WINCHESTER, Va. - No. 3 in the nation Christopher Newport University rallied for a 74-62 USA South Conference women's basketball victory over host Shenandoah Wednesday evening.

Shenandoah (2-4, 0-1 USA South) led by as many as five points in the contest and as late as the 7:49 mark of the second before CNU (4-0, 1-0) got hot midway through the stanza.

Trailing 45-40 after Crystal Williams drained a 3-pointer for the hosts with 14:38 to play, Christopher Newport used a Kimmy Hopkins jumper and a Chantal Thomas three-point play to tie the game just 13 seconds after Williams' 3-ball.

SU answered with a Sam Akers 3-pointer to retake the lead, but CNU wasn't going away.

Shenandoah took its last lead on another Akers bucket, this one a runner in the lane at the 7:49 mark, before the Captains finally took the lead for good with a 6-0 run from the 7:33 to 6:37 marks.

This spurt, part of a larger 11-3 run, came largely on the back of CNU senior All-America Chelsie Schweers.

Schweers, who finished with a game-high 23 points, had six of her team's 11 points in the run and effectively ended a contest in which the two teams traded the lead 14 times and were tied on eight other occasions.

Christopher Newport closed out the Hornets with another run, this one 15-4, as SU missed eight of its last nine shots from the field and got only a Mandy Johnston 3-pointer and a Sierra Edwards free throw in the final five minutes of the contest.

Johnston led the hosts with 14 points and Akers added 12 off the bench.

In addition to Schweers' 23, Lauren Gural had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Hopkins 15 points for the Captains.

Shenandoah is off for the next 10 days due to final exams and returns to action on December 11 at Methodist in another USA South Conference contest.