Midway (23-2) at East Bladen (26-1)
Two old Four County Conference foes with a combined record of 49-3 meet Thursday night at East Bladen High School in the second round of the NCHSAA Class 2A Girls State Play-offs.
Coach Allen McLamb’s Midway Lady Raiders shared the East Central Conference championship with East Duplin this season. The Lady Raiders compiled a 23-2 record and their only losses were to East Duplin 57-54 and to Goldsboro 52-51.
Senior guard Leah Williams leads the Midway attack averaging 20.9 points and 4.8 assists per game. Five-eight junior J. J. Sankey tallies 13.9 points and 4.5 steals per game. Five-seven junior Alyssa Wrench leads the team on the boards with 5.4 rebounds per game and scores at a 7.5 point clip.
Coach Patty Evers’ East Bladen Lady Eagles won the Three Rivers Conference championship and have won 22 consecutive games to raise their record to 26-1. The only loss for East Bladen was 43-35 at Red Springs on Dec. 8th.
By scoring 26 and 23 points in her last two games, sophmore Patience Ward has raised her average 15.7 points per game. Ward also collects a team-high 8.6 rebounds and 4.5 steals per game.
Junior Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson who has scored over 1,000 points in her Lady Eagle career averages 15.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.8 steals and a team-high 4.6 assists per game. Junior Erica McKoy contributes 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game to the East Bladen attack.
Junior Ashley Hardin averages 6.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.9 steals per game, and senior Shardajah Brown adds 5.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Last year Midway and East Bladen were both members of the Four County Conference. East Bladen won both regular season meetings last year 44-35 and 53-47, but Midway defeated the Lady Eagles 57-47 in the Four County Tournament.
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