Lady Trojans, Rebels and Dawgs advance in area tournament

The Charles Henderson, Zion Chapel and Pike County girls’ teams all advanced in their area basketball tournaments on Tuesday night.

The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans earned a hard-fought 41-37 overtime win over Greenville in the Class 5A, Area 4 Semifinals on Tuesday. It was the second CHHS overtime win in the last three games.

Charles Henderson’s Harmony Hubbard scored four points in the overtime period as the Lady Trojans outscored Greenville 6-2 to earn the win. KK Hobdy had another big night for Charles Henderson with 28 points, while Hubbard added seven points.

The Lady Trojans will now advance to the Area 4 Championship against Carroll on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. in Ozark.

The Zion Chapel Lady Rebels hung on to beat the Pike Liberal Arts Lady Patriots by a score of 43-34 at ZCHS in the opening round of the Class 2A, Area 4 Tournament. The Lady Rebs led by as many as 23 points in the contest but PLAS refused to quit and managed to cut the lead down to six points in the fourth quarter before free throw shooting secured the win for Zion Chapel.

Zion Chapel jumped out to a big 16-3 lead in the first quarter and led 27-8 at halftime of what looked like a blowout. Pike Lib began to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, however, cutting Zion Chapel’s lead to 33-19 going into the fourth quarter. Midway through the fourth, PLAS cut the lead to 10 points.

Zion Chapel and Pike continued to trade points until Lady Patriot Indi Carter cut the lead to 40-32 with 58 seconds left on a four-point play in which she buried a three-pointer despite being fouled. She then knocked down the free throw to complete the four-point play. After a Zion Chapel free throw put the Lady Rebels back up by nine, Pike Lib’s Brooklyn Fountain knocked down a jumper and a free throw to cut the lead to six points with just under 30 seconds remaining.

That would be as close as PLAS would get, however, as Zion Chapel’s Shea Wambles buried four free throws in the final 20 seconds to secure the win. PLAS won the rebound battle 62-40 but the Lady Rebels forced an eye-popping 33 turnovers, including 20 steals as a team.

Wambles led the Lady Rebels with a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds along with five assists and seven steals. Madison Meeks added 12 points and three assists, while Mericason Prescott chipped in with 10 points, six rebounds and six steals.

Fountain was the only Lady Patriot to reach double digits scoring with 11 points along with two steals. Indi Carter added nine points and nine rebounds, while Emily Bryan grabbed 24 rebounds. She also scored six points and earned four steals.

Zion Chapel advances to the to the semifinals of the Area Tournament against Luverne in Luverne on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. Goshen plays Highland Home – in Luverne – in the other semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. Pike Lib’s first season in the AHSAA comes to an end with a 1-18 record in 2022-2023.

Pike County also advanced to the Class 3A, Area 4 Championship with a resounding 51-18 win over the Daleville Lady Warhawks on Tuesday. Pike County dominated from start to finish, jumping out to an 18-3 lead in the first quarter and maintaining a 33-3 lead going into halftime after holding the Lady Warhawks scoreless in the second period. PCHS also outscored DHS 18-15 in the second half.

Taniyah Green and Auriel Moultry scored 11 points each for the Lady Dawgs, while Urriya Berry scored eight points.

In the other semifinal game, New Brockton outlasted Opp 33-29, which sets up a Pike County vs. New Brockton championship game scheduled for Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. at PCHS.

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