Box Score Hix Clutch at the Line
MARYVILLE – It was a battle to the end in the 70-65 win for the Scots over a pesky LaGrange team in one of Maryville's final home games of the season.
The Scots opened up a 22-0 run after going down 11-6 in the game's opening quarter. A Madison Williams jumper opened the scoring streak and Maryville, who went four of five from deep in the sequence, saw Elsa Eckenrod nail a deep 3-pointer from just ahead of half court to end the first quarter.
Maryville head coach Darrin Travillian said defense leading to offense helped his team open up the early gap.
"The key to the big run was not giving them second and third shots," said the coach. "They were one-and-done which got us into transition. The transition led to good ball movement and it gave us some really good looks."
LaGrange ended the run less than a minute into the second quarter and on defense, their press started to give the Scots fits. The visitors held Maryville to 15.4-percent shooting in the quarter and completely shut down shots from deep.
With less than seven minutes left in the second, the Panthers went on an 11-0 run to bring the home team's lead back to single digits at 36-29 before an Eckenrod free throw stopped the visitor's momentum. LaGrange opened that run with three consecutive 3-pointers.
Maryville held on to the lead for the rest of the second quarter before surrendering it to the Panthers with 34 seconds left in the third. Jordan Heifner made a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the closing quarter which gave the lead back to the Scots.
It remained close going into the final minutes of regulation with LaGrange taking the lead back with 2:37 on the clock. Courtney Carruthers nailed a 3-pointer to send the lead back to Maryville.
Travillian says those final moments were pivotal for his team and they showed up.
"We executed well in the final three minutes," Travillian said. "We shot the ball really well from the free-throw line and that made a big difference."
With the Panthers struggling to get their offense going they were forced to foul. Shelby Hix went to the line three times in the final 19 seconds and made all six of her free throws to secure the Scots win.
Maryville moves to 8-10 overall and 5-5 in the USA South while LaGrange falls to 11-8 and 6-4 in conference action.
Coming Up Big
Before tonight's game, Hix was a 65-percent shooter from the charity stripe. Her six made shots tied her career-best which came against the Panthers last March. The forward notched sixteen points to tie Eckenrod for second on the team in scoring.
Carruthers led all scorers with 17 and tied Hix for the game-high in steals with three each. The guard also made three shots from deep to give Maryville its fourth game of the season with at least eight 3-pointers made.
Heifner was the fourth Scot in double figures with 14.
Travillian gave credit to reserve Hailey Cronk for her defensive performance.
"Cronk had a willingness to battle for position," he said. "It doesn't always produce numbers or boards but it slows their flow. She did a good job of jamming the lane and being a physical presence down low."
Maryville faces the Panthers again to end the week. The Scots travel to LaGrange on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip. Maryville then finishes out the weekend with a Sunday tilt at Huntingdon who the Scots beat to open up USA South play in Nov.
"For the next two weeks it is going to be about turnovers, boards, and poise," Travillian said. "Today in the moments where we battled and showed poise we opened up a margin and when we didn't things didn't go out way. We have to find a way to get better at things we are doing on the fly and grind it out."
