CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Playing their first game after a loss during the 2019-20 season, the Campbellsville University women's basketball team earned a 79-68 win over University of the Cumberlands on Thursday night.
The Lady Tigers trailed going into halftime for the second-straight game as the Patriots hit a shot to gain a 36-35 right before the halftime break. Like it has been throughout most of the season, the third quarter was one CU took advantage of, outscoring UC 21-12 in the period.
The Patriots went up by as much as five points at 40-35 to start the third quarter but it was an 11-0 run from Campbellsville to put the Lady Tigers up 46-40 with 4:29 remaining in the third quarter. The run was powered by the big three of
Madison Faulkner,
Caitlin Hall, and
Savannah Gregory as they scored all 11 in the run.
Cumberlands was able to pull the game within a possession through the 1:07 mark but with 36 seconds left in the quarter,
Sammy Rogers hit one of her three three-pointers in the game to make it a 54-48 lead and eventually a 56-48 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Campbellsville pulled their lead to its largest of the game at 13 points within the first minutes of the fourth quarter but the Patriots kept fighting to never trail by more than nine for most of the remainder of the quarter.
The game got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter as 19 total fouls were called in the final 10 minutes of play leading to 26 free throws combined between the teams. The Lady Tigers were the beneficiary of the fouls and free throws, shooting 40 total shots from the free throw line and making 28 in the game compared to UC going 13-for-22.
Faulkner was strong from the line for CU finishing 13-for-16 in the game from the line on her way to a game-high 25 points while adding six rebounds. Rogers (15), Hall (11), and Gregory (10) were all also in double figures for the Lady Tigers as Rogers and Gregory added five and seven rebounds respectively and Hall dished out a game-high seven assists.
Entering the second quarter trailing by four with the Patriots holding a 21-17 lead at the 7:47 mark of the second quarter, the Lady Tigers went on a 17-2 run to eventually lead by 11 at 34-23, for their largest lead of the game. Rogers led the charge during the run, scoring eight of the final 10 points to help CU gain that 11-point advantage.
Cumberlands went on to answer that run to end the second quarter on a 13-1 run to regain the lead with the slim one-point margin at halftime. The Patriots got nine of the 13 points during the run from Silvia Veloso, who finished the half with 10 points, hitting the team's only three-pointer of the half right before the second quarter buzzer.
The first quarter was a physical 10 minutes of basketball with tight calls from the officials as the Lady Tigers were called for eight fouls and the Patriots committing seven fouls for a total of 15 in the quarter. CU was more successful from the line in the first half overall hitting 7-of-9 shots from the charity stripe with Cumberlands hitting half of their 10 free throws.
The three-point shot was not on for Campbellsville through 20 minutes as they only hit two of their 15 total attempts from deep as both Rogers and
Lexy Lake hit the three-pointers during the CU 17-2 run.
Campbellsville will have this Saturday off as they will play again next at home when they host Georgetown College at the Powell Athletic Center next Thursday, Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. ET.
