New Orleans, LA – The fifth-seed Patriots went a perfect 5-5 from the field and 14-14 from the free throw in the fourth quarter to complete a second half comeback as Cumberlands defeated 13
th-seed John Brown 75-67 in the Second Round of the NAIA Tournament Wednesday night at The Den. With the win, Cumberlands advances to the Round of 16 for just the fifth time in program history and the first time since 2010.
"I'm thrilled for our team!" said Head Coach
Rick Reeves. "They played team basketball and fought until the final buzzer and I couldn't be any prouder of this group."
Kassie Monday lead the way with 16 points and five assists, while
Destiny Haworth hit five three-pointers to finish with 15 points.
Lakin Burke and
Channing Lewis combined for 23 points and six rebounds, while
Kaylie Monday netted all nine of her points in the fourth quarter to go along with three assists and four rebounds.
Victory Fredricks grabbed 11 rebounds in the win.
Cumberlands jumped out to a 4-0 lead as
Kassie Monday and Fredricks got the scoring starter. The Eagles scored 12 unanswered points before Monday found
Amerah Steele on the win for a three to cut the deficit to 12-7 with 4:20 remaining. Steele and Monday each added a jumper to pull the Pats within a point at 12-11, however John Brown went on an 8-2 run to close out the quarter with a 20-13 advantage.
The Patriots started to battle back as
Kaylie Monday connected with Burke for a layup to spark a 5-0 UC run with all five points being scored by the freshman. The two teams traded buckets over the next four minutes until Haworth hit from behind-the-arc to cut the deficit to 28-25 midway through the second quarter. John Brown kept pushing their lead to five points, however, UC would always have an answered. In the final minute of the half Kassie tallied a steal and on the ensuing transition found Burke for a layup to pull Cumberlands within a point at 32-31 with 51 seconds remaining. Tarrah Stephens added a free throw for the Eagles giving them a 33-31 edge at the break.
On the first possession of the third quarter
Kassie Monday found
Destiny Haworth for a three-pointer giving the Patriots their first lead of the game at 34-33. Burke followed with an offensive putback to extend the lead to 36-33 a minute into the third quarter. The Rose Hill, VA native added another baskets two minutes later to spark a 7-0, which was capped off by a Fredricks putback giving UC a 45-35 edge with 3:51 left in the third. Cumberlands closed out the quarter converting four free throws and taking a 47-43 lead into the fourth.
Haworth hit consecutive three-pointers to open the fourth quarter before
Kaylie Monday drained one from deep for her first points of the game and giving UC a 56-45 advantage at the 7:23 mark. A minute later, Fredricks kicked it out to Steele for a three-pointer as Lewis added a pair from the charity stripe to give Cumberlands its largest lead of the game at 61-45. John Brown went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 63-55 with 2:01 remaining. From that point the Patriots went a perfect 12-12 from the free throw with contributions from
Kassie Monday,
Kaylie Monday, and
Channing Lewis as the Patriots pulled away for the 75-67 final.
This marks just the second time in program history that Cumberlands has won two NAIA tournament games in the same season, as this team joins the 2009 Patriot team that advanced to the Elite 8.
The Patriots advance to Sioux City, Iowa where they will face the top-seed in the Cramer Quadrant Thomas More, who defeated 8
th-seed Concordia 98-68 earlier today. The game is set for Tuesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. EST.
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, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.
