Maryville – Maryville (6-9, 4-3 CCS) continued its winning ways Sunday afternoon, taking down Piedmont (9-6, 3-3 CCS) 74-58 at the Cooper Athletic Center.
After a week of virtual classes and limited practice time due to a snowstorm, the Scots put together a great weekend, winning consecutive games for the first time this season.
"The short turnaround was hard on everybody," Maryville head coach
Darrin Travillian said. "You scramble together as much as you can, and prepare, and try to come out and just turn it loose."
"That was the biggest thing with our kids, they really just turned it loose and made plays. We did it both days, but especially today I saw a lot of maturity and poise, and some really good execution."
Emily Allen came off the bench and scored a season-high 29 points shooting an extremely efficient 11-of-14 (78.6%) from the field, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Today marked the first-year guard's second 20-point performance of the season, her first coming just two weeks ago on the road against Belhaven.
"Here's the thing with Emily," Travillian said. "We can call her a bench player, but she's not. She comes in a couple of minutes in and changes some of the dynamics on the floor. She's as much a starter as anybody on our squad."
"She was feeling it today, making some big plays. You've seen the evolution in her game, and it's been really fun to watch and fun to coach."
While Maryville outscored the Lions 54-52 in the first, third and fourth quarters, the Scots used a dominant 20-6 second quarter to firmly put themselves in the driver's seat in today's contest. MC saw its largest lead of the night at 19 after an
Olivia Cathers jump shot made it 72-53 with 3:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
As a team, the Scots shot a season-high 45.3 percent from the floor, making 29-of-64 field goals. Maryville was 9-of-21 (42.9%) from three-point land while hitting 7-of-10 (70%) free throws.
"We shot it really well this weekend," Travillian said. "A lot of shooting it well really comes from executing. It comes from executing and being unselfish. Making one more pass to an open teammate who then has to do their job and knock it down."
Behind Allen, Cathers and
Courtney Carruthers were the other double-figure scorers for the Scots, each with 10 points. Carruthers also led the Scots defensively, recording a season-high six steals, her most since she had eight on Dec. 21, 2021, against Capital.
Maryville has just one day off before returning to play Tuesday night in a CCS matchup against Covenant (4-10, 1-4 CCS). Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.
