By Stephen Dawkins

Both Chilton Christian’s boys and girls basketball teams won conference championships with home wins on Feb. 5 over Glen Iris (Birmingham).
The CCA boys won 53-45, and the girls took a 31-22 decision.
The win was especially important for the CCA boys because the conference championship means they will receive a bye into the state tournament in Tuscaloosa beginning on Feb. 18.
Had they lost, the Patriots (14-6) would have had to win a sub-state game to qualify for the season’s final tournament.
The CCA girls (12-5) still have work to do to make state. The Patriots will host Northside (Dothan), the No. 2 team out of its conference, on Feb. 11.
The CCA girls on Friday went on an 11-4 run to end the game after Glen Iris (7-6) in the fourth period closed to within two points at 20-18.
Senior guard Summer Hall did much of the damage, scoring her team’s last five points.
Hall scored a game-high 23 points. No other Patriot scored more than two points.
The scoring in the boys game was somewhat more balanced. Tyler Gray, Matthew Klein and Austin Shropshire each scored 14 points to lead CCA.
Glen Iris (12-7) was within five points of the lead at the end of the third period but was put away by a series of free throws.
Chilton’s Zach Brown was fouled on a drive with 5:34 remaining in the game. The visiting defender complained about the call and was issued a technical foul.
Brown made his two free throws, and then Gray drained two more to give CCA a 38-26 lead without any time running off the clock.