VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Taking on cross-water rival Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday night, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team captured a seventh straight victory and improved to 9-2 on the season with a 61-56 win on the road against the Marlins (5-4). The Captains led by as many as 25 in the first half before staving off a second-half comeback from the home team.
Madison McKenzie returned to the CNU lineup and promptly added another team-leading scoring performance as she finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. She was the only CNU player in double figures as the Captains registered another well-balanced performance offensively getting points from 11 different players in the victory.
Defensively, the Captains were superb throughout the first half. The Captains allowed just four made field goals in the first 20 minutes including a paltry 1-for-9 from the field to start the game through the first quarter. The Marlins finished the second 3-for-13 and wrapped up the opening half knocking down just 18.2 percent (4-22) against the vaunted CNU defense.
Capitalizing on turnovers, the Captains forced 22 in the first half and scored 23 points off of Marlins giveaways while Virginia Wesleyan managed to just scored 17 total first half points.
Meanwhile, CNU scored 19 points in the first quarter alone and added another 20 points in the second to open up a 30-17 lead at halftime. The largest lead of the game came after
Hazel Grepps posted a perfect trip to the free-throw line and gave the Captains a 37-12 advantage with 3:04 remaining in the first half.
In the early stages of the third quarter, the Captains maintained a 20-point lead when
Hailey Kellogg connected on a short jumper to make it 43-23 with 6:40 left. From there, though, the Marlins started to chip away and closed the deficit to just ten points heading into the final frame, 48-38.
Mia Wilson and
Elizabeth Creed came through with the only two field goals in that final stretch of the third quarter.
The Captains figured out their shooting woes to start the fourth quarter as Creed knocked down her first shot of the period and McKenzie scored eight of her 11 points to keep the home team at bay by a dozen with less than four minutes remaining, 58-46. Once again, the hosts started to trim the advantage in the waning moments by knocking down six straight free throws and connecting on a couple of field goals. When Brianna Long made it a one possession game going 2-for-2 at the line with seven seconds remaining, the Marlins ran out of time. Needing two fouls to get the Captains to the line, five more seconds ticked off the clock and a perfect trip at the stripe for Kellogg sealed the win for CNU, 61-56.
As CNU built the first half lead, senior
McKenna Snively buried three triples including a pair of highlight-reel splashes with a defender locked tight. She finished with nine points in her official season debut after missing the first ten games with an injury. Snively added one rebound, one assist, and one steal in 14 minutes of action. Kellogg added eight points including the game-sealing trip to the line and added two assists and two steals.
In the game, CNU forced 33 turnovers out of the Virginia Wesleyan offense and snagged 12 steals. Long led the Marlins with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Sydney Turner added a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 10 boards.
With the victory, the Captains close out the first 11 games boasting a 9-2 record with ten played away from home. CNU will return to the Freeman Center for a pair this weekend as the Captains host the first annual Nelson Hinson Invitational on Friday, December 19 and Saturday, December 20. In the first game at 5:00 p.m., Maryville will face Catholic and, at 7:00 p.m., the Captains will take on York College of Pennsylvania.
