SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The top-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team are Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Champions after a 71-64 win over host and second-seeded UC Santa Cruz (15-4) at Kaiser Permanente Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Captains went from coast to coast to secure the team's third consecutive conference title and the subsequent automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.
 
Led by All-Conference trio Sondra Fan, Anaya Simmons, and Natalie Terwilliger, the Captains ran their win streak to 41 straight games, tied for the tenth longest Division III women's basketball winning streak all-time. The Captains improved to 24-0 as the trifecta scored 54 of CNU's 71 points. Including senior guard Phylicia McInnis' nine points, the starting five scored all but eight points in the game for a season-high effort.

Christopher Newport wins the first ever Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship and the team's fourth title since joining the league in 2013-14.
 
The top-seeded Captains trailed early as the Banana Slugs became just the fourth team this season to take a lead of more than four points in a game against CNU. UCSC led by as many as seven, 23-16, with 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter, before Christopher Newport used a dominant middle two quarters to pull away from the home team.
 
After Santa Cruz took a four-point lead, 30-26, with 5:38 remaining in the second quarter, the Captains' shifted momentum with a 7-2 run to close the first half. That roll would turn into an 18-2 burst less than two minutes into the second half as the suffocating defense and quick-paced offense opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run. CNU snatched a 12-point lead, 44-32, with 11 points in just 1:44 of clock.
 
Fan started the run with a layup and on the ensuing Banana Slugs possession, the Conference Player of the Year took a hard charge at mid-court to get the ball right back. She then set up Simmons for an easy bucket and the junior forward cleaned up on the offensive glass the next trip down the floor. The Captains then got five more quick points off turnovers as Fan grabbed a steal and finished two free throws right before Simmons snagged a pass and set up McInnis for a triple from the corner to force a timeout.
 
The frenetic pace to the second half saw CNU race out to a double-digit lead, but Santa Cruz countered and pulled back within six over the next several minutes. Hannah Kaloi converted on a nice feed from Julia Ng to end the short run and Fan buried a long three-pointer to re-take an 11-point edge. CNU then turned to Terwilliger to finish out the third frame on fire. The senior forward factored into four straight buckets for the Captains with six points and an assist on Fan's three-pointer to give CNU a 56-44 edge near the end of the period. Punctuating a dominant 28-point performance in the third quarter was a three-point play by Simmons right before the buzzer sounded, pushing the lead to a game-high 14 points, 61-47.
 
In the fourth quarter, the veteran Captains' group answered each Santa Cruz attempt to claw back into the contest and held off a late surge. After a three-point play from Kaylee Murphy and a three-pointer by Amanda Inserra early in the period, the Captains defense blocked a shot and grabbed two steals to get Simmons another layup and Kaloi a couple of free-throws. The freshman forward was the only Captain off the bench with more than two points as she finished the game with four, including the pivotal free-throws to push the lead to 12 with just over five minutes left.
 
Santa Cruz put the Captains' on the line late and managed to chip away the lead to five, 69-64, but it was a defensive play that nailed down the win for CNU. After a timeout with 18 seconds left, UC Santa Cruz attempted to inbound the ball but Fan jumped the passing lane and earned a trip to the line where she would ice the victory.
 
Simmons finished out an impressive trip to California with a double-double including a team-high tying 19 points with 13 rebounds. Fan added 19 points with four three-pointers while also dishing three assists and grabbing a pair of steals. Terwilliger just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds and tacked on a block and a steal. McInnis buried three triples for nine points and rookie point guard Gabbi San Diego had seven assists to just one turnover to lead the offense.
 
As a team, the Captains shot 46.4% from the field in the second half  and held Santa Cruz to only 36.1% (22-61) in the game. The Banana Slugs were just 4-for-18 from beyond the arc for a 22.2% effort.

CNU will be making the team's 22^nd NCAA Tournament appearance after securing the program's 15^th conference championship. Selections, game times, opponents, and locations will be announced on the NCAA Selection Show live on NCAA.com this Monday, February 28 at 2:30 pm. Stay tuned to CNUsports.com for more updates.