NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport women's basketball team maintained it's position atop both the D3hoops.com and WBCA National Rankings this week after picking up two wins and improving to 19-0 on the season. The Captains earned all ten first-place votes in this week's WBCA Top 25 and are now the unanimous top team in the nation according to the coaches' poll. 

The top-five were unchanged in the WBCA national rankings but Christopher Newport secured the lone first-place vote distributed to Hope College in last week's rankings. CNU earned the maximum 250 total points in the ranking and were followed by No. 2 Transylvania (237 pts), No. 3 Hope (233 pts), No. 4 Whitman (215 pts), and No. 5 Trine (209 pts). 

Christopher Newport is one of just seven undefeated teams remaining in NCAA Basketball, men's and women's, at any level. The Captains lead a group of four women's teams at Division III with perfect records who are joined by Division II Glenville State and a pair of team's on the men's side, Nova Southeastern (DII) and Saint Joseph (CT) (DIII). 

This season, Christopher Newport has built the longest active winning streak in the NCAA with 36 consecutive victories dating back to the 2019-20 campaign. CNU closed that season with a 17-0 record before COVID-19 shut down the NCAA Tournament and picked right up in 2021-22 with a 19-game roll to start this year. 

Senior guard Sondra Fan leads one of the nation's top scoring offenses with 14.6 points per game while ranking eighth nationally in three-point shooting percentage (.436). Fellow senior Jessica Foster recently passed Makenzie Fancher for third on the all-time three-point shooting list and both of this year's sharpshooters rank in the top-five in career makes. 

Junior forward Anaya Simmons is also averaging double figures with 12.8 points per game while ranking second in the nation in field-goal percentage by knocking down 62.8% of her shots. She currently ranks fourth among active players in Division III and 16th across all three divisions with a .597 career field-goal percentage. 

The Captains return to action this weekend at the C2C Classic in Fredericksburg, Va. as they take on UC Santa Cruz, receiving votes in both top-25 polls, and Pratt Institute on back-to-back days. 
 

2021-22 WBCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll — 2/8/22

Rank	School (Record)	Total Points	First- Place Votes	Last week's rank
1.	Christopher Newport (19-0)	250	10	1
2.	Transylvania (17-0)	237	0	2
3.	Hope (18-1)	233	0	3
4.	Whitman (20-1)	215	0	4
5.	Trine (17-2)	209	0	5
6.	Simpson (19-1)	203	0	6
7.	NYU (17-1)	182	0	9
8.	John Carroll (17-2)	180	0	7
9.	UW-Whitewater (20-2)	177	0	8
10.	Amherst (16-2)	155	0	10
11.	Wisconsin Lutheran (17-0)	149	0	12
12.	DePauw (18-2)	128	0	13
13.	Messiah (17-2)	120	0	15
14.	Springfield (18-2)	105	0	14
15.	Tufts (17-3)	96	0	10
16T.	Baldwin-Wallace (15-3)	86	0	17
16T.	Roger Williams (19-1)	86	0	19
18.	Scranton (19-2)	60	0	24
19.	Puget Sound (17-3)	59	0	21
20.	Catholic (17-2)	55	0	15
21T.	St. John Fisher (19-2)	51	0	21
21T.	Trinity, TX (18-2)	51	0	25
23.	Smith (17-2)	32	0	20
24.	Rhodes (17-2)	24	0	NR
25.	Wartburg (16-4)	22	0	23

Dropped out: No. 18 East Texas Baptist (15-4).

Others receiving votes: Hardin-Simmons (14-4) 17; Ithaca (17-3) 16; Mary Hardin-Baylor (17-2) 14; Gettysburg (18-2) 10; UC Santa Cruz (13-2) 9; East Texas Baptist (15-4) 6; Southern Virginia (18-3) 6; Johns Hopkins (17-2) 3; SUNY Cortland (17-2) 2; Bowdoin (16-5) 1; DeSales (15-3) 1.

The WBCA NCAA Division III Coaches Poll Committee is composed of one head coach from each of the 10 NCAA Division III regions. The committee for the 2021-22 season: Casey Kushiyama, Puget Sound; Alex Lang, Brooklyn; Jen McCormick, Illinois College; Bobbi Morgan, Ursinus; Alex Richey, Oglethorpe; Sacha Santimano, Bowdoin; Mia Smith, Illinois Wesleyan; Daphne Thompson, SUNY Oneonta; Kelly Thompson, Roger Williams; Suzy Venet, Mount Union.