SIOUX CITY, Iowa. — The last remaining #1-seed Lady Tigers met their conference rival and #3-seed Lady Patriots in the NAIA Tournament Championship Quarterfinals Saturday night. Going into the game, Campbellsville had won 15 straight over Cumberlands, but the Patriots' devastating shooting proved too much, granting them the victory, 88-77.
It was an 8-2 start for the Patriots before a top-of-the-key three by Kaitlynn Wilks, followed by a steal and fast-break layup for Maddy Boyle. The Patriots had four different scorers already at 10-7 in their favor. Cumberlands doubled up Campbellsville with the score at 18-9 nearly seven minutes into the contest. The Lady Tigers were turning the ball over left and right, amassing six turnovers by that point. The differences (the Patriots had coughed over the ball five times themselves) were rebounds and field goal percentage. Cumberlands had brought down nine rebounds to Campbellsville's five while shooting nearly 60% against the Lady Tigers' sub-40%. The first quarter ended 25-17.
Wilks continued her work, getting to her tenth point in Campbellsville's first offensive possession of the second quarter. However, the Patriots couldn't miss. They translated the open shots, and even contested ones, into makes, connecting on their first six buckets (two of which were threes). Despite that, the Lady Tigers kept grinding, keeping the Patriot advantage to ten with five minutes left in the first half. Campbellsville began to mount stops and collect offensive rebounds Kayla Luebbe pacing the team with the latter and bringing the Lady Tigers to within two possessions. Campbellsville kept the contest to a single-digit deficit going into the half, 45-36.
Cumberlands maintained their stellar shooting percentage to the intermission, shooting 67% from the field and 86% from three. Campbellsville was no slouch from distance either, going 44% on nine tries. The Patriots consistently made the extra pass for their baskets, accumulating 14 assists, while the Lady Tigers had seven. Both teams struggled to hold on to the ball as they combined for 23 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Courtney Pritchett got the Campbellsville offense going in the third period with a wide-open three from the wing. Boyle, off an inbounds pass from Lauren Lee, sank another three from the corner to bring the score to 47-42 with Cumberlands still clinging to the lead. Right after, a Bailey Pedigo mid-range jumper put the Lady Tigers down three (the closest they had been since the opening minutes). Following a Patriot retort, Wilks hit her third three, but Cumberlands responded with their own. Suddenly, the energy from both squads' offenses was palpable, not just the Patriots' anymore. However, in the last couple of minutes, Cumberlands continued their onslaught from beyond the arc, garnering an 11-point advantage going into the final period, 65-54.
The Patriots soon went up 17 as the Lady Tigers struggled to translate their offensive possessions into points. Midway through the quarter, Campbellsville had only seen one field goal through the net. Despite that, the Lady Tigers scored ten points in the following minute-and-a-half to bring the Patriots' buffer back down to ten, 77-67. After an and-one from Luebee on a fast break, Campbellsville was down just six with two-and-a-half minutes remaining. Like the other runs they had made in the game, Cumberlands had an answer. The Patriots hit timely bucket after timely bucket and eventually put the Lady Tigers away, 88-75.
Cumberlands simply managed to hit more shots than Campbellsville, shooting 62% for the game on 32 makes compared to 44% from the floor and 24 hits. Luebbe ended with the most points at 20 and a team-high seven rebounds. Lee had seven assists, and Pedigo was just behind her with six.
