NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A couple of cold spells during the second half for Virginia Wesleyan College's women's basketball Marlins were too much to overcome in a 72-57 non-conference loss at Christopher Newport University on Saturday.

After junior Rachael Miller (Sterling, Va./Park View) nailed a triple to pull the Marlins within a 35-33 score in the second half, shooting cooled off for VWC.  The Marlins hit only 3-of-14 field goal attempts in the first 10 minutes, helping CNU (4-0) top open up a 56-41 lead.

Tia Perry (Goldsboro, N.C./Tabb, Va.) and Jerlisa Bowser (Fredericksburg, Va./Courtland) sparked the scoring in that span for the host Captains, who still had to battle off the Marlins down the stretch.

Virginia Wesleyan sparked an 8-0 run behind rookie Brittany Glasco (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) and seniors Kristen Blalock (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian) andShawnee Lewis (Alexandria, Va./Thomas A. Edison) to pull within a 56-49 score with 7:43 remaining to be played. 

But, that's when another cold spell hampered Virginia Wesleyan as the Marlins missed on six consecutive shots, by Perry, Andrea Hobbs (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale), and Nicole Mitchell (Falls Church, Va./George Mason) came through with key scores for CNU to push the Captains out to a 67-51 lead with 2:18 on the clock.  Blalock ended the scoreless stretch for VWC with a triple.

Virginia Wesleyan connected on just 27.8% of its field goal attempts in the second half, while CNU hit on 51.6%.

CNU also won the battle of the backboards, 50-36, led by Mitchell with 15.  Blalock pulled down eight rebounds for VWC.

Rookie Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) and Blalock paced the Marlins with 10 points each. 

Perry led CNU with 17 points, Kimmy Hokpins tallied 16, and Bower scored 13.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Wednesday, Jan. 30, in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference contest at 6 p.m. against Bridgewater College's Eagles.  The game will be played at VWC's Jane P. Batten Student Center.

--AMDG--