Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Legacy Christian freshman Autumn Allport (30) connected on several midrange shots during the first half of Saturday’s Division IV sectional tournament game at Monroe High School. The top-seeded Knights beat New Miami 56-9.
Fighting for a loose ball is Legacy Christian junior Ali Solomon (15).
Legacy Christian freshman Ava Combs gets set to run the offense.
Legacy Christian freshman Maisy Kinnison (11) scored a basket late in the win against New Miami.
Legacy Christian’s bench gets set for a line change during the second half of Saturday’s win.
MONROE — Legacy Christian heated themselves up on a cold afternoon to start Division IV sectional tournament play at Monroe High School.
The No. 1-seed connected on six threes in the first half, hitting one jump shot after another while rarely needing to score in the paint in cruising to a 56-9 win over No. 10 New Miami at Monroe High School.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Alayna Allport said. “We’ve really been working on playing more together and I think sharing the ball is a big part of who we are, and we share it people knock down shots.”
LCA made a total of nine threes from beyond the arc in the game.
Head coach Mark Combs was impressed by how quickly his team adjusted to the neutral floor.
“Part of the reason we really want to take early games is just to get used to a big gym,” he said. “We’ve obviously been practice for two weeks in our gym and it’s a little different than coming out here on a bigger floor. That was a really good sign coming down here to shoot the ball well.”
LCA led 36-7 at halftime and scored the final 14 points of the first half. New Miami led 3-2 in the early minutes by forcing a few turnovers before Legacy Christian settled in and began getting the ball through the hoop with regularity.
The Knights (19-3) continued to follow its gameplan in the second half as it emptied its bench for the majority of the time remaining, with the running clock which began midway through the third quarter becoming the only deterrent.
Alayna Allport led three in double figures for Legacy Christian. Her game-high 16 points was supported by 10 from both Ava Combs and Autumn Allport.
LCA made the district finals a year ago. It’s the goal to get back to that game once again, and Allport said she feels getting into the flow of tournament play brings out the best in her team.
“Everything we’ve been working on all season, it comes to this,” she said. “We just work hard to achieve our goals, and we get to show we are and what Legacy is about.”
Legacy Christian next faces No. 11 Lockland at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday back at Monroe HS.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
