The Oglethorpe women's basketball team was neck-and-neck with No. 20 Maryville (Tenn.) through three quarters Friday evening in Maryville, Tennessee, leading 27-26 at halftime and trailing just 40-38 through the first three periods. The homestanding Scots outscored the Stormy Petrels 19-5 in the fourth quarter, however, and pulled away for a 59-43 victory. The result drops the Petrels to 4-5 on the season. 

The Petrels shot 37 percent over the first three quarters of the game to Maryville's 39 percent. However, the Petrels were just 1-for-14 from the field in the fourth quarter while Maryville went 8-for-12 over the final 10 minutes. 

Freshman guard Bailey Charles led all Petrels with 15 points on 5-of-10 from the floor, 2-of-3 from the three-point line and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. She also grabbed five boards, passed out three assists and recorded a pair of steals. Junior guard Dannelle Carroll finished with nine points on 3-of-6 from three-point range, while freshman forward Lauren Ransom finished with seven points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go with two blocks. 

Up 40-38 entering the fourth quarter, the Scots began to push the lead out as the quarter unfolded. They ran off 11 straight points to begin the period over the first 6:18, pushing out to a 51-38 lead. After an Oglethorpe free throw, Maryville scored the next seven points over a 1:25 stretch to build a 57-39 edge with 1:34 left, putting the game away.

Up until the fourth quarter, though, the Petrels went basket-for-basket with their nationally-ranked opponent, leading for the majority of the first 30 minutes. Up 27-26 at halftime, the Petrels opened the second half with back-to-back baskets to extend their lead to 31-26 with 9:14 remaining in the third quarter. Maryville quickly came back to tie the game, though, and the two teams proceeded to trade baskets for the rest of the third quarter.

The Petrels started the game very well, tallying the first two baskets of the game and beginning on a 13-4 run over the first 8:12. That nine-point advantage would prove to be Oglethorpe's largest of the contest. Maryville countered with a 7-2 run over the remainder of the quarter, though, taking the score down to 15-11 by the end of the period.

In the second quarter, the Scots continued their comeback, starting the period on a 10-3 spurt to build their first lead of the game, 21-18. Oglethorpe answered with a a 9-5 mini-run of their own to build a one-point lead at halftime.

For the game, Maryville shot 45 percent to Oglethorpe's 29 percent, including a 37 percent conversion rate on three-point attempts, compared with Oglethorpe's 35 percent. The Petrels outrebounded the Scots 43-32, including 17-7 on the offensive glass. However, Maryville outscored the Petrels 32-16 in the paint and turned the ball over just 12 times to Oglethorpe's 21.

"We looked really good for 30 minutes," said Head Coach Alex Richey. "Unfortunately, we hit the fourth-quarter wall where we couldn't put the ball in the basket. Overall, I feel like we got better and showed glimpses of where we can be, but we have to continue to work through these growing pains in order put together 40 minutes."

The Petrels will now take a week off for exams before hosting the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Classic next weekend at Dorough Field House. They'll take on Manchester at 7 p.m. next Friday before welcoming No. 23 FDU-Florham next Saturday at 5 p.m. Those two teams will take onBelhaven in the other two games of the Classic.