WESTMINSTER, Md. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team fell in its season-opener as the Cardinals dropped a non-conference matchup to Christopher Newport, 74-48, in the McDaniel College Tip-Off Invitational. The loss dropped Fisher to 0-1 on the young season while the Captains, who entered the contest ranked second in the nation according to the latest D3hoops.com national poll, improved to 2-0.
Erin Hulbert led the way for Fisher with nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
Nicole Robinson finished with seven points and seven boards including two on the offensive end while
Caroline Robertson added six points in the loss. Freshman
Olivia Baumann contributed six points and four rebounds in her debut and
Sydney Masna ended up with four points and four boards of her own in her first-career appearance.
The Cardinals were faced with an uphill climb from the get-go after Christopher Newport began the first quarter with an 11-2 run. Fisher would cut the gap to seven points late in the frame when Robinson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, but the Captains closed out the quarter the same way they started with another 11-2 run to hold a 16-point edge after 10 minutes of play, 29-13.
Christopher Newport continued to build its lead in the second stanza as the Captains led by as many as 25 points before the Cardinals chipped away to head into halftime trailing by 19, 44-25.
In the third period, the Captains scored 15 points off turnovers and extended their advantage to 31 points leading into the final stretch. The Cardinals eventually trailed by 35, but closed out the game with three from behind the arc to make it a 26-point affair when the final horn sounded.
In total, Christopher Newport scored 52 of its 74 points off turnovers. Fisher scored 18 points in the paint and received 18 points from its bench in the loss.
The Cardinals will return to the court at 2 p.m. on Saturday when they face Chatham in the consolation game of the McDaniel Tip-Off Invitational.
