Junior guards Jordan Carpenter and Keagan Schwab earned team highs in points, 14 and 9 respectively, in the University of Mary Washington womens' basketball teams' loss to #1 CNU, on Wednesday evening in Fredericksburg, Va. The Eagles fall out of the D3 rankings to a record of 14-3.
Schwab opened the game with 2 baskets in the first 4 minutes, which was followed closely by 2 buckets from Carpenter. Sophomore guard Elizabeth Dufrane closed out the first quarter for the Eagles with a 3-pointer with 5 seconds to go to bring the 1st quarter score to an advantage for the Captains of Christopher Newport 18-12. The Captains balanced attacked and ability to spread the ball around early allowed for open shots and good play inside the paint.
Senior Ashley Martin opened the second quarter with a bucket at 9:35, which was the only bucket for the Eagles until Carpenter at 6:00 and Schwab at 3:50. The rest of the baskets scored for UMW were at the free-throw line from Carpenter, Schwab, and Baxter. The lead for CNU continued to grow as good play inside the paint and good choice shots around the court helped them to a 14 point lead of 37-23.
Resiliency and good shots were the topics of discussion at the halftime break for the Eagles, for which the Eagles delivered, but could not stop CNU on either side of the ball for too long. The Eagles held the Captains in check for the most part with the score split for the 3rd quarter at 15-13 CNU, with Karissa Highlander, Carpenter, Baxter, Sydney Sherman, and Adeline Riner, all contributing and doing their best to stay competitive in a game that seemed out of reach.
Jordan Carpenter began the final quarter with 2 free-throws at 7:54, followed by Lexi Miller with two of her own made buckets from the stripe. Ashley Martin and sophomore Adeline Riner were able to add buckets at 5:30 and 1:47, followed by 2 made free-throws by Megan Baxter at 1:39 and two final baskets from Sydney Sherman at 1:01 and 30.0.
Although the Eagles were caught with a tough loss, the team played well and distributed the ball as best they could, despite physical defense from the Captains along with CNUs' slow starting offensive possessions to smartly take time off the clock throughout the game.
Carpenter made 5-14 shots en route to 14 points, 12 rebounds, going 4-6 from the free-throw line. Schwab and Dufrane each connected from beyond the arc, with Carpenter, Baxter, and Molly Sharman all adding 2 assists each. Carpenters' 12 rebounds was aided by Karissa Highlander, Ashley Martin, and Adeline Riner, with 4 rebounds each.
UMW shot 28.6% from the floor (16-56), making 2-12 three point attempts and 15-20 free throws. CNU shot 45.3% (29-64), making 4-19 three point tries and 7-12 free throws. The Eagles were outrebounded 4237-24, but had a bright spot in forcing 20 turnovers.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday when they host Averett University at 1:00 p.m.