Women's Basketball Wins Season Opener, Downs William Paterson, 68-49

ST. MARY'S CITY, MD - Christopher Newport's women's basketball team won its season opener 68-49 over William Paterson day one of the St. Mary's Tournament Friday evening.

The Lady Captains scored the first 14 points in Friday night's win. The Pioneers scored their first bucket with 13:56 left in the first half.

CNU's biggest lead of the first half was 17 points, which occurred several times. William Paterson would cut the lead to 14, 34-20 at the break on a lay-up by Asia Johnson with three seconds left in the half.

The Pioneers were 9-of-34 (27%) from the field in the first half and missed all 11 three-point attempts. The Lady Captains shot 50% (12-of-24) from the field and 10-of-12 (83%) from the charity stripe.

CNU began the half on a 20-4 run to lead 54-34 with 12:11 left on Jessica Carmon's jumper. The Lady Captains led again by 30 on Kelly White's bucket with 10:13 to go to lead 56-26.

The Lady Captains were 15-of-24 (63%) from the floor in the second half and held William Paterson to just 11-of-39 (28%) shooting. For the game, CNU was 27-of-48 (56%) from the floor, 2-of-4 from behind the arc and 12-of-18 (67%) from the line. The Pioneers finished 20-of-73 (27%) from the field, 3-of-23 (13%) on three-point attempts and 6-of-14 (43%) from the free throw line.

The Pioneers were led by Michelle Pellichero's 14 points and Johnson added 11 and 10 rebounds.

Candace Bryant led CNU with 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from the line. She also had nine rebounds. Nikki Rowland contributed 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Dee Luck added nine points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

William Paterson is now 0-1 and will play Arcadia in the consolation game Saturday at 5 pm. CNU is 1-0 and will play St. Mary's in the championship at 7 pm.

Box Score