By Stephen Dawkins

Rivalry games are always important, but Tuesday’s Jemison-Chilton County contests had even more meaning.

For 11 Jemison and CCHS seniors, it was the last shot they would get against their counterparts.

Chilton’s senior boys—Taylor Hughes, Darnell Spear and Josh Williams—finished their careers unbeaten against Jemison with Tuesday’s 75-61 win.

“This is a small class for us,” CCHS coach Donnie Hand said. “We usually have more seniors than that. They’re three good kids that work hard, and they’ve done a good job this year.”

Jemison’s senior girls—Tabatha Cork, Samantha Glass and Codi Mims—defeated CCHS, 48-43, for the second time this season after having not taken down the Tigers since their freshman season.

“For the last two weeks, they’ve been playing really well, executing,” Jemison coach Leighsa Robinson said. “They’ve been playing excellent defense, and that’s what you need going into your area tournament.”

And many of the seniors played crucial roles in the outcomes.

Both Hughes and Spear scored 14 for CCHS, topped only by Grantland Karn’s 17.

Karn also led the Tigers (13-11) with 10 rebounds. Spear and Hughes had nine and seven boards, respectively.

Hughes also had seven assists.

Jemison’s senior trio of Scottie Hall (11 points), Brandon Jones (eight) and Cornelius Strong (five) accounted for 24 of their team’s points.

“Scottie and Brandon have been our inside game all year,” Jemison coach Stacy McGehee said. “[Strong] has done a good job of carrying the team on the court from the point.”

Trey Bryant led the Panthers (7-15) with 17 points.

Codi Mims, Kelsey Mims and Katika Nunn all scored 13 points for the Lady Panthers.

Nunn pulled down 11 rebounds, and Kelsey Mims had 10 rebounds.

Tuesday’s game marked the last for CCHS girls seniors Arteria Collins and Ciara Hines.

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison’s boys basketball team on Jan. 29 gave up a 12-point second half lead and fell to Montevallo, 51-46, on Senior Night.
The school’s senior athletes from several sports were recognized at halftime, and, shortly thereafter, the Panthers (6-16) appeared poised to win easily and send their fans home happy on a rainy night.
But the Bulldogs instead rallied for their fourth win of the season.
Montevallo’s Brandon Lilly drained his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 1:47 remaining in the third period, and the shot brought the visitors to within five points of the lead, at 33-28.
One minute into the final period, Montevallo’s Garrius Chappel stole the basketball while Jemison was trying to bring it up the court, and layed it in to tie the game at 39.
Jemison’s Cornelius Strong came right back down and gave the hosts the lead again, but it was short lived.
Montevallo tied it again with 4:46 on the clock, and a strong take by Lilly with 3:22 left to play gave the Dogs their first lead since it had been 5-4 in the early going.
Montevallo wouldn’t give up the lead, but Jemison did make it interesting.
Zak Kaylor inbounded the ball, stepped inbounds himself, then received the ball back and sank a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 48-46 Montevallo with just 20 seconds left.
But Montevallo made its free throws when they mattered most, including one out of the hands of B.J. Smith with less than 10 seconds left that twice bounced high off the rim before finally falling through the net.
Montevallo had also threatened in the first half after Jemison led 17-7 after the first quarter. The visitors clawed back to within 21-16, but Jemison’s Scottie Hall answered by going up strong over a double team to score with 1:17 left in the half.
Hall was fouled on the play and converted the free throw to give Jemison a cushion—until the ill fated second half.
Hall led Jemison with 14 points, and Trey Bryant had 12 points.
Lilly had 19 point for Montevallo.
Jemison will compete in the Class 4A, Area 7 tournament at Calera beginning Friday.
The Panthers will play Calera at 7:30 p.m., with the winner scheduled to take on the Bibb County-Holt winner at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8.

Montevallo’s Cardwell scores 26 in win over Panthers
Amber Cardwell scored 26 points—all on 2-point field goals—to lead Montevallo’s girls team to a 46-26 win over Jemison.
Cardwell scored 20 of her points in the first half as the Bulldogs (20-7) built a 37-15 lead.
Shelby Lopez scored eight points for Jemison, and Codi Mims added six points.
Jemison’s girls will play Holt at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class 4A, Area 7 tournament at Holt.
The winner will get either Calera or Bibb County in the championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison’s girls and boys basketball teams had played Calera close earlier in the season and had the Eagles on their home court on Jan. 19. Neither home team could pull out a win, though, and both sets of Panthers remained winless in area play.
Jemison’s girls held a 9-8 lead after one period of play, but Jennifer Hobby found Jocelyn Davis on a fast break for a 12-11 Calera lead 1 minute into the second quarter.
Jemison suddenly forgot how to break Calera’s press, and the visitors would pour it on, building a 25-16 halftime lead and a 41-24 edge going into the final period.
Shelby Lopez led Jemison with eight points. Teammate Katika Nunn scored six points.
Jemison’s boys didn’t have much success, either.
The score was close early—16-14 hosts after one period—but Calera boasted a 14-point lead with 2:13 remaining in the half.
Jemison, sparked by a Trey Bryant 3-pointer a little more than 1 minute into the second half, went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to five points, but Calera responded over the next 4 minutes with a 16-8 run that was highlighted by Deondre Haynes dunking with one hand behind his head.
Haynes led all scorers with 29 points and paced the Eagles attack by pushing the ball up the court all night, often beating the Jemison defense back to its own goal.
Trey Bryant scored 21 points for JHS, Scottie Hall had 17 points and Cornelius Strong had 16.

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison’s basketball B-team on Friday ended Chilton County’s seven-year county basketball tournament championship run.
The Panthers won, 38-35, by breaking CCHS’s press more efficiently and creating more turnovers with its own press.
CCHS, playing on its home court though Thorsby is the tournament host, took possession of the basketball with 8.2 seconds remaining, but a 3-pointer as time expired rimmed out.
“We knew we had a chance,” said first-year Jemison coach Jamey Walls, whose team had fallen to the Tigers in the final minute of a game earlier in the season. “We wanted to keep the intensity up, and I think we did after the first quarter.”
CCHS held a 16-14 halftime lead, but Jemison outscored the Tigers 12-7 in the third period.
Helping with that run was Kevin King, who singlehandedly turned a tie game to Jemison’s favor.  A part of Jemison’s press, King stole the ball and showed his speed as he glided down the court and layed it in. King then stole the inbounds pass, missed a fadeaway, grabbed his own rebound and finally the finished the play to give Jemison a 26-22 lead with just less than 1 minute remaining in the third.
King created havoc all night with his aggressive defense and finished with nine points.
Ben Howard had eight points for Jemison.
CCHS’s Jarvis Rogers scored a game-high 18 points, and teammate Dyquan Floyd had eight points.

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison’s basketball B-team on Friday ended Chilton County’s seven-year county basketball tournament championship run.

The Panthers won, 38-35, by breaking CCHS’s press more efficiently and creating more turnovers with its own press.

CCHS, playing on its home court though Thorsby is the tournament host, took possession of the basketball with 8.2 seconds remaining, but a 3-pointer as time expired rimmed out.

“We knew we had a chance,” said first-year Jemison coach Jamey Walls, whose team had fallen to the Tigers in the final minute of a game earlier in the season. “We wanted to keep the intensity up, and I think we did after the first quarter.”

CCHS held a 16-14 halftime lead, but Jemison outscored the Tigers 12-7 in the third period.

Helping with that run was Kevin King, who singlehandedly turned a tie game to Jemison’s favor. A part of Jemison’s press, King stole the ball and showed his speed as he glided down the court and layed it in. King then stole the inbounds pass, missed a fadeaway, grabbed his own rebound and finally the finished the play to give Jemison a 26-22 lead with just less than 1 minute remaining in the third.

King created havoc all night with his aggressive defense and finished with nine points.

Ben Howard had eight points for Jemison.

CCHS’s Jarvis Rogers scored a game-high 18 points, and teammate Dyquan Floyd had eight points.

By Stephen Dawkins

Brian Bailey scored a season-high 38 points on Friday to lead Maplesville to a 67-55 win over Jemison and a berth in the county basketball tournament boys championship game.

The Red Devils will play seven-time defending champion Chilton County at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Jemison led, 14-13, at the end of a back-and-forth first period, but Maplesville took a 35-25 halftime lead.

Jemison used a full-court press in the second half, and Cornelius Strong and Javae Swindle recorded several steals on Maplesville’s end of the court that resulted in easy baskets.

In fact, The Panthers got within two in the final quarter, but Bailey scored 13 of points in the frame to seal the win.

No other Red Devil scored more than eight points.

Bailey had 10 rebounds to go with his points. Anthony Johnson also pulled down 10 boards. He also assisted on three field goals.

Trey Bryant led Jemison with 19 points, including four 3-pointers.

Strong scored 18 points, and Scottie Hall had 12.

By Stephen Dawkins

Chilton County’s boys and Maplesville’s girls basketball teams were given No. 1 seeds by the coaches in this week’s county tournament.
On Thursday, both teams showed why.
CCHS breezed by No. 4 seed Thorsby, 79-33, and Maplesville overcame a sluggish first half to top Jemison 55-35.
Thorsby pushed Chilton, which wound up winning its seventh consecutive tournament championship, for three periods in last year’s tournament, but the Tigers on Thursday raced out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back.
“I thought we shot the ball better tonight,” said CCHS coach Donnie Hand, whose team was just shy of 50 percent from the field. “We shot today before the game a bunch. We start doing that after the break.”
The Tigers (9-7) led 25-7 at the end of the first period, 45-16 at halftime and 67-30 going into the final frame.
CCHS’s Taylor Hughes filled up the stat sheet to the tune of a game-high 22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and three assists.
Teammate Josh Williams contributed 19 points, four assists and six steals.
Nelson Williams dished out six assists.
Both Evan Bryan and Andrew Farris scored 10 points for Thorsby.
CCHS plays the winner of Friday’s Jemison-Maplesville game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday for the county championship.
Maplesville’s girls actually trailed No. 5 seed Jemison, 17-14 at halftime, but Ebony Childers stole the ball at halfcourt and finished with a layup to give the Red Devils (8-3) a 29-23 lead with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Jemison would never threaten again.
In the second half, Maplesville established Childers down low on offense and utilized Zuri Nix’s length at the top of a zone defense to create turnovers and easy baskets.
“We played better defense in the second half, and the shots we were missing in the first half we started making,” coach Eric Bailey said.
Childers scored 13 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. Keshia Bailey also scored 13 points to go along with five steals and five rebounds.
Nix was good for 11 points.
Both members of Jemison’s Mims duo had solid games. Codi posted 14 points, and Kelsey scored 13.
The Devils will play the winner of Friday’s Thorsby-Isabella game at 5 p.m. Saturday for the girls championship.

By Stephen Dawkins

Kelsie Mims’ 10-footer with 46 seconds left in overtime proved to be the game-winner as Jemison’s girls basketball team took a 39-36 overtime win over Chilton County on Monday in the first round of the county basketball tournament.
Shelby Lopez added an insurance free throw with 2.6 seconds left, and CCHS couldn’t get off a last-second shot attempt.
Chilton’s Chynna Davis sent the game into OT with a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in regulation.
Jemison’s Katika Nunn scored a game-high 17 points.
Jemison plays Maplesville at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

By Stephen Dawkins

One is in the middle of a surprisingly successful season and the other is an established power, but both Jemison’s boys and Thorsby’s girls basketball teams will find themselves in the same position this week: with a first-round bye in the county basketball tournament.
Jemison has won five games this season, coach Stacy McGehee’s first, after winning only a handful of games last season.
The Thorsby girls, meanwhile, are a perfect 10-0 heading into the tournament but were only given the No. 2 seed.
Maplesville is the No. 1 seed.
Those two teams have accounted for three of the last four county titles.
“I would say, from what I’ve seen, I think Maplesville is probably by far the most athletic team I’ve seen,” Thorsby coach Ab Argent said. “By far.”
If the two teams can win one tournament game each, they will meet in the championship game at 5 p.m. on Jan. 16.
First, at 6 p.m. Friday, Thorsby would have to defeat the Isabella-Verbena winner from Tuesday’s game.
Thorsby’s perfect season would be at stake, but THS senior guard Ashlin Hilyer said that has never been the focus.
“That doesn’t even come up in our conversations,” Hilyer said. “[Argent] has pounded in our heads that we have to take it one game at a time.”
Argent said while a bye gives a team a chance to be a little fresher, the off time can also be detrimental.
“It can be good or bad,” he said. “Like us, it will be a week before we play. And the other team will already be used to the court and the environment.”
Jemison’s boys team will be trying to knock off seven-time county champion Chilton County.
At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jemison will play the winner of Tuesday’s Maplesville-Isabella game.

By Stephen Dawkins

Considering that it’s not plausible for the six county football teams to come together at a common location—at least not in the regular season—the county basketball tournament is probably the biggest single event in local high school sports.
Maybe that’s why the tournament is always one of the year’s highlights.
All county schools will showcase at least two teams—boys and girls, while some schools will participate in the B-team tournament—in the tournament this week at Chilton County High School.
Thorsby is the tournament host, but CCHS claims a venue more accommodating for the crowds that will show up.
As always, the tournament offers plenty to look forward to.
On the girls side, one can’t help but anticipate a Maplesville-Thorsby final.
These two teams, so far, have clearly been the class of the county, and a match-up between the Rebels and the Red Devils with Thorsby’s perfect record and possibly a spot in the state rankings at stake would be thrilling.
As for the boys, Chilton County should win its eighth consecutive county championship.
There could be some drama along the way, though. Possible semifinal games could be CCHS-Verbena and Maplesville-Jemison.
Verbena is the story of the county this season, and it would be interesting to see how the upstart, Class 1A Red Devils would fare against the Class 5A Tigers.
Maplesville and Jemison, meanwhile, are two county teams that seem pretty evenly matched and haven’t played each other this season.
The biggest upset would be if the tournament doesn’t produce plenty of entertainment.

– Dawkins is the sports editor for The North Chilton Advertiser.