St. Mary's City, Md. – The playoff hopes of the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team remains alive despite a 74-55 loss Wednesday night to Christopher Newport University in Capital Athletic Conference action.

Tonight's loss slides St. Mary's (7-16, 7-10 CAC) back into a three-way tie for the final two spots in the upcoming CAC Tournament with Wesley College (11-13, 7-10 CAC) and York College of Pennsylvania (11-13, 7-10 CAC). The results of Saturday's games will determine which two of the trio will earn a spot in next week's playoffs.

The Seahawks need a win on Saturday in order to secure a playoff berth. St. Mary's hopes to complete the sweep of Southern Virginia University (7-17, 4-13 CAC) this Saturday, February 21st at 1:00 p.m. on the road in Buena Vista, Virginia in the regular-season finale.

Sophomore center Nina Haller (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) dropped career- and game-best 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting to pace the Seahawks while being one rebound shy of a double-double with game-high nine boards.

Christopher Newport (16-8, 12-5 CAC) opened up with a 7-2 lead before St. Mary's responded with a 12-6 run to claim its biggest advantage of the game – 14-11 – at 9:14. The two sides exchanged leads over the next five minutes and then the Captains closed out the half on a 13-9 run to establish a 36-30 halftime lead.

Haller led all scorers at intermission with half of her points while junior guard Jordan Miller (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) and first-year forward Sam Porter (Alexandria, Va./Mount Vernon) paced CNU with 11 and 10 points, respectively, as Miller was 3-of-5 from downtown. As a team, the Seahawks shot nearly 46% from the field and went 7-of-10 from the free throw line.

Three different Seahawks scored in the opening minutes of the second stanza to knot the game at 36-36 at 17:19. St. Mary's would not reclaim a lead again in the final 20 minutes as Christopher Newport pulled away with a 24-4 run to lead 60-40 with a little over 10 minutes remaining. The Captains didn't look back in cruising to their fourth straight win.

Four CNU players scored in double figures as Miller added three more in the second half to finish with a team-best 14. First-years Devon Byrd (Grottoes, Va./Fort Defiance) and Makenzie Fancher (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) combined for 23 points off the bench while Porter added 12 points and game-best nine boards. 

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