MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Earning a trip back to the conference championship game for the eighth consecutive season, the third-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team used a hot start and strong shooting performance to take down #4-seeded UC Santa Cruz (8-17) in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals, 76-50.
 
The Captains earned the team's 18^th straight win and improved to 25-1 on the season with the victory and will have an opportunity to capture a sixth-straight conference crown on Saturday. CNU will face either #2 Salisbury or #3 Mary Washington at 2:00 p.m. (CT) / 3:00 p.m. (ET) with an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament on the line.
 
In Friday afternoon's matchup at the Bloechl Center on the campus of Mount Mary University, the Captains raced out to a big lead by scoring the first 13 points of the game. In a microcosm of the season's offense as a whole, the Captains spread the ball around in the initial burst with four players combining for the first 13 points. Camille Malagar opened the game with back-to-back jumpers and Hannah Orloff added two straight buckets to make it 8-0. Hannah Kaloi then sank her first attempt from the field before Hailey Kellogg capped the game-opening run with a transition three off a feed from Kaloi.
 
The Banana Slugs halted the run with a timeout and a layup out of the break, but McKenna Snively splashed in a three-pointer and Kellogg added another bucket as CNU scored 18 of the first 20 points in the game. The dominant first quarter would close out with the Captains boasting a 28-9 lead when Sarah Pritz beat the buzzer with a three-pointer from the wing.
 
The lead would grow to as many as 22 in the first half when Madison McKenzie connected on a second-chance layup with two minutes remaining to make it 38-16. After a small 6-0 run by UC Santa Cruz, Malagar ended the half with another jumper to give the Captains a 40-22 advantage at the break. 
 
The fifth-year senior opened the second half much like she did the first, connecting on the first two shots of the third quarter. She buried back-to-back three-pointers for the Captains and quickly grew the lead to what was then a game-high 24 points, 46-22. With the hot shooting from long range, the lead would never shrink to less than 20 the remainder of the game as the Captains coasted to the semifinal victory.
 
Malagar led all CNU scorers with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting including three from beyond the arc. Senior forward Hannah Kaloi added 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting as the only other CNU player in double figures. The balanced offense got eight points from Gabbi San Diego, Orloff, and Pritz, and seven more from Kellogg. Thirteen players got into the scoring column including 43 points from non-starters.
 
CNU shot nearly 47 percent from the floor in the game by going 30-for-64 (46.9 percent). From long range, the Captains connected on seven three-pointers on 23 attempts (30.4 percent). CNU had 19 assists on 30 made baskets with Alexia Lindsey leading the way with four helpers. Elizabeth Creed and Kellogg each added three assists as well. 
 
Defensively, the Captains forced 20 turnovers and snagged nine steals. 
 
CNU will look to defend is five-time conference championship titles on Saturday afternoon with tip set for 3:00 p.m. Eastern.