MARYVILLE – Courtney Carruthers scored her 1,500th career point Saturday afternoon as Maryville (5-9, 3-3 CCS) defeated Belhaven (4-11, 3-4 CC) 81-66 in the Cooper Athletic Center.
 
The Senior from Maryville scored a season-high 25 points in 38 minutes of play, shooting 7-of-13 from the field while hitting a season-best four three-pointers.
 
Carruthers scored her 1,500th point on a jumper just inside the paint with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter. She wouldn't be at 1,500 for long though as she converted the free throw to put the Scots ahead by a game-high 16 points at 65-49.


 
Ella Haney Followed with 17 points while Emma Huskey rounded out the double-digit Scorers for MC.
 
Emily Allen was the facilitator for MC offensively, coming off the bench to record a season-high eight assists while adding eight points of her own.
 
The Scots shot a season-best 25-of-28 (89.3%) from the free throw line, including 19 of their first 20. Carruthers led the way for MC converting 7-of-7 attempts from the charity strip in the contest.
 
"We shoot as many free throws as any team in America during the course of the week." Travillian joked. "We shoot them on our own, in practice, in pressure situations, but for the year it hasn't exactly been baring through. But today it did, and we really knocked them down."
 
There were seven lead changes and three ties in the contest, all coming early in the first quarter. The Scots took the lead 14-12 with 4:27 remaining in the quarter and would not lose it again. They finished the first 10 minutes of play ahead 28-18, their highest-scoring quarter of the night.


 
Despite the Scots holding onto the lead for the remainder of the contest, Belhaven battled and stayed competitive for much of the final 30 minutes of play. They outscored the Scots 19-18 in the second quarter and found themselves within one possession with 5:51 left in the quarter after an 11-3 run to start the period.
 
MC led by just one point with 1:47 remaining in the half but kicked it into gear to close the second quarter on an 8-0 run, taking a 46-37 lead into halftime.
 
"When they cut it back to a one-possession game, we answered," Travillian said. "Kids made some plays, defensively we had some people step up, we grabbed some boards, and we battled."
 
"It was a good growing up sort of win."


 
Maryville's smallest lead in the second half came with 4:08 remaining in the fourth when Ebony Gayden, who led the Blazers with 31 points and 11 rebounds, made a layup to trim the Scots lead to six at 72-66. MC held Belhaven scoreless for the final four minutes, closing out the contest with a 9-0 run.
 
"Every time we play them it's a battle," said Travillian. "When we played down there a couple of weeks ago it was a back-and-forth affair, and they got the better of us that day. I was really proud today to see my kids get the better end of this one."
 
The Scots were tremendous on offense Saturday afternoon. They were 24-of-55 (43.6 %) from the field, good for their second-best field goal percentage of the season, behind only the matchup against Centre where they were 23-of-52 (44.2%). The Scots recorded a season-best 47.1 percent mark, shooting 8-of-17 from beyond the arc.
 
"We did a lot of really good things offensively," Maryville head coach Darrin Travillian said. "it's the best we've played offensively as a group this whole year."
 
Maryville is back in action Sunday at noon for a matchup against CCS-foe Piedmont in the Cooper Athletic Center.