for the fifth time this season in defeating host Roanoke College (8-2) in the Susan Dunagan Classic finale, 101-70. 

The win improved Christopher Newport to 13-0 this season and ran the program-record win streak to 30 matching the 2010-11 campaign when the Captains started the year 30-0. The run ranks second in all sports at Christopher Newport, trailing the 2012 volleyball streak of 32 straight victories in CNU Athletics lore. 

In addition to the team making history with the victory, senior Sondra Fan became the fastest player to eclipse 900 points in her career since Hall of Famer and CNU Legend Chelsie Schweers in 2008-09. Since the turn of the century, Fan's 73 games to 900 points ranks tied for fifth behind Schweers, Tia Moore, Tomorrow Lofton, and Candace Bryant. The Poquoson, Va. native finished Thursday's game with a game-high 23 points on another impressive shooting performance, knocking down 9-of-13 from the field including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. The effort raised her career scoring total to 919 in just her third season of play. 

As a team, the Captains rebounded from a poor shooting performance the night before with one of the finest efforts of the season against Roanoke on Thursday night. Powered by a near-59% showing in the second half, the nation's leading team in field goal efficiency shot 52.1% from the field, sinking 37 of 71 attempts. With the torrid attack clicking, the Captains reached 100 points for the fifth time this season, tying the 1996-97 team for the most 100-point games in a single season. 

Fan's 23 points came in 18 minutes of action as again the Captains' rotation allowed for all 14 players to get plenty of time on the hardwood. All but one CNU player wound up in the scoring column with three Captains finishing in double figures. Joining Fan was senior Phylicia McInnis with a career-high 19 points and Anaya Simmons pouring in 14 for her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring performance. 

Roanoke took a quick 5-0 lead before McInnis got the Captains on the board just over two-and-a-half minutes into the game. After the Maroons extended to five again, Fan took a feed from McInnis and buried the first of her five triples to kickstart a personal 7-0 run to give the Captains the lead, 9-7. Fan scored seven points in less than a minute with a pair of steals and fast-break layups as part of the spurt. 

The Maroons responded and pulled ahead by as many as seven in the first quarter, 19-12, on a three-pointer by Renee Alquiza with 2:44 remaining. Fan added another fast-break bucket to give her nine first quarter points and CNU closed on a 6-0 run to pull back within one, 19-18. 

The momentum carried over into the second quarter, which was owned by the Captains. CNU outscored the home team, 33-10, in the second stanza, and pulled away to a 51-29 lead at halftime. Gabbi San Diego buried a triple to start the scoring and Jovia Winkey found Anaya Simmons on the run for two more. After a pair of free throws, Natalie Terwilliger added a long ball of her own for five consecutive CNU points. 

After a block by rookie Hannah Kaloi, seniors Jessica Foster and Julia Ng connected for a nice lay-in down low. That bucket would trigger a 21-4 run to end the half and put the Captains in control. Fan sank back-to-back long range jumpers with just over four minutes remaining and Simmons added a tough basket with just over two minutes left. That set up another individual run, this time by McInnis, as the senior guard scored the final seven points of the frame with two free-throws, a three-pointer, and a fast-break layup after a steal. 

Finding the shooting stroke, the Captains came out of the locker room still ablaze and built the third quarter lead to as many as 32 points when a layup by Hannah Orloff gave the visitors a 74-42 advantage. Roanoke never got closer than 24 from there and CNU rolled to the 31-point victory. 

Prior to the contest, the Captains learned their next scheduled opponent, Mary Baldwin College, cancelled their matchup against Christopher Newport due to COVID-19 protocols. Christopher Newport will now adjust it's focus to their trip to the Big Apple as the nationally-ranked Captains travel to New York City for a pair next weekend. Tip against St. Joseph's of Brooklyn will be at 1:00 pm on Saturday, January 8 and against the Pratt Institute at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 9. Fans will not be permitted for either contest.