ATHENS, Tenn.  - Despite a double-double performance from sophomore Brooke Smith, Union College could not keep pace as King (Tenn.) College posted a 75-57 decision Monday in a special Appalachian Athletic Conference play-off to determine which of the regular-season co-champions would receive the automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament.

The game was played on the campus of Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tenn.

Smith (Pineville, Ky.) posted game highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds, but Union struggled from the field and was outrebounded 45-34.

A trio of Lady Tornado hit double figures with Kayla Olson's 15 points leading the way. Bethany Wilson and Kristi Moody followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Union (22-8 overall, 15-3 AAC) will enter the AAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed and will play winner of the Bluefield (Va.) College-Montreat (N.C.) College game on Thursday at 1:45 p.m. King will be the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of the Virginia Intermont College-UVa-Wise contest Thursday at 7 p.m.

The AAC Tournament will be held at Viking Hall in Bristol, Tenn.

Union hit a number of season lows, including fewest points in a half (23), largest margin of defeat (18), fewest points in a game (57) and tied for largest halftime deficit (14 - 37-23 at the half).

Still, Union nearly mounted a massive comeback.

Down 51-31 at the 14:49 mark in the second half, Union mounted a 23-6 rally to cut the deficit to 57-54 with 5:27 to play. During the surge, Smith poured in nine points.

However, after a King timeout, Olson hit a jumper and buried a 3-pointer to fuel a 9-0 run. An Ashley Lunsford (Orlando, Ky.) free throw made it 66-55 with 1:55 to play, but King closed out the game on a 9-2 run to wrap up the 75-57 victory and the automatic berth to the national tournament.

After Smith, Lunsford was the only player to hit double digits as she chipped 15.

Turnovers plagued Union as it coughed up the ball 19 times, which King cashed in for 23 points. Union netted just eight points off of King's 11 miscues.

King also dominated the offensive glass as it had 18 offensive boards and 16 second-chance points.

Union was 40.4 percent (23-of-57 shots) from the field but connected on just 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) from long range. Union also struggled from the foul line, hitting 9-of-14 (64.3 percent).

On the flip side, King hit 39.1 percent (27-of-69 shots) from the field and 4-of-10 (40 percent) from behind the arc. More importantly, King was a near-perfect 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) from the foul line.

Lady Bulldog Notes

• Union is now 2-6 when trailing at halftime and 0-3 in games played on a neutral court.
• Brooke Smith has scored 20 or more points in a game 20 times this season and 33 times in her career.
• Smith became just the second player in program history to net 700 points in a season. She currently has 717, eight away from tying Amber Spencer's record of 725.