57 was the number to reach for the Varsity Girls and Boys title games, as the 2023 Limestone County Tournament is complete, with a new champion for the Varsity Girls and a repeating champion for the Varsity Boys.

Furthermore, a total of seven teams were crowned champions, as there was a boys and girls team for Varsity, JV and Middle School, along with a 7th Grade Boys team.

Here are the results, with scores and stats provided by coaches.

Varsity Boys

East Limestone 57

West Limestone 38

East Limestone would complete their back-to-back dreams of hoisting up the trophy for the Limestone County Tournament title with a great performance on Saturday night of Jan. 21.

They did it in dominant fashion, as West would have great performances from Colin Patterson and Haven Helms, but it would not be enough to slow down Chandler Moore for East Limestone – who would have a career night.

Moore would score 24 points in the first half of the title game, ending with 28 points on the night to go along with Zak Cain’s 7 points.

Patterson would have 17 points for West and Helms would have 8 points in a game that was tough to overcome Moore’s hot start.

Jake Moran is in his first year coaching the boys team, and said on WKAC’s “Tailgate Talk,” in which The News Courier participated, that the addition of a couple players who were out at the start of the season have been a huge boost for the team. This, combined with peaking at a good time, was enough for a “W.”

Varsity Girls

Clements 57

East Limestone 48

The Clements girls, in the mind of head coach Shane Childress, completed a significant milestone in their defeat of East Limestone in the Varsity Girls title game.

Many predicted East Limestone to win the tournament beforehand – and rightfully so, as they were playing a top brand of basketball heading into the tournament as the defending champions.

“We controlled the game, I felt like,” Childress said. “We wanted the game to go fast, and we played fast. If we wanted to slow it down, we could slow it down. I thought the girls did a great job of controlling the tempo.”

The tempo of the game is important to Childress, who says that they make up for their lack of height with their athleticism and ability to create pressure.

“We have been out-rebounded most games this year,” Childress said. “Usually, whoever gets the most rebounds is going to win the game. We try to counter-balance that with turnovers.”

According to Childress, Clements was able to create 17 points off East turnovers.

This stat was able to counter the stat of East’s 20 offensive rebounds.

Leah Childress for Clements would have 22 points and 6 asissts in the game. Jenny Trent had 15 points with 3 assists and Taylor Farrar (Clements) had 12 points with 6 rebounds.

Taylor Farrar (East) had 18 points with 11 rebounds, with Shauna Fletcher adding 15 points with 6 rebounds for East.

JV Boys

Tanner 52

East Limestone 48

Tanner would win the tournament as the 2 seed, defeating the 1 seed East Limestone in a game only separated by 4 points.

JV Girls

Ardmore 59

West Limestone 51

Ardmore would continue their hot run of play to defeat West Limestone in the JV Girls title game. Ardmore was the No. 1 seed heading into the tournament, while West was the No. 2 seed.

MS Boys

Tanner 44

Ardmore 21

Tanner would also win the Middle School Boys championship after defeating Ardmore.

MS Girls

East Limestone 25

Ardmore 24

Ardmore fell 1 point short of defeating East and winning the title.

7th Grade Boys

East Limestone 57

Elkmont 36