MARYVILLE - The Maryville Scots' second-half surge fell just short of a miraculous comeback on Tuesday night as MC fell at home to Asbury 69-61. Senior Forward
Emma Huskey led the charge for Maryville, scoring a career-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, with nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks to add to the totals. Despite Huskey's season-best efforts, MC couldn't get over the finish line and secure the comeback victory.
Maryville was 17 points down at the half after being outscored by six in the first and 11 in the second. Head coach
Darrin Travillian was cautiously optimistic about the loss.
"We've got to decide what team we want to be," Travillian said. "Are we going to be the team we were in the first half, getting ourselves into a huge deficit? Or are we going to be the team that stormed back in the second half and played inspired."
Junior Guard
Ella Haney was second on the team in points and rebounds, with 17 and six, respectively. Haney was on the court longer than anyone else, playing all but five minutes. Her efforts led the team to their second-half surge that saw the Scots outscore the Eagles by nine in those periods. With only 45 seconds to go, the Scots found themselves down six when sophomore guard
Emily Allen took the ball up the court and drained a clutch three to put the team within striking distance with only 31 seconds remaining. Allen amassed seven points on the night, her most since scoring 11 against Roanoke on Dec. 29.
Finding themselves at the mercy of the clock, the Scots had to foul to give themselves a chance at victory. Asbury made both free throws with 23 seconds remaining, putting them back up by five. Maryville turned the ball over on its next possession and had to continue fouling. The comeback fell short, with the Eagles hitting five of their six free throws over the last 23 seconds to put the game out of reach for Coach Travillian's squad.
"We can win games in this league playing the way we did in the second half," Travillian said.
Maryville is back on the road this Friday, facing off against LaGrange at 4 p.m. and then playing at Huntingdon the next day at 2 p.m. Central time.
