Friday, December 22, 2000
Duo boosts Boone County
Henderson, Stefanopoulos share leading roles for Rebels
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer contributor
FLORENCE - A chance meeting in a book signing line could pay the Boone County girls basketball team big dividends in March.
It's too soon to tell whether senior guard Ciara Henderson and junior guard Christian Stefanopoulos will lead the Lady Rebels to the Ninth Region title, but they have helped the 5-1 Lady Rebels in the scorebook.
Henderson averages 24 points and five rebounds per game. Stefanopoulos adds 13 points and seven assists per contest and she hits 82 percent of her free throws.
“Both of them are exceptional basketball players,” Boone County coach Nell Fookes said. “They are complete players; they have the ability to make teammates better. That's the most important thing.”
Who knows what would have happened if Henderson and Stefanopoulos not been standing in line at the Kroger in Erlanger in April 1999 waiting for Tennessee women's head coach Pat Summitt to sign their copies of Summitt's book. Henderson was a sophomore at the time, and Stefanopoulos was a freshman guard at Highlands.
“I hadn't heard much about (Stefanopoulos),” Henderson said. “I just knew who she was.”
Stefanopoulos had seen Henderson play, and she admired her work ethic.
“She never quits, no matter what,” Stefanopoulos said.
And a close friendship developed, too.
The two chuckle about how people butcher their names - Henderson said her first name often comes out “Clara,” while Stefanopoulos has heard people mistake her last name for Sesame Street's “Snuffleupagus.”
“She made me laugh, (which is) pretty hard,” Henderson said. “She helped me loosen up.”
Added Stefanopoulos: “She's made it easier for me to meet people and be part of the Boone family.”
Stefanopoulos has taken the long road to Boone County. She was a member of the Bellevue varsity as a sixth-grader in 1995, and she played four years at Highlands.
The road was bumpy at times. Some in Bellevue resented Stefanopoulos' decision to go to Highlands, and some in Fort Thomas felt the same way after the decision to head to Boone County.
But Christian's mother, Sheri, said her daughter doesn't consider herself better than anyone else.
“She transferred because we moved,” Sheri Stefanopoulos said. “We didn't move so she could transfer.”
On the court, Stefanopoulos, as the point guard, has taken much of the ballhandling responsibilities away from Henderson, which Henderson doesn't mind.
“I have somebody out there I know can do the same things I can do,” Henderson said. “I'm not so great with my dribbling.”
Fookes sees the two as inter-changeable and equally talented.
“They're both good ballhandlers,” Fookes said. “Christian is a better penetrator in a half-court situation. Ciara is probably a little better against a full-court press.”
Fookes wants her frontcourt players to score more, but Stefanopoulos and Henderson will have a lot to say about how far Boone County advances in the postseason.
Said Stefanopoulos: “There isn't any reason we can't get out of the Ninth Region.”
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Duo boosts Boone County