Following their Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference victory over Mary Washington, the Christopher Newport University women’s basketball team completed an undefeated season, going 26-0. This gave them their fourth straight conference championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

This accomplishment is huge as they should now be a top seed in the NCAA Tournament and will be favored by many. Last season, they became the fourth team in CNU Athletics history to earn the top spot in a national poll. However, the end to that campaign is one the team will want to forget as they fell 76-71 to Trinity in the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

Throughout the 2022-2023 campaign, the Captains have been dominant. They have defeated opponents by an average margin of 37 points and have attempted 15 more field goals than their opposition. Offensively, the Captains have averaged 87.7 points per game, shot 47% from the field, and 34% from beyond the arc. Defensively, the Captains average 17 steals and 4.5 blocks per game. The Captains have outrebounded their opponent by a margin of 6.8, averaged a 1.2 assist to turnover ratio, turned the ball over almost half as much as their opponent, and scored 35 points off of their opponent’s mistakes.

Individually, Sondra Fan is leading the Captains in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game. She has also been shooting 49% from the field and 41% from three. She also leads the team in steals, averaging 2.3 per game. Another key contributor to the Captains is Anaya Simmons, who is averaging 14.1 points per game while also averaging a team-high 7.8 rebounds. She is also averaging 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Hannah Orloff  is also having a solid season, averaging 6.3 points per game to go along with 4.4 rebounds and a team-high 1.5 blocked shots per game.

As a team, the Captains have been stellar defensively, holding opponents to 51 points per game while allowing them to shoot 35% percent from the field and 25% from three. Only two of their games this season have been decided by ten points or fewer.

The NCAA tournament will be a test for the Captains as the competition will likely be tougher than the teams they have faced in the regular season. They will be hoping to advance further in the tournament this time around compared to how they did last season. The Captains will be putting their perfect season on the line in the NCAA Tournament this March and it will be very interesting to see how they fare on a national scale.