XENIA — Host Legacy Christian Academy continued its hot shooting ways, Thursday Feb. 9, in a 73-51 girls high school basketball win over Yellow Springs.
On Senior Night, each of the 11 Knights players on the roster scored. That included injured senior Ariana Nelson, who scored an honorary bucket to start the game off. Nelson has been on the sideline with a season-ending knee injury all year.
And LCA poured in eight 3-pointers, scored by six different Knights. Olivia Combs hit three of them, as part of her game-high 18-point night, while Tabitha Moser, Anne Kensinger, Emily Riddle, Maddy Combs and Rachel Sweeney each hit one.
“We’ve shot 10 (3-pointers) on two occasions against Miami Valley, but certainly we shot the ball well tonight,” LCA coach Mark Combs said. “It’s great for our team to have everybody score. For everybody to come in and contribute to the win, that’s great for our team. It was an all-around special night, and a special night for our seniors that have done this for a while now. We’re really happy for them, but also for all the girls that scored tonight.”
Before the game, Legacy Christian recognized Yellow Springs’ seniors — Morgan Minnich, Julian Roberts, Elizabeth Smith and Danny Horton — and then had a recognition ceremony for Knights seniors Sweeney, Nelson, Rebecca Dendinger and Victoria Howarah.
And then the threes started raining down for the Knights.
Legacy Christian had amassed a 23-9 lead after one quarter of play, and led 48-19 at the break. By then, the Knights got six of their eight treys for the evening out of the way.
Olivia Combs led LCA (15-6, 6-3 in the Metro Buckeye League) with her 18, Sweeney finished with 16 and Dendinger finished with 10.
“I came here to watch Legacy play a game earlier this year, and they hit eight 3-pointers in the first half,” Yellow Springs coach Tim Minnich said. “We knew what they were going to do, we just weren’t athletic enough to match up with them for the entire game. We played better in the second half — Morgan (Minnich) had 17 points and Elizabeth (Smith) had 16. I think we shot the ball better in the second half as well.
“We’re 10-10 overall now, (and 5-5 in the MBC). If you’d have told me that we’d have that kind of record when the season started, I’d be extremely happy.”
Legacy Christian gets back into Metro Buckeye Conference play with a noon Saturday, Feb. 11 home contest with Middletown Christian. That will wrap up the Knights’ regular season. The No. 7 seeds in the Division IV Brookville Lower bracket will take on No. 6-seeded Arcanum Franklin-Monroe in the sectional tournament’s first round. That game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Brookville High School.
Yellow Springs will wrap up its regular season with a pair of non-league road contests. The Bulldogs are at Tipp City Bethel for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 11. They then will head to Spring Valley for a regular season finale at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13. The No. 8 seeded Bulldogs open D-IV sectional tournament play in the Brookville Upper bracket against No. 9 seed Bradford. That game is set for 12:30 p.m. Feb. 18, also at Brookville High.
