Taking charge of the offensive play call is junior Ali Solomon (15).
Legacy Christian held a net cutting ceremony after Thursday’s game to celebrate the program’s seventh straight conference championship which was won a week ago. Head coach Mark Combs holds up the remainder of the net after his players all had their turn taking a piece. See our print edition on Tuesday for more on the title.
XENIA — Legacy Christian picked up one of its biggest wins of the season in the final game of its regular season schedule with a 47-40 home victory over South Charleston Southeastern on Thursday.
Neither side led by more than six at any point until the Knights took control in the final minutes at the free throw line. Both sides struggled to shoot outside of the paint facing intense defense with rebounding and second chance opportunities becoming a premium.
Legacy Christian (18-3) led by three with 2:07 left when Audrey Staney drove into the paint. She missed an open layup, but fought to bring down the rebound and was able to score on the put back attempt as she was fouled.
It started a self-made 6-0 run by Stanley to put Legacy ahead 46-37 with 36 seconds remaining that put the game out of reach.
Southeastern (15-6) led 12-6 late in the first in controlling the early pace and still by five early in the second before LCA’s defense stiffened. An 8-0 run spanning more than four minutes helped put the Knights into the lead heading into the break 19-16.
With both sides trading baskets in the third, Emah Carrasco hit a shot at the buzzer to keep Legacy Christian ahead heading to the fourth.
The matchup pitted two regular season conference champions against one another as a posteason tune-up, with Legacy Christian already having won its seventh straight Metro Buckeye Conference title and Southeastern recently clinching the Ohio Heritage Conference’s South Division championship.
LCA will begin sectional tournament play on Feb. 17 as the top-seed in the South District. The Knights will play No. 10 New Miami with a start time slated for 12:30 p.m. at Monroe High School.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
