XENIA — While a wind storm was knocking trees down on the Legacy Christian Academy campus outside, the girls basketball team was busy whipping up a “Perfect Storm” storm of their own.
In a battle for the Metro Buckeye Conference title, the hosts outscored second-place Troy Christian by a 29-4 margin in the first half, then rolled to a convincing 53-20 win, Feb. 7, in the Knights gym.
A large tree had fallen onto the main entrance way to the LCA grounds while the game was going on, and moments after the game ended the power went out, but that didn’t stop the Knights and their fans from dancing in the dark.
With the LCA students lighting the court with their phones, the team cut down the net in celebration.
“I think there’s always two sides to the equation,” Knights coach Mark Combs said, still with the basketball net draped around his neck. “I think we played really hard, and I think Troy missed shots that they wanted to make. I think it was just a Perfect Storm for them. They got some good shots, but missed. And I think we did a really good job on the boards, and that’s what we needed to do.”
Adding to the Knight’s fun, senior Emily Riddle scored her 1,000th career point with exactly three minutes remaining in the third quarter. By then, all that was left to do was celebrate as Legacy led 41-6 at the time.
Riddle said she saw her sister had bought some poster board for the game, and that was her first clue that she was close to the milestone.
“It was awesome! I have the most supportive teammates in the whole world,” Riddle said. “My coaches are amazing, and the Athletic Department is amazing, and my parents are awesome, and these fans … it meant a whole lot to me, because they’ve always been so very supportive of me.”
Riddle led the Knights (19-2, 11-0 MBC) with 14 points scored, Kathleen Ahner and Emma Hess both finished with 11 points, Margaret Kensinger scored 10 points and Maddy Combs scored seven.
Ahner said Thursday night’s win won’t be forgotten any time soon.
“It means everything, especially to see Emily get her 1,000th point,” she said. “To win the league title at home, it’s amazing. We appreciate the fans’ support and the cheerleaders coming out. It’s just an awesome night.”
Eagles sophomore guard Morgan Taylor led her team with nine points, six of which came in the second half. Freshman Sydney Taylor finished with six points, sophomore Erin Schenk added four points, and junior Alexis Salazar hit a free throw for Troy Christian’s points.
With the loss, Troy Christian fell to 16-4 overall, 10-2 in the MBC. Coach Anthony Ferraro and his team left the Knights gym while the power was still out.
Both teams have one more regular season game left on their schedules. Legacy Christian will play a make-up game at noon on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Miami Valley, while Troy Christian will host Chaminade Julienne for a non-league tussle at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11.
Legacy officials were not certain of what had caused the abrupt power outage, as their powerlines are all underground. One LCA official, who begged not to be quoted, suggested that the Knights simply ‘Shot the lights out.’
Maybe.