Women's Basketball Advances To USA South Title Game With 77-62 Win Over Greensboro

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - Christopher Newport's women's basketball team advanced to the USA South Conference Championship with a 77-62 win over Greensboro Friday night in the Freeman Center.

The Lady Captains advance to play Ferrum Saturday at 2 pm to decide who receives the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. It's the first time CNU has advanced to the title game since the 2003-2004 season when the Lady Captains defeated Chowan for the title.

CNU trailed by as many as nine in the opening stanza as Greensboro would take a seven point, 33-26 lead into the locker room at the break.

In the second half, the Lady Captains caught fire, hitting 18-of-29 (62%) shots from the floor, including six of eight three-pointers. CNU put up 51 points in the second half while holding the Pride to just 29 points. GC was 10-of-25 (40%) from the field in the second half and committed 10 turnovers.

For the game, GC was 24-of-61 (39%) from the field, 4-of-14 (29%) on three-pointers and 10-of-14 (71%) from the charity stripe. Christopher Newport finished 29-of-56 (52%) from the floor and moved to 9-0 on the year when they shoot 50% or better from the field. The Lady Captains also drained 6-of-11 (55%) three-pointers and finished 13-of-20 (65%) from the line.

The Pride was led by USA South Player of the Year Staci Humphrey with 28 points on 9-of-24 shooting, including 4-of-12 from behind the arc. Bobbie Barnes and Amoria Byrd each finished with 12 points.

The Lady Captains were led by Alicia Bessey and Nikki Rowland's 22 points. Bessey finished 9-of-16, including 3-of-5 on three-pointers. Rowland was 6-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-5 from behind the arc and 7-of-9 from the line. Candace Bryant added 11 and seven rebounds.

Greensboro falls to 18-9 overall while CNU improves to 19-8.

In the first semifinal, Ferrum held off Shenandoah for a 71-64 victory to move into the title game.

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