“I was so excited,” Lee said. “I saw it go in and I was like, ‘We got this.’ When I went to shoot the free throw, I was like, ‘Don’t mess it up.’ ”
Lee collected nine points and 11 rebounds for TC, which moved to 16-4 overall and 7-4 in the Metro Buckeye Conference. Teammate Hailey Peters scored all 13 of her points in the first half and added eight boards.
“I feel very fortunate that we got out of here with a win because Middletown Christian has a nice team,” Troy Christian coach Dick Steineman said. “If our kids learn to put the ball in the basket, we’re going to be pretty good. We missed a lot of layups tonight.”
Makenzie Tolson (11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals), Aubriana Bellard (10 points, four boards) and Jada Long (13 rebounds) paced Middletown Christian.
The host Eagles (9-12, 5-6) have lost three games in the last seven days by a total of eight points.
“To think we’d even be here at 9-12, I’m extremely proud of them,” Middletown Christian coach Brent Tolson said. “We almost didn’t have a team this year. We’ve got some girls that might not have played to begin with that have tremendously helped the team.”
It was a tight contest all night, though Tolson’s squad played from behind most of the way.
Troy Christian caught a break with 17.6 seconds left and the score knotted at 33-33. The hosts were whistled for an offensive foul on an in-bounds play.
Peters missed a short jumper soon thereafter, but Lee grabbed the rebound, went right back up for the basket and got fouled.
“At the beginning, our shots weren’t really falling,” Lee said. “But at the end, we were just making a fight to come back and win.”
Tolson, hounded all evening by Meredith Haddad in a box-and-one defense, scored seven points in the fourth period. She did get an open 25-footer in the final seconds, but couldn’t get it to drop.
“I appreciate that she took control there at the end. She knew time was running tight,” Brent Tolson said. “You can’t ask for more than an open shot with two seconds left. It just didn’t fall.”
Troy Christian won the first meeting between these teams 41-31 on Jan. 15. Lauren Peters led TC with 12 points in that contest, but she suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.
“So I knew this game was going to be tight,” Steineman said. “We struggled scoring a little bit, but our kids pulled it together at the end. We’ve got a lot of freshmen out there, so we’re going to get better as the years go on.”
“We didn’t rebound at all when we played up there,” Tolson said. “They had second and third opportunities on probably half their offensive sets. I was on my girls all week about boxing out and rebounding, and we did a better job tonight.”
Allyssa Donald nailed a big 3-pointer down the stretch for Troy Christian and marked five points. Lauren Lavy chipped in four points and five rebounds.
Hannah Spahr contributed six points and Brooke Richardson scored five for Middletown Christian, which closes the regular season at Yellow Springs on Thursday. The Eagles are seeded fourth in the Division IV Monroe sectional and will play No. 6 James Gamble Montessori on Feb. 21 at 11 a.m.
Troy Christian, which hosts Dayton Christian on Thursday, is the sixth seed in the D-IV Sidney sectional and will begin the postseason at 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 21 against No. 7 Fairlawn.
Troy Christian 8-8-7-13—36
Mid. Christian 6-7-8-12—33
TROY CHRISTIAN (16-4, 7-4): Kathryn Lee 3 3 9; Hailey Peters 6 1 13; Meredith Haddad 1 0 3; Allyssa Donald 2 0 5; Megan Haddad 1 0 2; Lauren Lavy 2 0 4. Totals: 15-4-36.
MIDDLETOWN CHRISTIAN (9-12, 5-6): Hannah Spahr 3 0 6; Makenzie Tolson 4 3 11; Aubriana Bellard 4 1 10; Jada Long 0 1 1; Brooke Richardson 2 1 5. Totals: 13-6-33.
3-pters: TC 2 (Meredith Haddad, Donald), MC 1 (Bellard)
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