TROY — On paper, it would have seemed a simple task for the Troy girls basketball team to clinch a share of the regular season Miami Division title with a win over Stebbins on Senior Night Tuesday at the Trojan Activity Center.

After all, Troy had beaten Stebbins 50-23 on the road earlier in the season and it was senior night for Madalynn Hughes, Morgan Kaiser, Makenzee Maschino, Jovie Studebaker and Macie Taylor.

On the hardwood, it was anything but simple.

The Trojans found themselves trailing midway through the third quarter, before righting the ship for a 46-32 victory in MVL action.

The win gave Troy a share of the Miami Division title with a 15-3 record and improved the Trojans to 15-7 on the season. It is Troy girls basketball’s first division title since 2013.

They will open D-I sectional play at 6 p.m. Thursday at Butler against Fairmont, 13-8.

“Senior Nights can go one of two ways,” Troy girls basketball coach Jeremy Hughes said. “It was definitely emotional for us.”

As a result, the Trojans showed little energy in the first two and a half quarters.

Troy turned the ball over on its first five possessions of the game and Stebbins five first-half field goals were all 3-pointers as the Indians led 18-17 at the break.

But, when all else was failing, Troy’s defensive pressure provided the spark the Trojans needed — and it happened in the blink of an eye — literally.

Troy was still trailing 23-21 with 3:08 left in the third quarter when Hughes called timeout.

Nineteen seconds later, it was Stebbins calling timeout after Taylor hit a pull-up jumper and stole the inbounds for two more points, igniting the Troy crowd and bringing the team to life.

Following the timeout, Hughes stole the inbounds and scored and after another Troy steal, Taylor scored again and it was 29-23.

Taylor added a 3-pointer to make it 32-26 going to the fourth quarter and the Trojans pulled away from there.

“We have always said we are going to hang our hat on our defense,” Hughes said. “And it did (give us a spark).”

Taylor finished with 19 points.

Maschino scored nine points and Brynn Siler added six points.

Sophia Coaston had 11 points and six rebounds for Stebbins.

Bailey Roche scored nine points and Kaitlyn Seibel had six rebounds as the Indians dropped to 8-12 overall and 7-10 in the MVL.

Troy was 20 of 46 from the floor for 43 percent and four of eight from the line for 50 percent.

Stebbins was 10 of 32 from the floor for 31 percent, including seven 3-pointers. The Indians made five of six free throws for 83 percent.

Troy won the battle of the boards 26-23 and had 13 turnovers to Stebbins 20.

Hughes knows the effort has to be much different Thursday if Troy is going to advance in tournament action. Fairmont beat Troy 64-42 in the season opener, a game Taylor missed due to illness.

“We know we can’t dig ourselves a hole like tonight,” he said. “Fairmont has three or four girls who can score. Mallory Hullinger is an excellent 3-point shooter and Serena Baker is an outstanding post player.”

The win Tuesday accomplished one of the teams goals.

“When the kids wrote down their goals at the beginning of the year, I think pretty much every one of them had the MVL on the list,” Hughes.

And they can check that off after a win that was anything but simple.