Regionals against Chelsea

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans get their chance to advance to the Southeast Regional tonight as they host the Lady Hornets of Chelsea High at CHHS gym.

A win and the Lady Trojans will travel the short road to Troy State and become a home-town favorite in the Regionals, but a loss will send them home for the season.

The Lady Trojans have the advantage as far holding the home court goes, that’s something that CHHS head coach Dyneshia Jones and her squad fought hard to get and now perhaps will reap the reward for.

Also playing into their favor is the long distance Chelsea must travel tomorrow in a matchup where neither team knows a whole lot about the other. Not knowing about her opponent hasn’t phased Jones all year and hopefully the Lady Trojans will follow her lead and worry more about what they need to be doing than what Chelsea will be.

"We just have to stick to our game plan and play the way we know we can play and hope things will turn out right," Jones said. "we can’t worry about the other team we’ve just got to do what we know how to do.

"I told them to just focus on one game at a time," she added. "I didn’t tell them we needed three more games for this or that. We just have to play one at a time because if we lose this one we’re out for good. We need to focus on this then worry about the rest when the time comes."

Last time out both the Lady Trojans and the Lady Mustangs had some trouble with the foul situation. The referees called the game a little tight to the vest, but CHHS still found a way to win despite fouling out one player and having others in foul trouble for most of the game.

The playoffs bring in refs from other areas to keep things fair, but they are also watched and feel the spotlight on them. They might call things a little tight in response to the situation.

Jones feels this will effect how both teams have to approach the game and that each coach will have to adjust to the way the officials are calling tonight.

"It all depends on the referees," Jones said. "They might not be calling it as tight as they did Monday night, but it will effect the other team the same way that it effects us.

"This will be two good teams playing each other," she continued. "I’m pretty sure if you have two good, physical defenses playing each other and whoever adjusts best will probably win."

The Lady Trojans have become accustom to getting big games out of their star guard Jenean Deveridge when they need them most. Deveridge scored 24 points in their Area Tournament title game win over Stanhope and is the fuel to Charles Henderson’s fire.

Deveridge fits the Lady Trojans pressure style of defense to a tee, able to work the ball up the and down the court in transition and convert careless turnovers by the opposing team into easy baskets when CHHS needs them the most.

The junior guard can’t do it all, however. They will need a strong game out of shooter Kelly Miller outside and some impact play out of Clarissa Parker and Jessica Youngblood underneath.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.