Williamsburg, KY – The UC women's basketball teams outscored Montreat by nine in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cavaliers 96-67 in the season opener Tuesday night at the O. Wayne Rollins Center.  The Patriots had four players tally double-digit points as they have now won four consecutive season openers.

Destiny Haworth led the way for UC with a career-high 16 points, on 6-9 shooting, while Lillie Hall tallied 12 points four assists and four rebounds all of which were career-high's.  Kassie Monday added 12 points as Abbi Douglas finished with 11 points, a block and a steal.  Channing Lewis notched a team-high eight rebounds, while Kaylie Monday recorded a team-high four steals as they both finished with seven points apiece.

The Patriots struck first in the game as Douglas found Lewis under the basket for the first points of the game.  The two teams traded buckets until Haworth connected with Hall for a jumper to give UC a 9-7 edge with 6:10 remaining in the first quarter.  That started an 11-2 run for UC, over a two minute span, and included four points from Casey Coleman and a three from Kassie Monday to help Cumberlands double-up Montreat 18-9 with 4:01 remaining.  The Cavaliers were able to cut the lead to four, however, Kaylie Monday and Shelby Moore hit consecutive buckets to push the lead to 23-14.  Each team added two points over the final couple minutes as the Patriots took a 25-16 advantage into the second quarter.

Haworth opened the second period by hitting one from long-range and netted UC's first five points.  Both teams were trading baskets over the next five minutes until Kaylie Monday found Reagan Begole for a layup to extend the lead to 44-31 midway through the quarter.  Hall and Begole combined for six points to sustain UC's lead as Whitney Caldwell converted a jumper in the closing seconds of the quarter to give Cumberlands a 52-37 lead at the break.

Cumberlands came out of the break strong, forcing a turnover as Hall found Douglas cutting through the lane for a layup.   Douglas added five of UC's next seven points to extend the lead to 61-39 with 7:04 left.  Montreat went on a 14-2 run to cut the lead to 63-53, before Kaylee Mathis drained a three-pointer with 1:52 remaining to extend the lead to 66-53.  The Patriots tallied four of the finals six points in the quarter to take a 70-55 lead.

The Cavaliers opened the fourth quarter by hitting a three, however, UC scored 16 unanswered to extend their lead to 86-58 with 5:43 remaining.  Kassie Monday notched six points on that run, while Kaylie Monday added a three-pointer and UC got baskets from Douglas, Lewis, and Haworth.  The Patriots newcomers Jaiden Cox, Caldwell, and Coleman netted the final six Cumberlands points for the 96-67 final.

UC shot 45.0% from the field in the game and held a 41-37 rebounding edge over Montreat. 

Cumberlands will return to the court Monday, November 1, when they host Reinhardt at 6 p.m. in the O. Wayne Rollins Center.  Live stats of that game will be available here, while live video is available here.

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