Box Score The No. 13 Maryville College Scots earned the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament title on Saturday afternoon, as the No. 1-seeded Scots downed the No. 2-seeded Lions of Piedmont College, 60-48.
The championship marks the first USA South tournament crown for the women's basketball team since joining the league.
"There aren't a lot of teams that can lose their leading scorer [Mindy Brackins] in December and still find a way to win both the regular season and the tournament championship," Head Coach Darrin Travillian said. "That just speaks to the integrity, the dedication and grit of this team. When you saw Jordan Ballard, Mackenzie Puckett and people diving on the floor for these loose balls, and Joanna Young flying around, that's exactly who we are. Defensively, I felt like if we could hold them under 60, we could win today."
Although the Scots had won four consecutive regular season titles, Maryville had not been able to finish the tournament cutting down the nets – until Saturday.
The win also secures Maryville an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. MC will learn where they will go on Monday, Feb. 29, as the Selection Show will be live at 2:30 p.m.
For the seniors, getting to cut those nets was something they had hoped would happen in the second-straight year of hosting the conference tournament.
"We wanted to win a championship," Mackenzie Puckett said. "The four years I've been here, we've won a ton of games. We've been in this league tournament every year, but we had yet to win a championship game. For Jordan [Ballard], Joanna [Young] and Linley [Dunn], just us seniors coming out and finishing the conference tournament to show we could, it felt good."
Puckett garnered the coveted Most Valuable Player award for the 2016 conference tournament, while leading all scorers with 25 points. Puckett shot 10-of-16, while knocking down a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the 3-point line.
The 25 points pushed her to a personal milestone, as she surpassed 1,500 career points.
"She's such an incredible player and competitor, and she's such and amazing person," Travillian said. "The one time I wanted to jump on her was when she missed all those free throws and looked at me and smiled," Travillian said. "I said, 'What are you smiling about?' You saw her just loving playing. The kid has been on such an unbelievable journey with the injuries and stuff. For her to be here right now, it's pretty awesome."
Puckett drove the lane, bucketing an over-the-shoulder lay-in to surpass the 1,500-point plateau, as she becomes only the fourth Scots in women's basketball history to accomplish the feat.
She currently has 1,509 career points in the Orange and Garnet.
"It's been a long ride with a lot of ups and downs," Puckett said. "Obviously, as a freshman, I didn't expect to battle through injuries. No one expects that. I've just been so grateful to have the family, the trainers, the coaches and the players that just continuously make me better. For all the hard work I've put in, they've put 10 times more just to make us where we are now."
Ballard and Madison Maples were also named to the USA South All-Tournament squad for their play in the tournament.
Ballard finished Saturday's game with seven steals, six points, five assists and two rebounds, while the senior took nine charges throughout the final two games of the tournament.
Maples had a big day, scoring 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, including three-straight treys that widened the game between the Scots and the Lions.
Young and Biliter each finished the day with six points, while Biliter had eight rebounds, four assists,two blocks and a steal. Young had four assists, four steals and three rebounds to her credit.
Allyson Freiermuth had three points and a game-high nine boards and four blocks. Dunn added two points in the championship.
Maryville (23-3) shot 20-of-54 (37 percent) from beyond the floor, while knocking down eight treys on a 34.8 percent outing. MC out-rebounded the Lions, 39-31. They scored 23 points off 22 Piedmont turnovers, while securing 16 steals.
Piedmont (20-7) was led by Taylor Swoszowski's 14-point effort, while Carly Sales added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The Lions shot 16-of-44 (36.4 percent) on the night, while knocking down six 3-pointers behind a 46.2 percent day.
For Travillian, however, four-straight regular season titles, the coach of the year awards, the player of the year awards and the numerous accolades that have come the Scots' way could not compare to Saturday's victory.
"The accolades and the hardware that we've gotten through the course of the years, those things have all been amazing, but we said all year long that the thing we wanted to do was win this tournament," he said. "To finally be able to do that and check that off, it's pretty awesome. To think for the first time in four years, I don't have come in here at 9 in the morning, sweating it out, hoping that we get an at-large bid. We'll get to sit back and say, 'I wonder where we'll go?' Maybe they'll come here. It's kind of a nice feeling."
