SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- Trailing by eight points with just one quarter left to play, the 12th-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball came from behind to capture a 68-63 win at Susquehanna (1-1) on Sunday evening to win the Tipoff Tournament title. Junior guard
Madison McKenzie was named the Most Valuable Player after pouring in another 19 points, including six in the decisive fourth quarter, to lead the Captains to a 2-0 start this weekend.
McKenzie had a dominant overall performance against the River Hawks by pairing her 19 points with seven rebounds, five steals, two blocks, and one assist. She was 8-for-9 at the free throw line and knocked down five shots including one three-pointer. McKenzie scored 26 points in the opener against Cobleskill and completed the two-day event averaging 22.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 steals.
She was joined on the All-Tournament team by fellow junior
Sarah Pritz who had nine rebounds and four points in the first game before knocking down three triples against Susquehanna and finishing with 12 points.
As a team, the Captains protected the ball better in the second game of the tournament with only 15 turnovers compared to the 25 forced against Susquehanna. CNU had 16 steals, led by McKenzie's five, including three by
Mia Wilson and two each by
Jessica Dornak and
Kaycee Doughty.
The first half featured a back-and-forth affair with neither team taking more than a two-possession until the home team added a pair of free-throws at the buzzer to take a seven-point lead into the break, 38-31. Pritz led the Captains in the first 20 minutes with all three of her three-pointers coming before halftime and she went into the locker room with 10 points. McKenzie had nine of her 19 in the first half as CNU kept pace with 11 points off 14 turnovers.
The third quarter continued to feature a hard-fought, hotly-contested battle between two quality teams. The Captains scored the first nine points of the half including a three-point play by McKenzie followed by a steal that led to a
Caitlin Crump layup, forcing a Susquehanna timeout.
Elizabeth Creed added a layup to tie things up at 38-all before Crump added a fast-break bucket to cap the 9-0 run with the lead, 40-38.
Atiana Williams knocked down a three-pointer with 4:07 remaining int he third to tie things up at 44-all, but Susquehanna would end up with its largest lead of the game by closing out the third period with an 8-0 burst. It was when the scoreboard changed to the fourth quarter that Christopher Newport pressed on the gas and took control.
Facing the eight-point deficit, the Captains went on another big run, with a 10-0 start to the final frame to retake the lead, 54-52. The River Hawks tied it up with a layup, but the run continued when McKenzie finished a second-chance opportunity and
Mia Wilson buried back-to-back three-pointers to open up a six-point advantage. After a foul on the next possession, McKenzie converted both free throws to give the Captains their largest lead of the game, at eight, with a 64-56 lead and just 3:04 remaining.
The hosts would not go quietly, and clawed back to within two with a minute to play, but the CNU defense forced a miss on the next possession and closed out the game at the free throw line with two makes by Creed and two more by Crump for the final verdict, 68-63.
The score was tied 11 times and the lead changed hands nine times in the back-and-forth battle. Christopher Newport, who led the nation in bench scoring last season, got 24 points from its reserves on Sunday with a dozen coming from Pritz. Wilson had eight points and Doughty added four to round out the bench scoring.
With McKenzie leading the starters, Dornak and Crump added eight points, Creed had six, and Williams dropped in three points.
The Captains will carry the perfect 2-0 start home for the first game at the Freeman Center on Wednesday, November 11 against Saint Vincent College (0-1) at 6:00 p.m.
