University of the Cumberlands Women's Basketball 04-05 Wrap-Up

Coming off of the best season in school history, the University of the Cumberlands women’s basketball team had a lot to prove this season. Last season they finished with a 28-4 record, were the MSC regular season co-champions, as well as numerous other accomplishments.

At the beginning of the season Coach Irvin commented on the goal of this years’ team, "Every game will be tough because they are all stepping stones to our ultimate goal of winning a conference championship. There will be tougher games that others, but most importantly we will never look past a game until after we reached our championship!" Well succeed they did, as the Patriot ladies reached their goal of becoming the Mid-South Conference Champions. Although they were not regular season champions like last year, this year’s team reached a goal that not even the success of last season did, and that is the MSC Title.

In the first game of the season, the #18 Patriot ladies went into overtime with Cumberland University and won the game 63-59. Then the next game they took on #6 Freed-Hardeman and lost their first game of the season. Cumberlands went on to win two, then lose two. After an eight game winning streak, the Patriot ladies lost to Martin Methodist. At this point, only halfway through the season, the Patriot ladies had already accumulated as many losses as last season.

As conference play started the Patriot ladies came up with a win over Lambuth, but then lost four straight to Campbellsville, Georgetown, Brescia, and Pikeville. That streak was followed by a series of four wins over Lindsey Wilson, Knoxville College, Lambuth, and Campbellsville. The next game was with Georgetown where the Patriot Ladies suffered another loss. Then, they finished the regular season with wins over Pikeville and Lindsey Wilson.

In the Mid-South Conference Tournament, the Patriot ladies came out with a vengeance, defeating Lambuth, Campbellsville, and then Georgetown, who was ranked #8 at the time, for the title. Cumberland had lost to Georgetown both times during the regular season. Winning this game automatically qualified the Patriot ladies for a spot in the NAIA Tournament.

Cumberlands drew Trevecca Nazarene for the first round of the tournament. It was a hard fought game for the Patriot ladies, but they came up short, losing by just three points. Cumberland finished the season with a 21-10 record and ranked #21 in the nation.

The Patriot ladies were also recognized for many honors this season. Tenille Cann was named Mid-South Conference Player of the Week twice, as well as a member of the Mid-South Conference All-Conference Team, and an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American. Stephanie Isaacs was named a DakStats Academic All-American for the second consecutive season. Tiffany Stewart and Kirsten Roberson were also named Mid-South Conference All-Conference Honorable Mention.

The Patriot ladies will lose four seniors to graduation this year, but next season looks promising as they return gifted upperclassmen and have accumulated talented new recruits