MARYVILLE – Except for a rough start and a so-so finish, Maryville played some pretty darn good basketball here Tuesday night in defeating rival Covenant 59-48.
The homestanding Scots overcame an 11-0 deficit to begin the game by outscoring Covenant 51-18 over the next 24 minutes and 36 seconds. That put Maryville in front 51-29 late in the third quarter, and the Orange and Garnet coasted from there.
As in, they really coasted! Maryville scored just four points in the fourth quarter but held on for their seventh Collegiate Conference of the South victory against six losses. Maryville is 10-12 overall.
"We had two really good quarters where we defended like crazy, we shared the ball and we made shots," MC head coach
Darrin Travillian said. "Basketball is a shot-making game. If you are making shots, everything feels better.
"Covenant was making shots to start the game, credit to them. But it was a good middle of the game for us."
Maryville finished with a commanding 23-3 edge in second-chance points, a figure that was 19-2 Scots at halftime as the home team went to the locker room leading 31-24. Maryville then emerged from the break and put a 24-11 score line on Covenant in the third quarter to grab that insurmountable lead.
"We rebounded well; we got 21 offensive boards," Travillian said. "We cut our turnovers down to 13 and we held them to just five made 2-point field goals; eleven of their 16 made shots were threes. And we shot free throws well at 10-of-12.
"It's a conference game and a win and we will take it."
Courtney Carruthers led all scorers with 22 for her sixth 20-point game of the season. Carruthers was 4-of-8 from long distance and 4-of-4 at the line. She's up to 37 made 3-pointers this season, good for sixth in the conference.
Covenant got 14 points from Karis McIntosh and 13 from Cosette Kirsch, both of whom knocked down four 3-pointers apiece. Carruthers and
Emma Huskey tied for rebounding honors with eight, while
Madison Williams added five points, five assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
Maryville is home Saturday for Senior Day against Agnes Scott in the final home game of the regular season. Tipoff is at 2 p.m., with the Senior Day festivities beginning at approximately 1:45. The Scotties enter at 2-19 overall and 2-10 in the CCS.
