SALISBURY, Md. -- The Christopher Newport women's basketball team scored 52 second-half points while shooting over 61% from the field to storm back after a slow start and capture an 80-70 exhibition win at Salisbury (5-0) on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Anaya Simmons and junior Natalie Terwilliger led the way in the paint with a combined 40 points and 13 rebounds. 

Christopher Newport was up 6-2 after the first minute and a half, but Salisbury bottled up the Captains for the remainder of the first quarter. The Sea Gulls went on a 19-2 run to take a 21-8 advantage at the end of the first ten minutes. 

After scoring only eight points in the opening stanza, the Captains were not held under 20 in the remaining three periods as they chipped away at the lead until a couple of minutes into the third quarter. A stick-back layup from Julia Hobbs tied the game at 40-40 with 7:26 left in the third quarter and Christopher Newport would not trail again. 

Simmons led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting while Terwilliger added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Phylicia McInnis connected on a pair of three-pointers and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to round out the double-figure scoring performances for Christopher Newport with 12 off the bench for the junior guard. 

As a team, the Captains were 28-of-52 in the game for 53.8% shooting including a 6-of-15 effort from beyond the arc (40%). Christopher Newport was also phenomenal from the charity stripe, hitting 94.7% (18-19) for the game including a perfect 6-for-6 in the final minute to ice the victory. 

Christopher Newport will return to action on Thursday, February 25 with their final home exhibition game of the year as they take on Southern Virginia University at 6:00 pm. The game will be Senior Night for Bailey Hodges and Jasmine Norman.