Newport News, Va. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team nearly pulled off the upset over nationally-ranked Christopher Newport University Wednesday evening. However, No. 17 Christopher Newport rallied and came out on top with a 58-55 Capital Athletic Conference victory.

St. Mary's (8-16, 6-11 CAC) erased an eight-point halftime deficit and turned it into a seven-point advantage with 6:36 remaining in the game thanks to the hot hand of sophomore captain Kerri Kline (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James School) who drained three straight three-pointers in less than three minutes. The Seahawks still owned a 53-49 advantage at 2:08 as senior guard Anna McClain (Durham, N.C./Carolina Friends) made both free throws.

Christopher Newport (22-2, 15-2 CAC) tied the game twice in the final four minutes as a result of its own sharpshooter, first-year guard Brooke Basinger (Purcellville, Va./Woodgrove). Basinger knocked down a three off a Makenzie Fancher (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) assist at 4:04 to knot the contest at 47-47 and then two free throws by first-year guard Zhara Tannor (Midlothian, Va./Midlothian) tied it up at 53-53 at 1:41.

Basinger struck again at 1:13 with another triple to give the Captains their first lead since the 5:27-mark of the third quarter. Kline's jumper cut the lead to one with nine seconds on the clock. McClain picked up her third foul two seconds later and Fancher sank them both to seal the three-point win for CNU.

The loss puts St. Mary's back into a two-way tie with Penn State Harrisburg (10-14, 6-11 CAC) for the sixth and final CAC playoff spot as Harrisburg posted a win over Wesley College (6-18, 5-12 CAC) tonight. The Seahawks travel to Dover, Delaware this Saturday, February 20 to face Wesley at 1:00 p.m. in the regular-season finale. A win at Wesley will lock up the sixth seed for St. Mary's as they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Harrisburg.

Junior center Nina Haller (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) almost had a triple-double as Haller tallied her ninth double-double of the season with 16 points and game-best 12 rebounds while adding a career-high seven blocks. Kline notched a game-best 17 points as she made four triples and contributed six boards. Sophomore captain Olivia Nowlin (Glenelg, Md./Glenelg) chipped in 10 points and four assists.

The Captains held a 26-18 halftime lead after outscoring St. Mary's 17-9 in the second quarter. Basinger paced CNU at the end of the first half with eight points off the bench on a pair of triples while Haller led the Seahawks with eight points and seven caroms.

St. Mary's turned the tables on the Captains in the third, holding the hosts to just five points and outrebounding them, 14-10. The Seahawks shot 50-percent in the period to stake a 36-31 lead at the end of three.

Basinger finished with 17 points leading Christopher Newport in its 17th consecutive win as she was 5-of-8 from downtown.

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