MARYVILLE, Tenn.—Garis Grant (Charleston, S.C.) didn't slow down despite a two-week layoff, but her 20 points was not enough to overcome a halftime deficit at Maryville on Saturday evening. The Scotties hung tough in the first half, but the home team pulled away with a big third quarter before holding on to beat the Scotties 67-41 in the final game of 2017 for both sides.
Agnes Scott falls to 1-10 on the season and 0-3 in USA South play. Maryville has officially climbed their way out of an early-season hole, moving up to 2-0 in the conference and 6-6 overall.
The Scottie bigs controlled the paint in the first quarter, scoring all nine of the team's points. However, Maryville strung together a few runs to take a 13-9 advantage after 10 minutes. The Scots pushed that lead out to nine points quickly in the second quarter, but Agnes was able to counter back within four on two separate occasions. Maryville clung to a 24-20 lead with just under three minutes to go in the first half before then ended on an 8-0 run to close things out.
The momentum from the end of the first half carried into the second as the Scots extended their hold on the game to 21 points by the third quarter buzzer and did not look back in the fourth.
Jane Lado (Louisville, Ky.) also had a strong performance coming out of winter break with eight points and a team-high 10 boards. Grant added three more blocks to keep pace near the national leaders. Senior Natasha Banks (Douglasville, Ga.) had four assists and three steals.
The Scotties continue their road trip into the New Year with games at LaGrange and Brevard on January 2nd and 6th.