XENIA — With Metro Buckeye Conference leaders Troy Christian fully aware of Legacy Christian’s leading scorers —Emma Hess and Kathleen Ahner —Knights coach Mark Combs needed another player to step up their game.
Enter Margaret Kensinger, the Knights’ third-best scoring option.
With Eagles players hounding Hess and Ahner, Kensinger bombed a career-best seven threes and hit a two as well to lead the Knights to a very convincing 56-20 win over Troy Christian, Jan. 29 at Legacy Christian Academy.
“It’s a team game, and Margaret changed it tonight,” Combs said. “I don’t blame Troy for what they were doing. They had to give Ahner and Hess a lot of attention. We’ve been just kinda telling Margaret that ‘your day’s comin’, your day’s comin’. “It was timely. It was a good day.”
The win puts the two MBC rivals tied atop the conference standings with 9-1 records. Previously unbeaten Troy Christian (16-1) had claimed a narrow 34-33 win over the Knights back on Dec. 19, 2019.
Legacy Christian (14-3) has won 10 games ever since.
The Knights led 11-6 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half, but they finished the second quarter with a 16-4 run to grab what appeared to be a solid 29-10 halftime lead.
Turns out they were just getting warmed up.
Legacy limited the Eagles to two points in the third quarter and stretched its lead to 44-12.
Already out on front by a 49-17 count with 4:30 left to play, Legacy closed out the game with a 7-3 mini run.
The Knights’ Kensinger led all scorers with her career-high 23 points, Hess knocked in 18 points, Ahner added 12, and Mya Jones bombed a 3-pointer in the second half as well.
Combs said he realized the Eagles were missing regular starter Sarah Johnson, who it was believed had injured her knee in a recent game. She did not play on Thursday night.
Johnson had averaged nine points per game for the Eagles in 16 starts.
“We send her our prayers. This is a kids game. Their kids are just like our kids, and I was sad that she wasn’t going to be able to play, because she means a lot to their team,” he said.
Sarah Earhart led the Eagles in scoring with nine points, and Morgan Taylor added seven.
Eagles coach Tony Ferraro wasn’t going to make any excuses.
“No, we’re going to give Legacy credit,” he said. “Legacy out-played us tonight. They shot the ball really well, they made some defensive stops. I’d just like to congratulate Legacy, they played well.”
Legacy has the weekend off, and will host Dayton Christian at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 3 for its next game.
The Eagles can’t fret too much about Thursday’s loss. They’ll play at Franklin Monroe at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
