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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Five Chilton County area high school basketball teams will be playing in the sub-regional round of the AHSAA playoffs after winning or finishing runners-up in their respective area tournaments from Jan. 31-Feb. 5. Maplesville High School’s varsity boys team claimed their first area tournament title since 2002, and both of Verbena High School’s varsity teams and Billingsley and Jemison High School’s varsity girls teams will be moving on in the playoffs as well finishing runners-up in their areas.

Maplesville High School outlasted Francis Marion High School on their home court 49-46 in the final of the Class 1A Area 7 Basketball Tournament on Feb. 3. It is the first area championship for Maplesville’s varsity boys program since 2002.

After beating Billingsley High School 41-34 in the semifinals to advance to the sub-regionals, the Red Devils gave themselves home court advantage in the next round with their win in the tournament final. The loss ended the season for the Bears.

“Winning the area is big for our program, and we are ahead of schedule,” Maplesville head coach Undra Rush said. “The guys have been fighting hard all year long after getting a late start.”

Nehemiah McCary was a force, posting a triple-double with 17 points, 16 rebounds and 10 blocks to lead Maplesville. Jakobe Nix followed with 12 points, three steals and two 3-pointers, and Chris Simon had 11 points, four assists and three steals.

“This shows our program is going in the right direction faster than I thought it would, but that is a good thing,” Rush said. “The community has bought into the program, the school has bought into the program and that shows us we are doing some good things at Maplesville.”

The win sets up a Chilton County rivalry in the sub-regionals as Verbena High School travels to Maplesville on Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.

Both of Verbena’s basketball teams punched their tickets to the sub-regional round of the playoffs with semifinal wins on Feb. 3 in the Class 1A Area 6 tournaments at Autauga Academy.

Verbena’s varsity girls team pulled away from Autaugaville High School in their semifinal matchup to win 54-31. The Red Devils lost to Autaugaville in both regular season meetings — 44-26 on Jan. 13 and 48-27 on Jan. 23. The over 40-point difference between the regular season meetings and the area tournament meeting was astonishing. The Red Devils jumped out to a 32-12 lead in the first half and never looked back to put Verbena in the area tournament final on Feb. 4 at Autauga Academy. Verbena fell 72-14 in the final, but will travel to Francis Marion High School in the sub-regional round on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.

Verbena’s varsity boys team narrowly defeated Notasulga High School 45-43 in the semifinals after losing both regular season games against them as well — 50-44 on Dec. 19 and 62-40 on Jan. 15. The game was close throughout the entirety of the contest with Notasulga holding a slim two-point lead at 37-35 entering the fourth quarter. In the end, it was Verbena’s Caleb Short who put in the final basket to boost the Red Devils to the win, to the area tournament championship game and the sub-regionals. Verbena faced the host Autauga Academy in the final and came up just short 58-54. The Red Devils travel across the county to Maplesville for the midday sub-regional matchup on Feb. 8.

Jemison head coach Kelsey Mims was not sure when the last time the varsity girls team made the playoffs, but that wait is now over with the Panther’s 47-34 win over Demopolis High School in the semifinals of the Class 5A Area 5 Basketball Tournament on Feb. 3.

“My coaches, our principal and I were talking about it, and we didn’t know how long it had been,” Mims said. “You have to go back 15 or 20 years to find the last time this girls program made it out of area. So it’s a big deal to our program and our school to be able to do that because it’s not been done in a very long time.”

Jemison was led by Zariyah Johnson who scored 11 of her 17 points in the second half to pace the Panthers. Trinity Bean also made a quartet of 3-pointers to finish with 15 points while Braelyn Bradford added 11 points. Chloe Calloway and Caiana Lucas also chipped in buckets for Jemison. Jemison got the win after splitting the regular season matchups with Demopolis.

“Like we won at our place; they won at their place, but we thought that even though we lost at their place, we had a pretty good game plan in the second half of what we needed to do,” Mims said. “They came in and got us in a little bit of foul trouble in the first half, which hindered us a little bit. But we were able to come out in the second half, put the game plan together and you know, get up and hold on.”

Jemison fell to Selma High School 65-31 in the area tournament final, but the semifinal win sets up a sub-regional matchup at Marbury High School on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.

Billingsley High School’s varsity girls basketball team is the final Chilton County area team that will be playing in the sub-regionals on Feb. 7-8 after finishing runners-up in the Class 1A Area 7 Basketball Tournament on Jan. 30-Feb. 3 at Francis Marion High School.

The Bears took down Maplesville in the semifinals 46-24 to clinch their spot in the sub-regionals behind Alana Jones’ double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds, and added seven assists and steals each. Kaliyah McCary and Derrica Motley each posted nine points. The loss ended the season for the Red Devils.

The win set up a title game against the hosts Francis Marion, and after two tightly contested regular season matchups, it was again close in the area final with the Bears narrowly falling 46-43. Billingsley will travel to Autauga Academy for their sub-regional game on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.

In other area tournament action, each of Thorsby High School’s basketball teams picked up wins in their respective Class 3A Area 5 Basketball Tournaments. The varsity boys defeated Saint James School 59-39 in the first round on Jan. 31 after building a 20-7 lead after the first quarter and cruising the rest of the way to the win. In the semifinals, the Rebels’ season came to an end after an 84-27 loss to Montgomery Academy on Feb. 3. The varsity girls took down Dallas County High School 59-30 in the first round on Jan. 31 to set up a date with Saint James in the semifinals where their season came to an end 84-26 on Feb. 1.

Chilton County High School’s varsity boys and varsity girls fell in the semifinals to Calera High School in the Class 6A Area 5 Basketball Tournaments on Feb. 3 at Benjamin Russell High School. The varsity boys lost 69-45, and the varsity girls lost 73-26.

Isabella High School’s varsity boys and varsity girls fell in the semifinals to Tuscaloosa Academy in the Class 2A Area 7 Basketball Tournaments on Feb. 1 at Tuscaloosa Academy. The varsity boys lost 87-15, and the varsity girls lost 84-22.

Jemison’s varsity boys fell in the semifinals of the Class 5A Area 5 Basketball Tournament on Feb. 4 to Montevallo High School 39-32.