Maplesville girls, boys open with wins

Published 10:52 pm Monday, January 5, 2009

Opening night of the Chilton County Basketball Tournament was a good one for Maplesville as both the boys and girls teams earned first-round wins.

The girls raced to a 26-8 halftime lead over Verbena only to watch that set of Red Devils (1-9) use an 8-1 run in the third period – keyed by Marquiska Deramus’ 10 points in the frame – to climb back into the game.

Verbena in the fourth period cut the deficit to nine points, but a Bridget Nichols 3-pointer with just more than one minute to play put the game away, and Maplesville (2-2) won, 42-29.

Nichols led all scorers with 19 points, and Deramus had 18.

Maplesville’s boys team overcame an 11-point, second-period deficit to Isabella to take a 52-41 win.

Brian Bailey scored the last five points of the half to cut the deficit to 21-18, and Josh Talley opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers to give the Red Devils (1-3) the lead at 24-23.

Maplesville stretched its lead to 13 at the end of the period, and Isabella could never threaten.

Bailey led all scorers with 21 points. Norman Craig led Isabella with 17.