CCHS girls, Maplesville boys pull out basketball tournament wins
Published 3:06 pm Wednesday, January 16, 2013
By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser
Night two of the Chilton County Basketball Tournament saw two pair of rivals face off and plenty of action as the Jemison Panthers took on the Chilton County Tigers in a varsity girls game, and the Isabella Mustangs faced the Maplesville Red Devils in varsity boys.
The Tigers and Panthers varsity girls put on a great game that went down to the wire with the Tigers pulling out a 34-29 win.
Maplesville's Anthony Johnson throws down a dunk during a win Tuesday in the Chilton County Basketball Tournament.
Both teams got off to a sluggish start, but it was the Panthers who squeezed out a 2-point first period lead, 11-9.
Laura Vinzant continued to be the hot hand for Jemison (7-9 overall, 2-2 area) through out the second period, accounting for 14 of the Panthers’ 19 first half points, while giving Jemison a 19-16 halftime lead over the Tigers (5-8, 0-4).
The Tiger defense stepped up and put a stop to the shooting of Vinzant in the second half, allowing the Panther star only two points in the second half of the game.
With the Tiger defense smothering the Panthers’ go-to player, their offense battled back and took their first lead of the game on a Chynna Davis 3-pointer at the 4:36 mark of the fourth period.
Shelby Griffin for the Panthers would make the Tiger lead a short one, tying the game at 29-all, but a second straight 3 by Davis gave the Tigers the lead again and would be the last lead change of the game.
Keona DeJarnett led all scorers with 17 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Vinzant led the way for Jemison with 14 points, nine rebounds, three steals and a block.
Chilton County moves on to take on No. 1 seed Isabella at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Chilton County's Taylor Connell, right, tries to get a shot over Jemison's Laura Vinzant during Tuesday's game.
The Maplesville Red Devils and the Isabella Mustangs rounded out the Round 1 action of the tournament, with the Red Devils winning over the Mustangs 62-48.
The Red Devils (5-6, 0-5) jumped out quickly on the Mustangs (2-15, 0-4), building a 13-point lead before Isabella would find its first basket.
With an 11-point lead at the end of the first period, the Devils would not slow down during the second, building a 20-point, 31-11 halftime lead.
Maplesville proved early that they would not be coasting in the second half of the game as Anthony Moore found Anthony Johnson on an alley-oop slam dunk, exciting everyone in attendance to start the third period of play.
Johnson would find the bottom of the basket several more times throughout the second period as the Devils proved too much for the Mustangs, advancing to Round 2 with a 62-48 win.
Maplesville had four players scoring in double digits: Anthony Johnson led all scorers for Maplesville with 15 points (to go along with eight rebounds), Damian Mitchell with 14 points (and 10 rebounds), Cameron Andrews with 10 points and Brandon Morrow with 11 points.
Deonte Campbell led the way for Isabella with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Maplesville advances to take on top-seeded Jemison on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Isabella Mustangs and Thorsby Rebels faced off in B-Team action with the Rebels coming away with a 43-20 win. They will move on to face Jemison in Round 2 on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
