LILBURN, Ga. -- In the first regular season national rankings of the year, the Christopher Newport women's basketball team moved up to No. 2 in the nation according to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Captains (5-0) moved up from their preseason perch at No. 4 and earned one first-place vote with 228 total points.
In addition to the Captains moving up the national rankings, head coach
Bill Broderick also announced that Tuesday night's matchup at William Peace University was postponed. Stay tuned to CNUsports.com for updates on a makeup date against the Pacers.
Defending national champions and preseason No. 1 Hope College retained its spot with the remaining nine first-place votes and 248 total points. Picked behind the Captains to round out the top five were Amherst (224 pts), NYU (208 pts), and Trinity (TX) (208 pts).
Christopher Newport has been ranked in the top-ten in the WBCA poll since the first regular season poll of last season, when they checked in at No. 7 on the November 23, 2021 ranking. The Captains climbed all the way to No. 1 in the poll on January 31 and held position through their exit in the NCAA Tournament in mid-March. CNU finished the 2021-22 campaign ranked No. 7 in the nation and started this year at No. 4 in the preseason poll.
The Captains have yet to trail in any of their first five games this season, leading wire-to-wire while defeating opponents by an average of 50.6 points per game to lead the nation. CNU is averaging 90.4 points per game, ranking fourth in the country, while holding opponents to just 39.8 points per outing, ranking sixth in the country.
Balance has been key with four different leading scorers in five games and not a single player averaging more than 18.4 minutes per game so far this season. Sophomore
Hannah Kaloi and senior
Katy Rader have a slight edge in the scoring column for the Captains while six different CNU players are pouring in 9.3 points per game or more.
Christopher Newport will return to action this weekend with a Sunday afternoon tilt against the University of Lynchburg (1-4). Tip-off against the Hornets is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Freeman Center.
The first D3hoops.com regular season rankings will be released next week. Christopher Newport was pegged No. 6 in the preseason rankings in the media poll.
|
Rank
|
School (Record)
|
Total
Points
|
First-Place Votes
|
Last-
Week's
Rank
|
|
1
|
Hope (4-0)
|
248
|
9
|
1
|
|
2
|
Christopher Newport (5-0)
|
228
|
1
|
4
|
|
3
|
Amherst (3-0)
|
224
|
0
|
3
|
|
4
|
NYU (4-0)
|
208
|
0
|
7
|
|
5
|
Trinity, TX (4-0)
|
205
|
0
|
6
|
|
6
|
Transylvania (2-0)
|
201
|
0
|
5
|
|
7
|
UW-Whitewater (4-0)
|
189
|
0
|
8
|
|
8
|
Smith (4-0)
|
182
|
0
|
9
|
|
9
|
Tufts (4-0)
|
161
|
0
|
10
|
|
10
|
Scranton (5-0)
|
155
|
0
|
12
|
|
11
|
Baldwin-Wallace (4-0)
|
153
|
0
|
15
|
|
12
|
Trine (3-1)
|
134
|
0
|
2
|
|
13
|
Mary Hardin-Baylor (2-0)
|
129
|
0
|
14
|
|
14
|
UW-Oshkosh (6-0)
|
114
|
0
|
18
|
|
15
|
Whitman (3-1)
|
93
|
0
|
11
|
|
16
|
Ithaca (4-0)
|
82
|
0
|
22
|
|
17
|
Babson (3-0)
|
76
|
0
|
21
|
|
18
|
Rochester, NY (4-0)
|
72
|
0
|
NR
|
|
19
|
Springfield (4-1)
|
63
|
0
|
20
|
|
20
|
Messiah (3-1)
|
54
|
0
|
19
|
|
21
|
UC-Santa Cruz (5-0)
|
48
|
0
|
RV
|
|
22
|
St. John Fisher (4-1)
|
32
|
0
|
17
|
|
23
|
John Carroll (2-1)
|
31
|
0
|
22
|
|
24
|
DePauw (2-2)
|
25
|
0
|
16
|
|
25
|
Hardin-Simmons (3-0)
|
24
|
0
|
RV
|
Dropped out: No. 13 Simpson (2-2); No. 24 Rhodes (3-1); No. 25 Wisconsin Lutheran (2-1).
Others receiving votes: Simpson (2-2) 17; DeSales (3-0) 16; Johns Hopkins (3-1) 16; Wisconsin Lutheran (2-1) 14; Calvin (4-0) 11; Roanoke (3-0) 11; Mary Washington (5-0) 9; Rhodes (3-1) 9; Roger Williams (1-2) 6; Puget Sound (2-1) 3; Williams (3-0) 3; Pacific, OR (4-0) 2; Stevens (4-1) 1.
