MC Falls to Top-Seeded Berea, 55-38

BEREA, Ky. – Maryville saw its basketball season come to a close Saturday in Kentucky when the Scots dropped a 55-38 decision to top-seeded Berea on the Mountaineers' home court.
 
Courtney Carruthers led all Maryville Scorers with 15 points. She finishes the season averaging a team-high 17.6 points, good for third in the CCS.
 
The game marked Maryville's 10th tournament semifinal appearance in Darrin Travillian's 13 seasons as Scots head coach.
 
Maryville went 0-3 against Berea this season, but tonight was its best showing against the Mountaineers.
 
"We were able to make them work harder on the offensive end of the floor," Travillian said. "The only thing we didn't do was finish enough possessions with rebounds.
 
"Defensively, we were good enough. We played hard, and the strides we made from the last time we played them were monumental. We just needed a few more boards on defense and to finish a few more of our attempts on offense."


 
Travillian was happy with the progress his team made throughout the season and believes finished the year much stronger than they started.
 
"I was really proud of the progress we made from October to the end of February. We came such a long way," Travillian said. "We got so much better on both ends of the floor. We didn't have a single player who played in the same position as they did a year ago, so that forced us to grow up a lot this year and we saw a lot of players make strides."
 
MC's best 10 minutes of the night came in the fourth quarter, as the Scots held Berea to just four points while putting up 10 of their own.
 
The Scots had the upper hand in fast break points, putting up 11 points in transition compared to 10 from the Mountaineers.
 
Hailey Cronk and Olivia Cathers led the squad with six rebounds each. Cathers also picked up a team-high in steals (2) and blocks (2).


 
Looking ahead to next season, Coach Travillian has confidence his team will improve and be ready to compete for a conference championship.
 
"The game Wednesday at Belhaven is the one that showed me what we could become next year," Travillian said. "We know we've got to add some from a recruiting standpoint, and we need a few of our current players to keep improving. But if that happens, there's no reason we can't be playing on the final day of the season next year."
 
Maryville finishes its season with a record of 12-15, and a conference record of 8-8.