Greensboro Women’s Basketball Falls to Nationally Ranked Christopher Newport 62-50

(GREENSBORO, N.C.) — A late comeback attempt by The Pride women’s basketball team came up short in a 62-50 setback on Friday night at home against #25 nationally ranked Christopher Newport (10-0, 3-0). The loss was the first USA South defeat for Greensboro (6-3, 2-1) this season.

Both teams struggled from the field in the first half but came alive in the second half. The Pride trailed 25-16 at the break after shooting 6-29 from the floor and 1-9 from three.

Greensboro raced out to a 9-2 lead at the 13-11 mark before the Captins ran off eight straight points to go on top 10-9. Christopher Newport pushed the margin to 19-11 before taking the nine point lead at halftime.

The Pride pulled to within 29-24 after coming out of the locker room, but saw the deficit hit double digits at 39-29 with 12:09 to play. The gap would grow to as large as 15 points at 56-41 with 4:36 remaining in the game.

Greensboro would not go away though, going on a 7-0 run to pull within 56-48 with 2:08 showing on the clock. Chevena Pickard, Bianca Richburg and Amber Hair contributed to spurt.

However, with the score 58-50 with 58 seconds left, Chantal Thomas knocked home two free throws to push the lead back to double digits. The Pride turned the ball over on their next possession and the Captains put the game away for good with two more free throws down the stretch.

After being held to two points in the first half, Richburg recorded 17 points in the second to finish with 19. She also added 12 rebounds to notch her seventh consecutive double-double on the year. In addition, Richburg blocked three shots to move within one block of tying Danielle Duncan’s career school record of 107.

Also chipping in for Greensboro offensively were Amber Hair with 11 points and Chevena Pickard with nine.

Both teams shot under 31% from the field for the game. The Pride lost the battle of the boards 50-38 and turned the ball over 20 times compared to 17 for Christopher Newport.

Greensboro will look to rebound on Saturday at home against North Carolina Wesleyan. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Hanes Gym.