Game Notes
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The top-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team takes a big win streak to the Big Apple on Saturday before heading to New Jersey on Sunday as the Captains face a pair of games on the road this weekend. The undefeated Captains (18-0) will face Pratt in Brooklyn at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday before then making the short trek through the Holland Tunnel to face New Jersey City University at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Christopher Newport is coming off a 69-52 win at Marymount on Wednesday night that extended the team's nation-leading road winning streak to 27 games. The Captains will take on two more road tests this weekend and have not dropped a game as the visiting team since November 23, 2019.
It will be just the second all-time meeting against the Cannoneers and the first-ever matchup against the Gothic Knights. CNU captured a 90-30 win against Pratt in last year's inaugural pairing in the C2C Showcase hosted by Mary Washington. This year, the Cannoneers are 1-16 while New Jersey City comes into the Sunday matinee riding a seven-game winning streak and boasting a 9-8 overall record. The Gothic Knights will face Kean on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Captains held Marymount to under 60 points marking the 135th time in the last six seasons that a team has failed to reach 60 against the CNU defense. In those instances, Christopher Newport is 130-5, including a perfect 15-0 mark this season when the opposing team has scored under 60 points. This year, the Captains' scoring defense ranks 29th in Division III with an average of 51.1 points per game scored against the tormenting Chaos defense. CNU also ranks first in the nation in turnover margin (+15.0) and forces 31.4 turnovers per game, ranking fifth in the country.
On the offensive end, senior forward
Anaya Simmons leads the nation in field-goal percentage while knocking down 64.4 percent of her shots and growing her CNU record career field-goal percentage to nearly 62 percent (.618). She is averaging 14.0 points per game and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest. Also averaging double figures is the team's leading scorer,
Sondra Fan, pouring in 14.4 points per game this season. Fan has been lethal from long range, burying 42.2 percent from beyond the arc to rank 14th in the nation.
Pratt has been led this season by Kylie Grant, averaging a league-best 20.9 points per game, but the sophomore guard has not played in the last three games. Behind her, the Cannoneers are led by Kinako Miyake with 9.4 points per game in 16 starts for Pratt in 2022-23.
New Jersey City University was receiving votes in the preseason D3hoops.com and has been one of the hottest teams in Division III over the last three weeks. In early December the Gothic Knights battled against then No. 3 Amherst before falling by just eight points, 76-68. Once the calendar flipped to the New Year, NJCU dropped a game to nationally-ranked Tufts before running off a streak of seven straight wins to move to the top of the NJAC standings.
The Gothic Knights are led by Damaris Rodriguez who has been an unstoppable force for New Jersey City throughout her career. The Preseason All-American ranks second nationally in points per game (25.3) and also ranks eighth in the nation in assists per game (5.7).
Live stats and a live video webcast will be provided by both schools for fans unable to attend in person. Links to both can be found on the women's basketball schedule at CNUsports.com.
Following the road trip to New York and New Jersey, the Captains will return home to host the 2nd Annual C2C Showcase next weekend. CNU will welcome UC Santa Cruz, Mary Washington, and Regent University in a classic format tournament with games scheduled at Noon and 2:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
