Sioux City, IA – The third-seed Patriots women's basketball team led wire-to-wire to knock off top-seed Campbellsville 88-77 in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament Saturday night at the Tyson Event Center. The win advances Cumberlands to the national semifinals for the first time in program history.
Kassie Monday notched 20 points and eight assists to help lead the way for UC.
Kaylie Monday added 20 points, including setting a Patriots NAIA tournament record with six three's, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.
Destiny Haworth added 16 points as
Lakin Burke added 12 points on 6-6 from the field.
Channing Lewis grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and eight assists to go along with 11 points.
UC jumped out to the early lead after back-to-back layups from Burke to make it 4-0. Lewis added a ten-foot jumper before connecting with
Kassie Monday for a layup making it 8-2. After the Tigers pulled within a point,
Kaylie Monday hit consecutive baskets to put Cumberlands in front 13-7 with 5:59 remaining. The two teams traded baskets as the Patriots recorded a pair of threes from Haworth and
Kaylie Monday to take a 25-17 lead after the first quarter.
The second opened with Lewis finding Haworth and
Kaylie Monday behind-the-arc to make it 33-19, two minutes into the period. Campbellsville went on a 14-6 run, over the next five minutes, however a jumper from
Kassie Monday extended the lead to 41-33 with 2:57 left.
Channing Lewis added a late three-pointer as the Patriots took a 45-36 lead into halftime.
The Tigers opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run before
Kassie Monday found Burke on the block and Haworth connected with
Kaylie Monday on the wing for a three as UC took a 52-47 advantage with 5:49 remaining. Both teams traded baskets over the next several minutes as
Kaylie Monday drained consecutive three-pointers to close out the quarter and give Cumberlands a 65-54 edge.
Kassie Monday scored the first five Patriots points of the fourth quarter before finding Haworth from long range to push the lead to 74-57 with 5:40 remaining. Campbellsville cut the lead to 13 points however UC responded as Burke found
Amy Thompson on a backdoor cut for a layup to push it 77-62 with 4:08 left. The Tigers scored nine unanswered to make it 77-71, but on the next Cumberlands possession Haworth hit her fourth three-pointer of the game to give UC the 80-71 advantage. The Patriots hit three free throws to go along with layups from
Kylie Fultz and Lewis for the 88-77 final.
Cumberlands closed out the game shooting 63.2% from behind the arc, 61.5% from the field and the Patriots finished with 27 assist on 32 field goals. It was also the Patriots first win over the Tigers since March 2, 2017.
The Patriots will face the winner of #1 Dordt and #7 Briar Cliff in the national semifinals on Monday, March 25. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. (CT).
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.
