TROY — Legacy Christian battled back in the second half but ultimately came up short in its Division IV district final matchup on Saturday.

The Knights were defeated by Mississinawa Valley 51-46 at Troy High School to end its 20-win campaign.

LCA led early and a back and fourth second quarter saw the game head into halftime tied at 18. Mississinawa started the second half with a 9-0 run to take control and eventually built its lead up to 11 before the Knights began to battle back.

A pair of threes by Ali Solomon and Alayna Allport in the fourth quarter helped cut Legacy’s deficit to four with under four minutes remaining.

“I said to them on the bench we got down that this was character time,” LCA head coach Mark Combs said. “This thing could either get down 20 or we can be back in the game and I thought we fought back nicely and continued to make it a game, and it was a heck of game.”

Both sides struggled to score down the closing stretch as defensive play hit its peak in what was a physical contest.

Mississinawa’s ability to control the rebounding battle proved to be one of the game’s deciding factors as the Blackhawks were able to maintain its lead with numerous second-chance opportunity conversions.

“Basketball is not always a fair sport,” Combs said. “If you’re bigger and you can move people, you’re gonna have a little bit of an advantage. I thought we countered that pretty well as we had to shoot the ball pretty well, but we went through a lapse in the second half.”

The Blackhawks (21-5) entered the game having defeated Tri-Village, a league rival and the defending D-IV state champions, during the previous round of the tournament. Holding a five-point lead with just over a minute left, Taylee Woodbury ended a long possession for MV with a jumper from just above the free throw line that helped secure her school’s first ever district championship.

Woodbury, her team’s leading scorer coming into Saturday, had 15 points while McKenzea Townsend had 17 to lead all scorers. Ava Combs had 15 for LCA and Allport added 10 in her final game for the Knights.

LCA as the top-seed for the South section of the Southwest District was playing in its sixth district title game in the last seven seasons. Legacy ends the season with a 20-4 record.

Friday results

Boys – No. 2 Troy Christian 68, No. 3 Cedarville 52

The Indians fell behind early and never were able to catch up as its season ended in the D-IV district semifinals at Piqua High School.

Brayden Criswell scored 20 points, Mason Johnson had 18 and Tyler Cross added seven in the loss.

Similar to the regular season meeting between the two teams, Troy Christian doubled up Cedarville by halftime and held a 20-points advantage going to the fourth quarter.

Cedarville finishes with a 19-6 record and champions of the OHC South.

Boys – No. 1 Alter 47, No. 12 Carroll 40

Carroll led one of the top teams in the state heading into the final eight minutes, but only scored five points in the final quarter to come up short of pulling off the upset.

Alter led by six at halftime, but the Patriots outscored them 15-8 in the third to take the lead. The fourth quarter was similar to the second as Carroll struggled to score.

Shawn Seymour and Zach Perkins both scored 13 points to lead the Patriots and Nick Kaiser finished with 11.

Carroll had 13 assists on its 14 made baskets against just nine turnovers.

The Patriots wrap up the year at 14-10 overall.

Girls – No. 3 Carroll 54, No. 7 McNicholas 50

Carroll won a D-II district title at Mason High School in a tight affair.

The Patriots made eight free throws in the final minute to hold off a last ditch effort by McNicholas, which had led the game at halftime.

Maura Petrovic led the team with 15 points, and Eva Snyder and Madison Morris both added 13.

Carroll will play No. 2 Badin at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the regional semifinals at Springfield High School.

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.