LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – Courtney Carruthers scored a season-high 26 points Tuesday night as Maryville downed Covenant 63-48 at the Barnes Physical Education Center on Lookout Mountain.
Carruthers was 7-of-15 from the field in the contest, hitting two 3-pointers and adding 10 more points from the charity stripe. The Maryville native recorded the 200th collegiate 3-pointer in the contest.
Maryville jumped ahead quickly in the contest, scoring eight points over the first five minutes of play while holding Covenant scoreless. MC outscored Covenant 14-5 in the first quarter.
Maryville continued their strong play in the second quarter, scoring 16 points over 10 minutes of play while holding Covenant to just 10. MC went into halftime ahead 30-15, having shot 12-of-29 (41.4%) from the field in the first half while holding Covenant to just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) over the first 20 minutes of play.
Covenant turned it on in the third quarter though, holding Maryville to 3-of-19 shooting and scoring 19 points in the quarter. While struggling from the field, Maryville lost the quarter by just one point, 19-18. MC made up for its poor shooting from the field by going 12-of-15 from the free-throw line in the quarter. Covenant was 13-of-14 from the line in the quarter.
Carruthers' 200th career three came with 8:15 remaining in the fourth quarter and put Maryville ahead by 19 points. Maryville's largest lead of the night came three minutes later as Carruthers hit a pair of free throws to make it 58-36 with 5:14 remaining.
The rival Scots each scored 33 points in the second half but Maryville's dominant first half was enough to give them the edge over Covenant in the contest.
Behind Carruthers,
Ella Haney recorded 12 points as MC's second-leading scorer. She recorded a team-high three assists while grabbing seven rebounds.
Emma Huskey led the Scots in rebounding with nine, six of which were of the offensive variety.
With the victory, Maryville has secured a home playoff game for the first round of the Collegiate Conference of the South tournament. The Scots will host the contest at the Cooper Athletic Center on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Maryville returns to action Tuesday for its final regular season contest of 2023-24, taking on Piedmont in Demorest, Georgia. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.
