KINGSPORT, Tenn. (Feb. 25, 2016) â€" Day one of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament featured upsets in all three games, and the No. 23 Milligan College women's basketball team fell victim to the same theme on day two. After winning the AAC regular season and earning the No. 1 seed and first-round bye for the league tournament, Milligan suffered an 82-75 loss to Montreat College in the quarterfinals Thursday at the MeadowView Marriott.
 
Milligan (23-7, 17-3 AAC) will now turn its attention to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship, where they earned an automatic bid by winning the AAC regular season. The national championship tournament is scheduled for March 9-15 in Sioux City, Iowa.
 
Freshman Sarah Robinson, the AAC Freshman of the Year, led Milligan with 20 points and eight rebounds. Allison Jones, who was named to the All-AAC first team with Robinson, scored 19 and added seven rebounds.
 
Two other Buffs reached double figures as Courtney Wilson put in 16 off the bench and Kelly Barnett had 10 points and four steals.
 
After the first two possessions of the game, Milligan got into a firm lead that went as high as seven before a 9-0 Montreat run put the Lady Cavaliers back in front near the three-minute mark of the opening half. Milligan controlled the lead at the break at 43-40 and even went ahead by seven again with three and a half minutes to go in the third quarter.
 
It was nearly all Montreat from there, however, as the Cavs finished the third quarter on a 6-0 run, then opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run. Montreat led 63-53 just outside of six minutes left, and Milligan was only able to cut it back to four, 77-73, with 30 seconds left.
 
For Montreat, Darah DeWalt led all scorers with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Niroshka Perez was 4-for-4 from the perimeter and finished with 24 points, five assists and four rebounds.
 
Milligan's next game will be in the opening round of the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship, and will take place in Sioux City, Iowa, either Wednesday, March 9, or Thursday, March 10. The full tournament bracket with seeding placements will be released by the NAIA once all conference tournaments wrap up.