Williamsburg, KY – Kassie Monday drained a jumped before finding Destiny Haworth for a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter to push UC women's basketball past West Virginia Tech 73-71 Saturday afternoon on Randy Vernon Court.  With the win, the Patriots improve to 8-4 overall, while the Golden Bears move to 4-9 on the season.

Destiny Haworth led three Patriots in double figures as she netted a team-high 16 points to go along with a career-high seven rebounds.  Abbi Douglas added 12 points, seven rebounds, four of which came on the offense end, and four steals.  Channing Lewis chipped in 11 points and four rebounds in the game, while Lillie Hall added seven points, a career-high four steals, and four assists.

Douglas opened the game hitting a three and converting a three-point play to give UC a 6-2 lead just over two minutes into the first quarter.  The Golden Bears took and 8-6 lead two minutes later, however Lillie Hall sparked an 8-0 Patriot run to extend their lead to 14-8 with 3:22 remaining.  The run feature three of their six first quarter steals by the Patriots defense, while Kassie Monday and Hall combined for all eight points.  UC closed out the quarter with nine unanswered points, including a perfect 7-7 from the foul line.

Kaylie Monday began the second quarter with a pair of free throws before West Virginia Tech netted seven unanswered to cut the lead to 25-17 with 7:12 remaining.  Hall made consecutive steals as part of her career-high four steals in the game to end the drought, while a minute later finding Channing Lewis for five straight points to extend their lead to 32-21 midway through the quarter. Late in the quarter, Cumberlands went on a 12-4 run that included seven points from Haworth and capped off by Jaiden Cox from long range to give UC a 44-28 edge.  The Golden Bears added a bucket at the buzzer to cut the score to 44-30 at the break.

Both teams came out of the break strong as Haworth hit from behind-the-arc as West Virginia Tech went on an 11-5 run to cut the lead to 47-39 two minutes in.  The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes as West Virginia Tech cut the lead to 53-47 with 3:41 remaining.  Cumberlands battled back as Douglas forced a turnover and made a layup as part of her four straight points to extend the lead back to double-digit at 57-47 with 1:54 remaining.  West Virginia Tech added a pair of jumpers to cut UC's lead to 59-51 heading into the fourth quarter.

The two teams continued to trade buckets over the first several minutes of the fourth quarter until Kassie Monday converted a pull-up jumper at the 5:24 mark to make it 65-59 in favor of the Patriots.  From that point the Golden Bears scored seven unanswered to take a 66-65 advantage, their first lead since midway through the first quarter, with 3:41 remaining.  Cumberlands responded as Shelby Moore hit a jumper in the paint to put UC back in front with 2:51 remaining.  With the game tied, Kassie Monday converted a jumper before finding Haworth from deep on the next possession to give Cumberlands a 72-67 lead with 2:16 remaining. The Golden Bears scored four straight points to bring them within one, however, Haworth sank a free throw with 2.3 seconds remaining for the 73-71 final.

Cumberlands were limited to a season-best ten turnovers, while they finished 21-27 from the charity stripe.  The Patriots also notched 14 steals in the win with nine of them coming in the first half.

The Patriots will return to the court Tuesday, December 14, when they travel to Crestview Hills, KY to face Thomas More.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. with live video available here and live stats available here.

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