Box Score Hix has Career Night in 65-47 Win
MARYVILLE – Despite the postponement of the 2022 opener and a limited practice schedule, Maryville shook off the dust and took a 65-47 victory over visiting Agnes Scott College in a Friday tilt.
"It was a crazy week," said Scots head coach Darrin Travillian. "We were not able to have a full practice this week which was tough. Coming back from the Christmas break the plan was to implement some new things on offense and defense and get things done as part of the master plan. That got thrown out the window.
"We pieced together what we could and found a way to slug through this one tonight."
The Scots started out hot with a 15-0 run which began with an Elsa Eckenrod jumper with 6:22 left in the first quarter. Hot-shooting from deep helped the home team as Maryville shot 50-percent from three in the quarter. Agnes Scott came back and pulled within eight to close the opening quarter at 25-17 in favor of the Scots.
It was all Maryville in the second quarter as the home team only allowed the visiting Scotties to score two points in the quarter. A 19-0 run came for Maryville from the seventh minute of the second quarter to the seventh minute of the third quarter.
The Scots took a lead as high as 32 points in the third, but it did not hold for long. Agnes Scott outscored the Scots 12-8 in the third quarter, the only quarter they had a scoring advantage, but failed to make up any ground as Maryville continued to hold control.
A 65-47 USA South win began the 2022 portion of the schedule for the Scots.
Have Yourself a Night
In the win, Maryville was led in scoring by Shelby Hix who had 22 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was the second of her career. She also had a career-best five steals and 10 field goals made.
The senior forward, who tied her career-high in points, caught the attention of her coach due to her performance.
"I'm really happy for Shelby," Travillian said. She does everything you ask her to do and does it the right way. Tonight was her best game of the season offensively. We needed buckets and she got us buckets. I was happy to see her put the ball through the net a bunch."
The head coach was also appreciative of Elsa Eckenrod's performance due to her having to adapt to a position change.
"Elsa had to play point guard tonight, which she has never done for us before," said Travillian. "She played that position for nearly 40 minutes after never having a rep in that position in four years. She stepped up today.
"Our two captains pushed us across the finish line."
Team Effort
Outside of the effort of Hix and Eckenrod, Travillian credited the rest of the team for picking up the slack from having to run a smaller, different lineup in the game.
"We talked about everybody finding a way to contribute tonight, Travillian said. "No matter if it was grabbing a rebound or getting a steal or putting a ball in the hoop we wanted contributions from everyone. I was happy to see good distribution and us getting that done."
As a team, Maryville outpaced the Scotties 17-6 in scoring from the bench as well as 19-8 in points off turnovers. The Scots also held a margin of 30-12 in points in the paint and grabbed 51 boards to the visiting team's 36.
Maryville is now 5-8 overall with a 2-3 record in USA South play. Agnes Scott moves to 0-10 and 0-4 in league action after the loss.
The Scotties were led in scoring by Ivey Portis and Lindsay Moore who each had 11 points while Sydney Evans led the visitors rebounding effort with nine.
A schedule shift due to Covid-19 Protocols within the Wesleyan women's basketball program has led to the postponement of tomorrow's USA South contest. Maryville is now set to take on Brevard in their next action on Wednesday, Jan. 12 on the road.
