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Charles Henderson High School’s new girls’ basketball coach has big shoes to fill after the retirement of longtime, state champion winning, coach Dyneshia Jones-Elder and the school is filling those shoes with two-time state champion LaKenya Knight.

Troy City Schools officially hired Knight on Friday at a special called board meeting. Knight comes to Charles Henderson after spending the past 15 years at Class 7A Jeff Davis High School in Montgomery. Knight was a star player at the University of Auburn-Montgomery, setting the school’s assist record. Her first head-coaching job came at Montgomery County in 1999 and then she coached at both Park Crossing and LAMP before taking over at Jeff Davis in 2007.

Knight’s Lady Vols won eight area championships, made six Elite 8 appearances, made the Final Four five times and won 7A State Championships in 2015 and 2016. During her head coaching career, on the girls side, she went a combined 302-155.

Then, in 2018, Knight made history by becoming the first female basketball coach in the history of the AHSAA to land a head coaching job on the boys side, when she was named the boys basketball coach at Jeff Davis. Her Jeff Davis boys team won an area championship and made it to the Elite 8 in 2020 and 2023. Her overall head coaching record is 439-244.