East Bladen’s Lady Eagles (31-0), the top seed in the NCHSAA Class 2A Play-offs, will battle No. 3 seed North Pitt (28-1) Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Eastern Regional Championship game in the Crown Arena at Fayetteville.
It is the 10th appearance in the Regionals for Coach Patty Evers’ East Bladen team in the last 15 years. It just took one more game to get to Fayetteville as the NCHSAA played the Regional Semi-finals at the home gym of the higher seeded team.
Tuesday night East Bladen was locked in a dogfight with No. 5 Jacksonville Northside until a 7-0 third quarter spurt opened up a 28-19 lead.
Freshman guard Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson knocked down a pair of 3-point shots to begin the final period. “That changed the game,” said senior Lacey Suggs.
A Moore-Peterson lay-up off of a Suggs assist stretched the Lady Eagle lead to 36-21. After that East Bladen spread the floor with 4:45 left and sealed the 48-31 victory away at the foul line.
Suggs who recorded another double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds against Northside averages 22.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 5.1 steals to lead the Lady Eagles. Ward who tallied 11 points and 7 assists versus Northside contributes 9.1 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 steals and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Other key Lady Eagles include: Moore-Peterson (9.2 points and 3.7 rebounds), senior Christiana Cromartie (6.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots), senior Miller Heustess (3 points and 2.4 rebounds), junior Emily Scott (5.4 rebounds) and freshman Ashley Hardin (5.3 rebounds).
The Lady Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 58-28
Center Dorian Sharp, a 6-0 senior, headlines the potent North Pitt attack averaging a double-double of 18 points and 11.7 rebounds. Sharp also posts 4.6 blocks and 4 steals per game.
Senior guard TyQushia Gainer contributes 14.5 points, 5 steals and 5.4 rebounds. Sophmore Nyjanique Langley chips in with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3.3 steals. Senior Quandramec Moore adds 7.6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.
The Lady Panthers blister the nets with 66 points per game and give up only 37 for an average winning margin of 29 points per game.
First year assistant coach Yolanda Bowden has been coaching the Lady Panthers since head coach Neal Carr was suspended following a late season altercation between North Pitt and Farmville Central.
Carr’s suspension was supposed to be for two games but has been extended by the NCHSAA for the remainder of the season. According to The Daily Reflector of Greenville, the NCHSAA is investigating his part in an alleged recruiting violation.
Despite all the off-the-court troubles that included two players being suspended for two games because of the brawl with Farmville, the Lady Panthers have won play-off games over South Granville 80-52, Eastern Randolph 78-64, Bunn 70-55 and 60-54 in overtime over High Point Andrews.
A late Andrews’ 3-point shot sent that game to overtime, but the Lady Panthers opened the extra period with an 8-1 spurt to take control.
North Pitt has won 18 straight games since losing 56-44 to Winston-Salem Prep in the Cary Academy Holiday Tournament. Winston-Salem Prep is playing in the Western Class 1A Regionals Saturday.
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