Trojans knock off old rival Eufaula to claim spot in the regional finals
Published 3:52 pm Monday, February 19, 2018
The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans never trailed in their 58-37 win over the Eufaula Tigers in the Regional semifinals on Monday in Dothan.
The win for the Trojans advances them to take on the Faith Academy Rams in the South Region championship on Wednesday evening.
“I am proud of them,” said Trojans head coach Dyneshia Jones. “I thought they were a little out of control. They let the (excitement) of the crowd get to them. Offense-wise we went in and jumped in there running and shooting. We tired ourselves out.”
Maori Davenport stole the show for the Trojans on Monday. The junior finished with 30 points and 25 rebounds.
“Maori’s mentality is beast mode,” Jones said. “She isn’t going to let anybody back her down. She has that winning mentality also. The only way anybody can stop her is if she his hurt.”
It was a physical first half between the Trojans and the Tigers. It was also one that featured its fair share of turnovers. Both teams combined to turn the basketball over 27 times in the opening with the Trojans adding 15 of their own.
The Trojans doubled the Tigers in the opening half in field goal percentage by shooting just over 34 percent, while holding the Tigers to just 17 percent.
The Trojans had six different players get on the scoreboard in the opening half, led by Maori Davenport’s 11 points. She finished the half with a double-double by hauling in 12 rebounds.
The Trojans led by as many as 7 points in the opening quarter and rode into the second holding a 14-7 lead.
In the second quarter, Davenport picked up five of her first half points. The Trojans outscored the Tigers 11-7 and went into the locker room at halftime leading 25-14.
The Trojans led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. Davenport added seven more points in the quarter and gobbled up five more rebounds. Despite the Tigers picking up a three-point play to close out the scoring in the quarter, the Trojans took a comfortable 13-point lead into the fourth at 38-25.
Davenport helped put the Trojans over the edge in the fourth quarter by scoring her final 12 points of the game. Along with Niaira Jones’ 5 points , the Trojans secured their trip to the championship.
Jones finished with 9 points while Samira Moore had 7.
Moore stepped up for the Trojans while Tatyana Siler spent most of the first half on the bench with foul trouble.
“That’s really important,” Jones said. “Moore is one of our bigs and she was out last year because of surgery. She just came back for the area tournament. Right now she has improved tremendously and she is running the floor well.”
The Trojans held the Tigers to just 20 percent shooting for the game.
“I believe in my defense,” Jones said. “We do a good job on defense. We have held teams to 10 points. I trust my guards and I trust my bigs. They understand each other.”
The Trojans and Rams will tipoff at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.