Lebanon, TN – Vilma Covane recorded 24 points, including the game-winning basket as time expired, to lead the (RV) Patriots women's basketball team to a 77-75 road win over Cumberland Thursday night. With the win, the Patriots improve to 11-2 overall and 7-2 in the MSC, while the Phoenix move to 2-6 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Leading the way for Patriot Vilma Covane who tallied her tenth career double-double with 24 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. The senior also notched three blocks and two steals in the game, while Destiny Haworth put up 13 points, including going 3-5 from deep and one rebound. Hannah Lawson contributed nine points, three assists, and two rebounds.

The Patriots started slowly in the first quarter allowing CU to forge a 4-0 lead until Carla Covane made a free throw, and her sister, Vilma Covane, made a jumper to tighten the deficit to 4-3 with 7:51 remaining. Following two assists by Veloso, the Patriots were able to overtake the lead at 8-6 with 5:23 remaining by a contested jumper on the low block by V. Covane. Following a series of traded buckets, Cumberlands was able to secure the lead once again at 13-11 with a three-pointer by Addison Wilson with 3:44 left in the first quarter. The Patriots continued with an 8-4 run to close out the first quarter with the score 21-15.

Cumberlands started hot in the second quarter with a huge three made by Lawson to enlarge their lead to 24-15 with 9:36 remaining. After CU went on a 7-4 run of their own, the Patriots were able to rifle back with a pair of made free throws by Veloso to extend their lead at 30-22 with 5:53 left in the second quarter. After two made free throws by CU, Cumberlands was able to manifest a contested three by Haworth to grow their lead to 41-34 with 1:22 remaining. To close out the first half, Covane made a tough layup under pressure to take the lead at 46-38. The Patriots showed grit on the defensive end of the floor for the first half, which led to 13 Cumberland turnovers.

At the start of the second half, the Patriots went on a 4-0 run spearheaded by a Covane jumper and Veloso transition layup, which then expanded the UC lead to 50-38 with 8:39 remaining in the third quarter. However, Cumberland responded with a series of threes to ignite a 10-0 run to make the score 50-48 with 4:05 remaining. After exchanging back and forth three balls, Cumberlands was able to secure the lead going into the fourth quarter with a single free throw made by Covane to keep the score at 64-57.

The Patriots had a tough start to the fourth quarter allowing CU to go on a 6-0 run to tighten the lead to 64-63 with 7:38 remaining in the game. Cumberland was able to overtake the lead at 69-68 with a three made by Lindsey Freeman. An Abbi Douglas assist led to yet another contested jumper by Covane that cut the Phoenix lead to 71-70 with 5:08 left in the game. UC would then go on to exchange buckets with CU until the score was tied up with a three cashed in by Lawson to tie the score up at 75-75 with 2:37 remaining. After a huge block on the defensive end by Covane, Cumberlands was able to call a timeout to ensure the last possession of the game. Following the timeout, Covane missed her initial layup but was able to secure an offensive board and bank the shot to win the game as time expired for the 77-75 final.

The Patriots will look to extend their win streak to six when they face #17 Lindsey Wilson College on Saturday, January 16. Tip-off for the game is at 2:30 PM.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics, please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter - @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameDay, Instagram - @UCPatriots, YouTube – Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.