FRANKFORT, Ky. — It wasn't pretty but Campbellsville women's basketball was able to avoid an upset against St. Catharine College in first-round action of the Mid-South Conference Tournament. Campbellsville defeated the Patriots, 68-60 to advance to the second round.

Campbellsville will play the winner of four-seed University of Pikeville and five-seed Cumberland University game. The second-round game will be played Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m. EST.

BOX SCORE 

Madison Clements had a career day on the hardwood, scoring a career-high 24 points and knocking down five 3s.

"There is only so much you can do and so much you can say," said MSC Co-Coach of the Year Ginger Colvin. "The worst thing that happened was us getting out to a decent lead then getting complacent."

Campbellsville jumped to a lead as big as 13 points, 46-33 but St. Catharine College started to slowly chip away and before the Lady Tigers knew it, the Patriots cut the lead to three points, 47-44 with 11 minutes left.

CU went cold from the floor from 16:12 to 8:44 and missed 13-straight shots. During that stretch CU scored just four points – all from the free throw line. That stat saved the Lady Tigers this afternoon, as Campbellsville hit 18-of-20 from the charity stripe. CU hit 2-of-16 3-pointers in the second half after hitting six in the first half.

"We didn't shoot the ball that great but what was disappointing is our posts presence," said Colvin. "We are a lot taller and bigger than St. Catharine, but we allowed them to stick around by allowing offensive rebounds and second chances."

Campbellsville finished with 51 rebounds, holding SCC to 38 and only four second-chance points in the second half. Lindsey Burd led Campbellsville with eight rebounds followed by Kristen Jacob's seven.

Emily Fox was able to provide a spark off the bench. She did not get flustered after missing her first six 3-point attempts and knocked down a 15-foot jumper then swished her only 3 for five-straight points.

"That was a big mid-range shot for Emily to get her going, then stepped back and hit a big 3 to extend our lead," said Colvin.

Out of the final media timeout, St. Catharine was called for a five-second call on the inbounds play and Lindsey Burd was able to find an open Lindey Young on a high-low pass. The senior pushed the Lady Tigers up by 10 with her second consecutive basket with 4:00 left to finish with nine points – all in the second half.

"Lindey was great today," said Colvin. "She really stepped up late when we needed a few baskets and hit the boards hard on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. I am really proud of her and the way she battled."

Caroline Owen proved she had ice water in her veins hitting six-straight freebies to close out the game. The senior hit all eight of her foul shots.

"If teams are starting to foul, we will do everything we can to get the ball into Caroline's hands," said Colvin. "Also, you have Madison Clements who is a great free throw shooter. LeeAnn Grider, Lindey Young and Lindsey Burd also stepped up and hit their free throws."

Before St. Catharine made the comeback, it was the Madison Clements show. Clements knocked down her second 3 and pushed CU up 14-8 and later hit another 3 to extend CU's lead to 19-12.

Clements then put the Lady Tigers on her back and led Campbellsville to a 13-3 run in the final 5:36 of the first half. She knocked down her third 3-pointer to push CU ahead, 29-25, then picked up an offensive rebound and hit an up-and-under layup while being fouled. She knocked down the and-one free throw as well.

She later hit her fourth triple to push Campbellsville ahead, 35-28 and then knocked down two free throws to tie a previous career-high 19 points, extending CU's lead to 37-28. Clements finished hitting all five of her free throw attempts on the afternoon.

"She is a gamer," said Colvin. "When you put her into situations like this she is big time. We all know she is fighting through back injuries but she carried us through the first half…. She showed she really wants this."

The intermission and the wintery weather outside of the Frankfort Convention Center could not cool down the hot hand of Clements, as she opened the second half with her fifth 3. 

Campbellsville finished hitting just 30.8 percent from the floor (21-of-68). St. Catharine shot 36.3 percent (20-of-55) overall but only hit 19 percent (4-of-21) from beyond the 3-point line.

The CU bench also exploded for 38 points, but 24 of those came from the hot hand of Clements.

CU men's basketball will open up MSC play tomorrow at 6 p.m. EST against St. Catharine College at the Frankfort Convention Center. You can follow that game live on 88.7 The Tiger, HERE and live video, HERE. Also, live stats are available, HERE.