St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior Sophie Pruden (Carrboro, N.C./Chapel Hill) registered her eighth double-double of the season but it wasn't enough as the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team dropped a 70-58 Capital Athletic Conference decision to league newcomer, No. 16 Christopher Newport University, Monday evening.

Pruden finished tonight's contest with 17 points and a game-best 14 rebounds as the Seahawks dominated the boards by a 51-33 rebounding margin.

Christopher Newport (15-2, 8-1 CAC) never trailed in the contest as the Captains raced out to an 18-5 lead in the opening six minutes and never looked back. A 6-0 spurt by St. Mary's (6-10, 3-6 CAC) helped to cut the deficit from 15 to 29-20 at 3:59 before CNU closed out the half with a 10-4 run.

Senior guard Tia Perry (Goldsboro, N.C./Tabb [Va.]) guided the Captains to their 39-24 halftime lead with a first-half best of 10 points while Pruden led St. Mary's with six points. Senior Bridget Wilkins (Washington, D.C./Washington Waldorf School) helped the Seahawks post a 23-16 rebounding margin with a first-half high of six caroms.

Senior forward Nicole Mitchell (Falls Church, Va./George Mason), this week's CAC Co-Player of the Week, gave CNU a 51-33 advantage at 11:28 of the second half with her only three-pointer of the game.

St. Mary's began to slowly nip at the Captains' heels, abating the 18-point deficit to six by outscoring the visitors, 24-12, over a 10-minute span. However, time ran out on the Seahawks' comeback rally and CNU went 5-for-6 from the line to seal the win.

Despite losing the rebounding battle, Christopher Newport was able to capitalize on 31 Seahawk turnovers for 31 of its 70 points. Perry finished the action with a game-best 20 points and seven rebounds while Mitchell notched 19 points and seven boards.

The Seahawks will continue their four-game home stand on Wednesday, January 29th when St. Mary's welcomes Salisbury University (10-7, 6-3 CAC) to the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena for another conference tilt at 6:00 p.m.

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