Box Score The No. 13 Maryville College Scots used a strong bench effort and a sharing offense on Sunday afternoon to knock off South Region foe Transylvania, 69-57.
The Scots tallied 24 assists on 28 made baskets on Sunday, shooting 45.2 percent (28-or-62) effort.
Maryville saw 22 of their 69 points come off the bench, as Rachel Hawn led all bench players with 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a steal.
"It's by committee," Head Coach Darrin Travillian said. "Rachel Hawn comes off the bench and drops 15 today with eight boards in 26 minutes. She has a really nice mid-range jumper…
"We had 24 assists today. I think that may be our season high. Every game, we set a goal of getting 18 assists. That means that people are touching the ball, and the offense is clicking. So, 24 today is really good."
The Scots started sluggish, however, falling behind 12-5 through the first half of the first quarter. Haley Talbott – coming off the bench – knocked down a trey off the assist from Brittany Johnson – also off the bench – with 5:06 left.
The 3-pointer spurred an MC run, as Maryville scored 14 unanswered to go ahead 19-12 with 1:12 left in the quarter. That first-quarter fun was spurred by nine assists on nine made baskets – the same number of rebounds the Scots could find in the first quarter.
Maryville would extend its lead to as many as 14, before a late surge by the Pioneers closed the gap to as few as six in the third quarter. Treys by Lauren Biliter became the dagger, as the sophomore shot 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to help Maryville to the win.
Coming into Sunday's game, Transylvania was averaging 73.2 points per game. Maryville's defense held the Pioneers to only 57, something Travillian said he was proud of.
"The thing that we always talk about is first-shot defense, and then what do you do?" Travillian said. "I think we do an excellent job with first-shot defense. We're scouting, we're prepared and we're ready for what you're running. You have to close the deal with boxing out and rebounding. This was a very good team. They had a lot of firepower. They dropped 100 on Hanover the other day. To hold them to 57, I think that's pretty good."
Maryville (8-1) was led by Mackenzie Puckett's 17-point effort to go with Hawn's near double-double. Biliter added 14 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor, while Allyson Freiermuth had six points and four rebounds. Joanna Young had five points and six rebounds, while Jordan Ballard added five points, five assists and four steals. Talbott had three points, while Delaney Lowery and Abby Navarro each added two points. Johnson added four assists for the Scots.
For Transylvania (5-4), it was forward Rachel Cox that led the way. She had 14 points to go with seven boards, while teammate Shelby Gransbery had 13 points and five rebounds. Katelyn Smith tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Celia Kline had 10 points.
Maryville will be off for the Christmas break, before returning to action on Jan. 2. The Scots will travel to Emory University for a 4 p.m. tipoff, before returning home on Jan. 9 to face USA South foe LaGrange College at 2:00 p.m.
