Lady Trojans are area champs again

Published 9:32 am Thursday, February 9, 2023

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The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans wrapped up their 10th straight Area Championship with a 50-43 win over the Carroll Lady Eagles on the road in the Class 5A, Area 4 Girls Basketball Championship on Wednesday night.

Despite trailing for the majority of the game, a second half surge led the Lady Trojans to the win. KK Hobdy got Charles Henderson off to a quick start with a steal and layup in the first minutes of the game but Carroll responded with an 8-0 run and led 11-5 going into the second quarter. The Lady Trojans shot just 15 percent from the field, knocking down only 2-of-6 shot attempts, in the first period.

Charles Henderson’s cold shooting continued in the second quarter as the Lady Eagles stretched their lead to 22-5 after going on an 11-0 run to open the period. Charles Henderson didn’t score its first points in the second until there was 3:09 left on the clock. CHHS did manage to get hot late and closed out the half on an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 23-13 at halftime. Carroll shot 35 percent from the field in the first half but CHHS shot just 20 percent.

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Charles Henderson began to chip away at the lead even more in the third quarter, cutting the Lady Eagle lead down to just one point with 3:43 left in the period. While shooting got better in the third period for the Lady Trojans, 6-of-8 free throw shooting was the key to keeping themselves in the game. Still Carroll was able to hang on to a 33-30 lead going into the final quarter of play.

With 5:12 remaining in the game, Hobdy converted a layup to tie the score 36-36. With the game tied 39-39, Mileah Ward hit a pair of free throws for the Lady Trojans to give them a 41-39 lead with 1:44 left. It was Charles Henderson’s first lead since the opening minutes of the game.

Next, Ta’Keiya Brockton stole an inbounds pass and then Harmony Hubbard knocked down a three to stretch the CHHS lead to 44-39 with 1:30 left. Madison Ousley earned another steal and knocked down a layup to put the Lady Trojans up 46-39 with just 1:12 left. With under a minute remaining, Carroll was able to cut the lead to 51-46 but the Lady Eagles were forced to foul to conserve time. Hobdy buried four free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure the area championship for Charles Henderson.

For the game, Charles Henderson shot just 29 percent from the field but won the rebound battle 37-31 and forced 17 turnovers in the win. The Lady Trojans also knocked down 14-of-20 free throw attempts.

Hobdy led CHHS with another double-double, tallying 26 points, 19 rebounds, five steals and six assists. Hubbard added nine points and Deannna Gosha scored eight points with seven rebounds and three blocked shots before fouling out early in the fourth.

As area champion, Charles Henderson will now host Area 3 runner-up, either Eufaula or Headland, in the sub-regional round of the Class 5A State Playoffs on Feb. 13.

In the Class 2A, Area 4 Semifinals, Zion Chapel (4-22) fell to No. 1 seed Luverne 55-31. Shea Wambles led the Lady Rebels with 18 points in the loss.

In the other Area 4 Semifinal game, Goshen’s (8-15) season came to a close with a 52-33 loss to Highland Home. Amber Vickers led GHS with 11 points, while Haylee Sanford and AJ Rogers scored eight points each.