with 52-43 win over Stanhope Elmore

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The referee’s whistle blew a little more than either team might have wanted, but when the final buzzer sounded the Charles Henderson Lady Trojans had nothing to complain about.

With a 52-43 win over the Stanhope Elmore Lady Mustangs, CHHS has earned the right to host their Sub-Regional in the state playoffs as the Class 5A Area 6 champs. It was a game in which three players fouled out and three others finished with four apiece.

After the marathon game was concluded, however, the Lady Trojans proved to have the depth to handle the foul problems.

Junior guard Jenean Deveridge scored a game-high 24 points, 14 of which she scored in the fourth quarter, and came away with the biggest smile of anyone wearing the Orange and White.

"This is great, it feels like a dream," Deveridge said. "I always wanted to make it to state and I believe we can do it as long as we work hard."

Deveridge worked hard to keep her team a game that she and teammate Kelly Miller almost took to the bank early on in the second half.

After taking a 19-17 lead into the locker room, the Lady Trojans went on a 10-1 run to start the third quarter fueled by two Miller 3-pointers and a fast break bucket by Deveridge off a Miller steal.

Stanhope wasn’t going to back down so easily. The Lady Mustangs put together their own 12-2 run shred the CHHS lead to only one with 19 seconds to go. Deveridge got the Lady Trojans back on track, however, with a key 3-pointer of her own to end the third as the buzzer sounded.

After the Charles Henderson girls pumped their lead back out to nine with under five minutes to play they almost let the Lady Mustangs back into the game as the Stanhope pressure started to mount. The Lady Trojans turned the ball over four straight times, but Stanhope could only score five points in the final three minutes – including a wild 3-pointer – and CHHS settled down and pushed things out of reach with a rash of fast break layups.

Now the Lady Trojans must get ready for the runner up team from Area 8 who they will host in Troy Thursday night. CHHS head coach Dyneshia Jones, while noticeably relieved after the game said it was back to the basics come practice time tomorrow.

"It feels good, but we have to stay focused," CHHS head coach Dyneshia Jones said. "We’re going to work on the same thing we work on every day in practice. We don’t know how the other team plays and don’t even know who we’re going to play right now, but we’ll do the normal routine in practice."

Miller and center Clarissa Parker rounded out the Lady Trojans’ scoring with nine apiece while Charles Henderson held all the Stanhope players under 10 individual points.