FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- With a 75-56 victory over third-seeded Mary Washington on Saturday night, the top-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team won it's fourth straight conference championship and earned the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship. The Captains improved to 26-0 with four players finishing in double figures including a team-high 19 points by Gabbi San Diego.

CNU head coach Bill Broderick hauled in his 250th career coaching victory as the leader of the Captains' program since the start of the 2012-13 season. He and the Captains have now won 25 games in six straight seasons and seven of his ten years at the helm. Broderick is now 250-42 at Christopher Newport, for a winning percentage of 85.6 percent -- that mark puts him in the top-ten among active coaches across all three NCAA divisions. 

The milestone victory also punctuated one of the most dominant runs in conference play for graduate student Sondra Fan, who becomes the first CNU player to win four straight conference championships. During her tenure, the Captains are 101-11 including a perfect 9-0 run in conference tournament play. 

Fan was one of four players in double figures against the Eagles on Saturday, finishing with 10 points. The team was powered by a breakthrough effort from San Diego, scoring nine points in the first half and adding ten more in the second. She was nearly matched by Katy Rader, who poured in 17 points including a pair of three-pointers, while Camille Malagar rounded out the quartet of double-figure scorers with 10 points. 

Anaya Simmons was quiet offensively, scoring just five points, but did the lion's share of the work on the glass for Christopher Newport by hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds. She finished 2-for-3 from the floor and continues to add to her impressive senior campaign while surging into the top-25 all-time in scoring at CNU. With her performance this weekend, Simmons slipped by Allison Murray (1986-90) for 25th on the all-time chart. 

In Saturday's title game, the Captains trailed for just over four minutes in the first quarter, falling behind, 10-5, on a jumper by Keagan Schwab with 5:35 showing. CNU would close the opening quarter on a flourish, outpacing the home team on a 14-6 spurt to take the lead headed into the second quarter, 19-16. From there, CNU never relinquished the lead while stretching to as many as 15 in the first half and a game-high 21 in the fourth quarter. 

As is so often the case for the nationally-ranked Captains, balance was key as the lead continued to mount. Mary Washington was led by an outstanding singular performance by Jordan Carpenter, scoring a career-high 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but CNU countered with consistent ball movement and high-quality shot selection. The Captains shot 51.7 percent (15-29) from the floor in the first half and 45.5 percent (25-55) in the game. 

The defense forced 16 turnovers while holding Mary Washington to just 38 percent shooting (19-50) including a 9-of-34 effort by the team outside of Carpenter (26.4 percent).

With the victory, Christopher Newport added to it's nation-leading road winning streak with the team's 31st consecutive victory as the visiting team. 

CNU captured the program's 16th conference title all-time and will be appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the 24th time in program history. The NCAA Selection Show will be presented live online at NCAA.com this Monday, February 27 at 2:30 p.m. -- Christopher Newport will learn the location, game time, and opponent for their first round matchup during that show.