Maryville women’s coach Ellis picks up 200th career victory

Maryville women’s basketball coach Chris Ellis earned his 200th career victory with the Saints.

Marvyille posted a 56-39 victory over Missouri S&T on Saturday to hand Ellis the milestone victory.

Abby Duethman, the all-time scoring leader at Maryville, paced the Saints with 17 points and eight rebounds as the Saints defeated the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division leaders.

With the score tied at 2-2, Maryville reeled off an 11-0 run to take a lead it would not surrender the remainder of the day. Brittnye McSparron started the run with a layup, and Shelby Miller drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Miller swiped the ball and cruised in for a layup, and Duethman scored inside. Rita Flynn powered in a reverse layup for a 13-2 advantage.

The Lady Miners brought their deficit to single digits as 16-7 but Kate Childs scored consecutive hoops to rebuild a 20-7 lead midway through the first half. The Saints led by as many as 15 after a Duethman jumper and took a 30-17 lead into intermission. Maryville forced the visitors into shooting just 23.1 percent in the first half (6-of-26).

The Lady Miners scored the first 10 points of the second half and eventually closed to 30-27 at the 16:20 mark. The Saints settled themselves down on a Duethman layup, and Erica Lorton scored consecutive buckers inside for a 36-27 lead. Missouri S&T sank a 3-pointer, but the Saints answered on a Kayla Person basket. Duethman and Miller swished back-to-back 3-pointers for a 44-30 advantage with just over nine minutes left to play.

The Lady Miners hit a 3-pointer to edge closer at 44-33 before the Saints sealed the victory by scoring eight of the next 10 points for a 53-35 lead with 4:16 left to play.

Duethman also had five assists, two steals and two blocked shots for the Saints, who are now 10-7 overall, 6-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Miller hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, while Lorton made 5-of-6 shots from the field and contributed 10 points and four blocked shots.

Toni Knar came off the bench to lead Missouri S&T (11-6, 7-2 GLVC) with 12 points, while Hailee Parks grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds.

The Saints are back in action Thursday  (Jan. 31) when they host visiting Illinois-Springfield in a 5:15 game at Moloney Arena.