NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Playing in front of a season-high crowd of over 700 at the Freeman Center on Saturday afternoon, the fifth-ranked Christopher Newport women's basketball team picked up win number twenty on the season with a 71-61 victory over Salisbury University. The Captains got a team-high 19 points out of junior forward Hannah Kaloi and a hard-nosed all-around effort from fifth-year senior Katy Rader to lead the way.
It is the eighth consecutive season and the 24th all-time 20-win campaign in CNU women's basketball history.
Rader gutted out a team-high 31 minutes on the floor while fighting through seemingly constant contact on both the offensive and defensive ends. She attacked the passing lanes all game and finished with a career-high seven steals, while also grabbing a season-high eight rebounds and matching her season-high with six assists.
Christopher Newport improves to 20-1 on the season, becoming the second Division III team in the nation to reach the 20-win mark. The victory was the 49th consecutive home win, marking the longest active streak in Division III, and also the 16th straight win against Salisbury in the all-time series. CNU swept the season series after also capturing an 86-39 win on the road two weeks prior.
A free-throw by Nicole Timko halfway through the third quarter gave th Captains their largest lead of the game at 15 points, 49-34, but Salisbury continued to try and claw back into the game for the final 15 minutes of action. The Sea Gulls would not get closer than eight, however, as Christopher Newport had an answer for each of the visitors comeback bids. After trimming the lead to eight on a three-point play wih a minute and a half remaining in the third quarter, the Captains turned to Hannah Kaloi for a three-pointer off of one of Rader's six assists.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Hailey Kellogg set up Alivia Giles for a bucket to get things started and then Giles would add a traditional three-point play two possessions later. After a three-pointer by Salisbury trimmed the lead to nine again, Giles finished on a stick-back to give the Captains a double-digit lead again. Rader then snagged back-to-back steals on the next two Salisbury possessions and set up Faith Henderson for a fast-break layup.
Still, Salisbury rallied and pulled within nine on another three-pointer with less than five minutes remaining, but both offenses stalled for over two minutes as Christopher Newport managed to coax the clock to the finish line. A pair of missed free-throws by the Gulls led to a CNU timeout and out of the break, a perfectly-drawn up play between Kaloi and Giles bounced the lead back to 11 with just two and a half minutes left, 68-57. Both teams were solid from the line in the final stretch, but the lead was too much to overcome for the visitors and CNU notched the team's eighth straight win.
Kaloi led the Captains with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting including a 5-of-6 day at the free-throw line. Giles added 11 points and five rebounds as the only other CNU player in double figures. Alexia Lindsey had a strong day offensively, adding nine points with five boards while going a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. The balanced offense also saw eight points from Nicole Timko, seven for Mia Wilson, and four each for Faith Henderson and Ashley Steadman. The team played without Camille Malagar, who sat out with an injury, for the first time after starting the first 20 games this year.
As a team, Christopher Newport shot 41.5 percent (22-53) from the field. The defense forced 32 turnovers and grabbed 15 steals, led by the career-mark from Rader with seven. Giles, Timko, and Caitlin Crump each added a pair.
Salisbury was led by Hailey Ader with 21 points and six rebounds while Kayla Nieberlein added nine points and nine rebounds.
CNU will return to action on Wednesday, January 31 when they welcome in the University of Mary Washington for a 6:00 p.m. tip.