of Class 5A Area 6 teams

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The Charles Henderson High Trojans came out about as hot as a team could, but had to fight tooth and nail for a favorable finish in their second Area matchup of the year.

CHHS was able to get the 51-47 win over Stanhope Elmore to go up 2-0 in Area 6 play, but it wasn’t easy. Something Trojan head coach Carl Hollis took note of.

"We do well until we get tired," Hollis said of his squad. "When we get tired we’ve got to learn how to play smart and settle down and do what we’re suppose to do. We ran the floor hard at first and were good in transition. We could have stayed in the transition, but we got to tired to stay in transition and that’s not good."

To say the Trojans were doing well to start the game was an understatement. Charles Henderson went on a 13-2 run to start the game including a 3-of-3 showing from behind the 3-point line.

Stanhope gathered itself, however, outscoring the Trojans 13-5 throughout the rest of the first quarter and it was a dogfight the rest of the way.

The Trojans held the lead throughout the first half, but the Mustangs point guard John Julian found his range hitting for nine of his 14 points in the second half including a jumper with under a minute to leave CHHS with only a 29-28 lead at the half.

In the second SHS picked up its only lead of the contest at 32-30 only to have it ripped away on a quick 6-0 run.

Charles Henderson never extended its lead to more than eight points in the second half, but they did just enough to stave off any Mustang attempt at a comeback.

"We’re 2-0 in the Area and have Wetumpka coming in here Tuesday night," Hollis said. "It will be hard to beat them and even harder to beat Stanhope at Stanhope next week. It depends on the guys I’ve got and what they want to do."

In the girls’ game the Lady Trojans (4-5) took a control of a slow contest, plagued by numerous turnovers, to post a 49-33 win and go up 2-0 in Area play.

The two teams fought to a 12-10 lead by CHHS after the first, but the Lady Mustangs couldn’t buy a bucket in the second as Charles Henderson outscored them 15-6 en route to a 27-16 advantage at the break.

Time and time again the Lady Trojans’ Jenean Deveridge picked off sloppy passes by Stanhope and drove them the length of the floor for an easy two. That, combined with some hot shooting by guard Kelly Miller and post player Clarissa Parker, was more than enough to put a poor-shooting Stanhope club out of business.

Deveridge led the way with a game-high 17 points on the night while Parker and Miller finished with 12 and 11 respectively.

Next up for the Trojans is a show down with Wetumpka. CHHS will host the Area matchup and hope to sweep the Indians after taking both the girls’ and boys’ games from them in the two teams’ first matchup back in early December.