CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The #3 Lady Tigers hosted the #15 University of the Cumberlands Patriots on Thursday night. With over 33 points over the Cumberlands, Campbellsville took the victory, 101-68.
The Lady Tigers were first on the scoreboard with a three-point bucket from Kaitlynn Wilks in the opening seconds of the game. With only three minutes down in the first quarter, Campbellsville reached double digits on the scoreboard, with the Cumberlands collecting only two free throws. Wilks and Courtney Pritchett's threes propelled the Lady Tigers upward on the lead, with a 15-point advantage under their belt. The Patriots only made it to double digits on the scoreboard with a couple of minutes left in the opening quarter. Kayla Luebbe and Tyra Flowers' fierce attacks resulted in layups for Campbellsville, taking advantage of the Cumberlands' turnovers. At the end of the first quarter, the Lady Tigers led the game 32-11.
Much like the first, Campbellsville landed the first basket of the second quarter, with Maddy Boyle's first bucket, aided by Pritchett's third assist of the game. As the second quarter continued to unfold, both teams' scoring plays remained pretty low. However, the Lady Tigers boosted their offense, expanding their advantage to 25 points over the Patriots. Flowers swiftly handled the ball down the court, agilely passing it to Lauren Lee in the paint, resulting in a layup in Campbellsville's favor. Going into the second half, Campbellsville remained in the lead, 56-32.
The Lady Tigers significantly outperformed the Patriots in the first half, Campbellsville going 70% from the field and 83.3% from the three-point line, and the Cumberlands 41.7% and 36.4%, respectively. Additionally, the Lady Tigers more than tripled the Patriots with 26 points in the paint and 18 assists to their eight and six.
Within 15 seconds of the start of the second half, Wilks made her 17th point of the game with another layup assisted by Pritchett. Cumberlands attempted to retaliate, but Campbellsville remained far too strong for the Patriots to catch up to the Lady Tigers' upper hand. Campbellsville kept racking up basket after basket, expanding their lead further. Going into the last quarter, Cumberlands still trailed the Lady Tigers, 80-46.
The Patriots opened the fourth quarter with the first bucket for the first time in the game. Lee quickly retaliated from the charity stripe, going two-for-two and preserving Campbellsville's advantage. Whitney Hay's maneuvers down the court kept the Lady Tigers scoring, passing the ball to her teammates and preventing the Cumberlands from landing any successful buckets. Sarah Sutton brought Campbellsville to a 34-point lead in the contest with a layup. With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, Paige Serafini came off the bench with another fierce basket, bringing the Lady Tigers to triple digits with a victory, 101-68.
At the end of the game, Campbellsville came out victorious in most statistical aspects of the contest. Most significantly, collecting 33 assists, 39 bench points, 34 points off turnovers, and 46 points in the paint, to the Cumberlands 17 assists, 11 bench points, 11 points off turnovers, and 24 points in the paint. Three Lady Tigers made double digits throughout tonight's game: Wilks with 22 points, Lee with 19, and Boyle with 13.
The Lady Tigers will be back in action, traveling to Columbia, Kentucky, to battle the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders on Saturday, February 10th, at 2 p.m. ET.
