TROY — The obvious benefit of having senior guard Macie Taylor back on the floor for the Troy girls basketball team is her scoring punch.

But, the value of number 10’s presence on the Trojan Activity Center goes far beyond.

And you need look no further than senior post Morgan Kaiser to see that.

In the five games Taylor missed, Kaiser scored just 11 points.

In the two games since she returned, she is average 15.5 points and scored a career-high 24 Saturday in a 54-14 win over Fairborn as Troy improved to 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the MVL.

“I just think having Macie (Taylor) out there opens the floor up for everyone else,” Kaiser said. “We know each other really well. She knows when I am going to flash (to the basket). I think we know what the other one is going to do.”

And nobody was happier for Kaiser than Taylor — who had several assists to her in the game.

Taylor entered the game needing 20 points to break Julia Reel’s school record for career points and finished with 12.

“I was so happy for Morgan (Kaiser),” Taylor said. “We can read each other pretty well. It was great to see her have a game like that.”

And while Macie would have loved to get the record on her home floor — she knows Wednesday’s game at Butler is much more important in the scheme of things — and it is a process as she comes back from missing five games with illness.

“It will mean a lot more (against Butler),” Taylor said. “They knocked us out of the tournament last year and I got an injury in that game. Going into the season, I was thinking about the record and getting it in the non-conference schedule. But, of course something had to happen.

“It has been tough. It was tough watching the team struggle. I was out of breath out there in the second quarter.”

Hughes was happy to see Kaiser having success with Taylor’s return to the floor.

“They are like a dynamic duo,” he said. “I just think it comes from them playing a lot of basketball together and knowing what each other are going to do out there. For sure (Morgan’s offensive impact has grown with Taylor’s return).”

Kaiser made 12 of 18 shots from the floor and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double.

She scored 20 points in the first half, many on putbacks of offensive rebounds.

“I didn’t really know (how many points she had in the first half),” Kaiser said. “At one point, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw I had 18. And I was like, “wow”.” I had 16 in a game once, but this is my career.”

And what Taylor does to impact a game when she isn’t scoring says just as much.

Taylor had six rebounds, five assists and nine steals in the game.

“When she is not having a good game (scoring), to distribute the ball to her teammates like she did, that says a lot about Macie (Taylor) and what kind of player she is,” Hughes said. “I think we are (getting used to playing with each other after having everybody for two games).

“We had a nice crowd here. It would have been nice for her to get the record in front of them. But, it is what it is and Butler is (a big game). We played them so much last year (four times) and we feel like we know each other.”

Brynn Siler added 10 rebounds to the Trojans cause, Kiyah Baker had seven rebounds, Makenzee Maschino had five rebounds and three steals and Madalynn Hughes blocked two shots.

Ava Williams scored six points for Fairborn, while Ella Bowman and Stefanie Parrish grabbed six rebounds and Erin Bradford pulled down five.

Troy was 22 of 63 from the floor for 35 percent and eight of 17 from the line for 47 percent.

Fairborn was seven of 28 from the floor for 25 percent and did not shoot a free throw.

Troy won the battle of the boards 38-26 and had seven turnovers to Fairborn’s 25.

Taylor said the two games this week went about as scripted.

“I just wanted to play my way back into it this week,” she said.

Knowing the stakes will be much higher Wednesday night.