Williamsburg, KY – Lakin Burke tallied a double-double, while Kassie Monday netted 20 points as the second-seed Patriots defeated #15 Eastern Oregon 62-51.  With the win Cumberlands improves to 25-5 on the season and advances to the Second Round of the NAIA Tournament against #7 Shawnee State Saturday night.

Burke tied her career-high with 15 rebounds to go along with 11 points as she became the 30^th player in Patriots program history to score 1,000 career points.  Kassie Monday went 9-16 from the field along with five assists.  Kaylie Monday notched five rebounds and two steals.

Kassie Monday opened the game with a jumper off an assist from Joy Kendrick.  A minute later, Burke converted a three-point player pushing her over the 1k milestone as UC added a pair from the charity stripe to take a 7-3 lead. The two teams traded four-point runs before UC tallied baskets from Anaia Hoard and Monday to take a 16-11 lead.

Eastern Oregon cut the lead to two points however, Burke added a putback layup to make it a 19-15 lead with 7:46 remaining.  The two teams traded baskets before Kassie Monday drained a three-pointer, while LeeAnna McNulty notched a block to make it a 24-17 game midway through the second quarter.  McNulty added a three-point play, while Monday added four points as Cumberlands took a 31-22 lead into half.

UC opened the third quarter with back-to-back layups from Kassie Monday and Amy Thompson extending the lead to 35-22 with 8:00 remaining.  The Mountaineers went on an 11-4 run to pull within seven, before Kassie Monday and Kaylie Monday combined for four straight points to make it an 43-32 lead.  The two teams traded points in the closing minutes of the period as the Patriots took a 46-35 lead into the fourth.

Providing a spark off the bench to open the fourth quarter Kylie Fultz netted six points and a steal over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter as Cumberlands took a 56-38 lead.  Kaylie Monday added a steal and layup before Eastern Oregon notched five straight points cutting the lead to 58-45 midway through the quarter.  UC recorded layups from Kassie Monday and Zaram Fredricks for the 62-51 final.

Cumberlands limited Eastern Oregon to 14.3% from behind-the-arc in the game and held a 40-32 edge on rebounding.

The Patriots will face seventh-seed Shawnee State in the Second Round of the NAIA Tournament on Saturday at 6 p.m.

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