Box Score
Kentucky Wesleyan's record-setting year won't include a Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship.
Maryville scored the last 12 points of the game, including what proved to be the game-winner with six seconds left, to defeat KWC, 63-62, at the Ford Center to advance to the Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship game on Sunday.
"I don't say this too often when we lose, but I don't know how we lost," KWC co-head coach Caleb Nieman said. "We had great energy. I thought the defense was pretty tight for the majority of the game. I thought our kids made plays, but somehow we lost the game."
Maryville erased a 10-point halftime deficit to come back and earn the win.
After shooting 47.1 percent in the first half, KWC went cold in the second half on 6-of-28 shooting (21.4 percent). Meanwhile, Maryville was 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) with five 3s in the second half.
Bianca Barton was fouled but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 13.8 seconds left, and Maryville's Kayla Pearson drove the length of the floor and scored just in front of the basket.
KWC in-bounded the ball to Barton and she got a contested look at a 3-pointer from 24 feet out that bounced off the backboard and off the rim as time expired.
The Lady Panthers (20-8) had a timeout left to use, but Nieman said he didn't want to use it in that situation.
"I kind of liked being able to just get it in and go, not allowing them to set up their defense," he
said. "We've had situations like that before in the past where we haven't called a timeout and it's worked out for game-winners twice. So, we kind of rode that since it's worked in the past.
"Our point guard's pretty good at breaking pressure, getting the ball and going and finding open people."
Maryville (19-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run to make it a 43-42 game, still in favor of KWC.
But the Lady Panthers were able to push the lead back to 11 points, 62-51, with 4:56 left to play. That was during a stretch in which Barton was on the bench with four fouls.
That was the last time KWC scored.
Barton came back in at the 3:57 mark. Nieman said he didn't feel like his team played conservative in the final minutes, saying the situation of the game forced the Lady Panthers to play differently.
Maryville coach Chris Ellis agreed with Nieman.
"I don't think it was because they were less aggressive," he said. "I think that they just obviously weren't as hot as they were in the first half or as they have been a lot of times this year.
"They could really light you up. They hit 14 3s against us in Owensboro. That's a lot of 3s…they're a great team. They're so well-coached. They're so hard to play against because they're clones – literally. They have twins and the rest of them all look the same too, the way they play."
KWC owned the paint in the first half, outscoring Maryville 20-6. The Lady Saints had the advantage in the second half, though, 14-6.
Lauren Goffinet led KWC in scoring with 11, while Barton added 10. Shelby Miller led Maryville with 17 points.
KWC will officially find out its NCAA tournament fate when draws are announced at 9 p.m. Sunday night on ncaa.com.
At No. 5 in the Midwest Region, the Lady Panthers appear well-situated for a spot in the regional.
But for now, Saturday night's loss will leave a sting.
"It's rough," Nieman said. "This is a special year and a special group of kids. You hear coaches say that all the time, but this really is. This is a group that we're going to remember for a long time. It's tough. It's a close group, so it meant a lot to them.
"They want the season to continue. Hopefully it will in the NCAA tournament, but we wanted another game here in the Ford Center."
