Newport News, Va. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team dropped their second game in a row as the Seahawks succumbed to a 77-51 setback at the hands of future Capital Athletic Conference opponent, Christopher Newport University, Thursday night.

Senior forward Taylor Petrisko (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) and junior guard Aura Payne (Glen Burnie, Md./Severn School) paced the Seahawks (4-2) in the loss as Petrisko tallied season-highs of 11 points and three rebounds while Payne added 10 points with a season-best two triples.

Junior Sophie Pruden (Carrboro, N.C./Chapel Hill) led St. Mary's fight on the boards with a team-best eight caroms while junior forward Marché Pearson (Baltimore, Md./Laurel) hauled seven rebounds.  Both contributed eight points to the Seahawk offense.

The Seahawks played it close in the first half as St. Mary's shot 42.9% to the Captains' 40%, tying the game on a fast-break layup by Pruden before claiming a 6-5 lead at 15:42 on a Petrisko layup.  Christopher Newport went on a 13-4 run to boast its biggest advantage (8) of the half at 8:42.

Senior Joanna Murray (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) and Petrisko helped the Seahawks keep CNU in range, combining for nine points in the team's 13-7 spurt to pull within 25-23 at 1:32.  The Captains closed out the half on a 6-2 run to head into intermission with a 31-25 lead.

Petrisko led the Seahawks in the first half with eight points while Pruden had six rebounds as St. Mary's edged out CNU, 18-17, in rebounding, including a 14-12 margin in defensive boards.

Christopher Newport (6-0), who received votes in this week's D3hoops.com Women's Top 25, could not miss in the second half as the Captains shot 62.1% from the floor, including making two triples, while going 8-for-9 at the free throw in building a 20-point plus advantage with 6:45 remaining in the game.

Junior guard Tia Perry (Goldsboro, N.C.) paced the Captains with a game-best 19 points while senior guard Kelly Halverson (Poquoson, Va.) notched 16 and junior forward Nicole Mitchell (Falls Church, Va.) added 13 points.

St. Mary's will be back in action this Saturday, December 8 when the Seahawks welcome Marymount (Va.) University to the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena for a Capital Athletic Conference contest at 2:00 pm.

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