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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

The 2023 Chilton County Basketball Tournament crown for the varsity girl’s squads is on the line with the tournament taking place from Jan. 2-7. All games will be played at Jemison High School although Thorsby High School is the host school. The tournament is single-elimination.

The No. 4 seed Jemison takes on the No. 5 seed Maplesville High School on opening night, Jan. 2 at 5:30 p.m. The Panthers enter the county tournament with a 5-6 record and coming off a 58-55 win over Isabella High School on Dec. 15, the No. 1 seed.

“Nothing is an easy win in this tournament … luckily it is on our home floor, and hopefully, we take some pride in that and do our best,” Jemison coach Kelsey Mims said. “Ending the semester with two wins gave everyone a good feeling going into Christmas.”

Maplesville comes into the tournament off its first win of the season taking down Billingsley 35-23 on Dec. 15.

The No. 3 seed Thorsby takes on the No. 6 seed Verbena High School in the other first-round matchup on Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. Thorsby is 4-8 this season while Verbena is still looking for its first win. This is the first matchup between the Rebels and Red Devils this season.

“We always try to play our best in the tournament, because that’s what you’re remembered for in basketball here,” Thorsby coach Kris Wood said. “We’ve played a lot of bigger schools so far this year, and so hopefully that will have prepared us for it some. We’ll give our best effort and see what happens.”

The top seed Isabella awaits the winner of the Jemison-Maplesville first-round matchup in the first semifinal on Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m. The Mustangs have started the season fast with a 6-2 start, and coach Jared Day hopes to improve upon that in this county tournament.

“We are feeling pretty good going into it,” Day said. “We are excited about it, and the girls are excited about the atmosphere they get to play in. Obviously, we want to win the tournament, and I think we have a good chance, so we will see what happens.”

The No. 2 seed Chilton County High School and its powerful duo in Iasia Anderson and Trinity Pulliam await the winner of the Thorsby-Verbena first-round matchup. The Tigers are 12-8 this season and are coming off two wins in the 2022 Gulf Shores Christmas Basketball Tournament. However, the Tigers fell to Thompson High School 68-31 on Dec. 29.

“We are not satisfied with where we are right now, and we can get a lot better,” CCHS coach Rickey Pulliam said. “Hopefully, this county tournament can help us do that.”

The varsity girl’s county tournament championship game is scheduled for Jan. 7 at 5 p.m.