Basketball Drops Dixie Openers

Both the Men and Women Fall to Christopher Newport  

For More Information Contact: Scott Musa 540.665.5417

Women's Basketball

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The SU women's basketball team opened its 2001-02 Dixie Conference schedule Wednesday evening with an 81-56 loss at defending champion Christopher Newport University.

CNU (10-1, 1-0) jumped out to a 48-27 advantage and cruised to the 25 point win. SU (2-7, 0-1) has now lost three straight games to start the spring semester.

Senior Wendy Legge (Stephens City, Va./Sherando) led the Hornets with 17 points, while classmate Rosaline Fisher (Greencastle, Pa./Hagerstown CC) and freshman Jenny Gray (Sumerduck, Va./Liberty) both added nine.

Fisher also had a team high seven rebounds.

A complete box score and play by play can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/thisweek/010902.asp 

Both the men and women will return home on Saturday for Dixie Conference contests against Averett University. Game time is 2:00 for the women and 4:00 for the men.

Men's Basketball

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The men's basketball team nearly pulled off its biggest upset of the season Wednesday night, leading No. 9 in the nation Christopher Newport for nearly 37 minutes before falling 62-57.

Shenandoah (4-7, 0-1) jumped out early against the host Captains (11-1, 1-0), leading 14-6 at the first media timeout. Sophomore John Tigney (Winchester, Va./James Wood) led this run with five points while senior Jacob Bates (Berryville, Va./Clarke County) added four.

SU extended its lead to 10 on two different occasions before CNU went on a 9-3 run in a span of just over a minute to close to within two at 21-19 with 6:54 to play in the  first. This would be as close as the hosts would get, as junior Tyson Thompson (Keysville, Va./Randolph Henry) capped a 9-4 Shenandoah run to finish the half with a runner in the lane as the buzzer sounded.

Thompson and Bates led a balanced first half scoring attack with six points apiece.

Although the Captains cut the deficit to one twice in the opening moments of the second, the Hornets extended their lead to nine at 43-34 by the time of the first media timeout of the second half.

Following that break, SU turned up the pressure, scoring a pair of buckets including a dunk by junior Ronald Merriwether (Frankfurt, Germany/Giessen American) that caused CNU to call its first full time-out of the contest.

Unfortunately, the Hornets could not continue this level of success. Leading 51-38 with 6:30 to play, Shenandoah saw the Captains go on a 13-0 run to tie the game with 3:33 left. The final three minutes saw three lead changes and two ties before Terry Gray finally gave the hosts the lead for good with a three-pointer with just under a minute to play.

Merriwether led with 14 points, Thompson added 13 and Atkins 10  while Bates had a game high 11 rebounds.

A complete box score and play by play can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/thisweek/010902.asp