NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Playing in the championship game of the first annual Nelson Hinson Invitational, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team bounced out to an early lead and held off a comeback bid by Catholic University (7-4) to capture the tournament crown with a 81-73 win.

The Captains surrendered the lead for just one possession in the game when the Cardinals edged ahead of CNU late in the third quarter, 51-49, but a spark from seniors McKenna Snively and Hailey Kellogg flipped the score back in favor of the home team for good. First, Kellogg set up Snively for a go-ahead tree-pointer; then, after a discombobulated possession resulted in a foul that reset the clock and a kickball that reset it again, Snively went to the ground on a loose ball and scooted a pass back out to Kellogg for a momentum-shifting mid-range jumper. 

Catholic came down on the other end and went inside but junior forward Jessica Dornak was there, rejecting the Cardinals shot and pulling away a key rebound and shuffling a pass ahead to Kellogg. Two passes on the run led to Snively on the break, finishing with a circus layup under the basket on a feed from Madison McKenzie. 

After all that, the Captains had retaken a five-point lead with the 7-0 run, 56-51. The visiting Cardinals, receiving votes in the national rankings, continued to threaten with deadly three-point shooting that closed the gap multiple times in the final quarter. Each time, Christopher Newport had the answer. Early in the fourth, Catholic closed to within one again, 59-58, but McKenzie finished a layup and snagged an interception on the inbounds pass for another easy two by Caitlin Crump. After another three went down for the Cardinals, Sarah Pritz went to the line and calmly sank a pair of free throws. 

The back-breaking shot likely came on the first possession after a timeout with six minutes remaining when Elizabeth Creed set up Mia Wilson for a long bomb from the right wing that splashed in to make it 68-61. It was Wilson's final bucket of a season-high 19 point performance to lead all scorers in the game. While Catholic again hit a three-pointer two possessions later, CNU was able to answer offensively with a solid performance from the free-throw line down the stretch. As a group, the Captains knocked down seven of the last nine attempts from the charity stripe to ice the victory and retake a double-digit lead late. 

Prior to the thrilling third quarter surge by the visitors, the Captains built an eight-point lead at halftime and led by as many as 12 in the first half. Leaning on the size advantage down low, the Captains went inside in the first quarter, primarily to Jessica Dornak. Dornak finished the opening quarter with 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting and added a 5-of-6 showing from the FT line. Powered by Dornak and Mia Wilson's hot start, the Captains opened the game on a 14-2 run through the first 7:25 of game time.

After starting the game without a field goal in that time, going 1-for-9, Catholic closed the first quarter hitting 5-of-8 to shrink the CNU advantage back to two possessions. The game teetered back in favor of the Cardinals in the early portion of the second quarter as the visitors cut the lead to one, 27-26, with 6:38 remaining. Christopher Newport scored six straight points to answer the call, and again the lead was trimmed to two, 33-31, with 3:36 left. Another 6-0 run got the lead back to eight, 39-31, as Creed scored three and Crump added a key triple. A 9-2 finish to the half featured a traditional three-point play by Creed in the final minute to give CNU a 42-34 edge at the break. 

In the game, Wilson led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting while adding four rebounds, three assists, a blocked shot and one steal. Four CNU players finished in double figures with Dornak finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds, Crump pouring in 11 points including three triples, and Creed narrowly missing a double-double ith 10 points, 9 rebounds. For her efforts, Dornak was named the tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Wilson. 

The unselfish offense racked up 19 assists on 25 made field goals with Kellogg leading the charge with five. McKenzie, Wilson, and Creed each added three helpers while Snively chipped in a pair. On the defensive side, CNU turned over the talented Catholic offense 19 times and grabbed 10 steals with seven blocks. 

With the victory, CNU has now won nine games in a row this season and improved to 11-2 overall. The Captains have matched the fourth longest home winning streak with 15 wins in a row at the Freeman Center dating back to November 13, 2024. It was the 280th victory in the Freeman Center since it opened paired with just 39 losses for a winning percentage of 87.8 percent. 

CNU will head back on the road for the next two gamesas the Captains travel to the St. Pete Classic in Florida for their next matchups after the holiday break. Christopher Newport will first take on Wellesley College at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 29 before facing Washington University in St. Louis at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 30. Both games will be played at Eckerd College in Florida. 

2025 Nelson Hinson Invitational All-Tournament Team:
Makenna Zimmerman, York (PA)
Leighan Jackson, Maryville
Anna Scoblick, Catholic
Carly Catania, Catholic
Mia Wilson, Chris. Newport
MVP: Jessica Dornak, Chris. Newport