Kansas City, MO – After recording their first 20-win season in a decade and the most conference wins in eight years, the (RV) Cumberlands women's basketball team has qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, the national office announced Thursday.  The Patriots earned an at-large berth and will be  the eighth-seed in the Naismith Bracket and will face ninth-seed Rust on Friday at 1 p.m. in Lakeland, FL.

It marks the second consecutive season and the 16^th time in program history that UC has advanced to the tournament.  The Patriots closed out the season with a 20-12 overall record, including a 13-9 mark in Mid-South Conference play.  Cumberlands advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament and also holds an 87-79 win over than top-ranked Thomas More.

UC is led by their three all-conference selections Kassie Monday, Destiny Haworth, and Abbi Douglas. Monday, the MSC Freshman of the Year, is averaging 15.7 points and 4.1 assists per game this season.  Haworth and Douglas are both averaging over 12 points per game.  Cumberlands is ranked fourth in the NAIA this season converting 36.9% from behind-the-arc.

Rust earned the ninth seed after capturing an automatic berth as the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Champions.  The Bearcats went 25-3 overall on the season, including a 7-1 record in conference play.  Rust leads the NAIA in rebound margin at 14.3 and has limited opponents to 49.4 points per game, which ranks first in the country.  Rust is led by Shay Johnson and Katie Blackmon, who were All-GCAC First Team selections, while Jasmine Coleman was named Defensive Player of the Year.

The other side of the Lakeland bracket feature #1 Southeastern and 16^th-seed Xavier.  Southeastern earned an automatic bid as The Sun Conference tournament champions and is the top-ranked team in the NAIA.  Xavier earned an automatic berth as the Red River Athletic Conference representative.

The winner of the two games will meet in the second round of the tournament to be played on Saturday.

In total eight teams from across the Mid-South Conference qualified for the NAIA National Championships. 

For the latest 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.