HOBOKEN, N.J. — It has been exactly four years to the day that the third-ranked Christopher Newport women’s basketball team suffered their last regular season loss and on Friday night on the very same floor, CNU dropped a 73-69 decision to SUNY New Paltz (6-2), snapping a string of 71 consecutive regular season wins by the Captains (12-1) dating back to the 2019 calendar year. Playing in the Stevens Holiday Classic, the Captains erased a second-half deficit and led by three with a minute and a half to play, but New Paltz finished on a 7-0 run to close out the upset victory.
Christopher Newport suffered just it’s third loss in the last 89 games dating back to December 29, 2019 when CNU fell to then-No. 1 Tufts University, 70-65, at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, New Jersey. After that loss, CNU put together a program-record 43-game winning streak before falling in the 2022 NCAA Round of 16, and a 31-game roll last season before finishing out the year in the national championship game.
CNU was out to a 12-0 start this season, improving to 86-2 in that stretch, before Friday night’s defeat to New Paltz.
The game was a back-and-forth battle featuring two very strong defensive teams that forced a combined 48 turnovers with 31 steals in the game. The Captains trailed at the half for the first time this season, 37-36, and New Paltz built a lead to as many as eight points in the third quarter before Christopher Newport mounted a thrilling comeback in the fourth quarter.
The Captains endured a mighty drought to start the third quarter, but their team defense managed to…
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