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No. 12 East Bladen (24-4) at No. 1 Falls Lake Academy (30-2)
• Gametime 6 p.m. Admission $8 (Cash or Ticket Spicket https://spicket.events/flafirebirds). Kids 10-and-under are Free

East Bladen, the Waccamaw Conference co-champions, will travel to Creedmoor Friday night to play Falls Lake Academy, the Super Six 1A/2A Conference champions. Coach Patty Evers’ Lady Eagles pounded No. 4 seed Vance Charter 76-44 Tuesday night, while Falls Lake defeated No. 9 seed Chatham Central 54-47.

Junior guard Iveonna “NeNe” Ward became the 2nd 1,000-point career scorer on this East Bladen team with her 1st basket of Tuesday’s game. Ward went on to score 26 points and added 5 steals and 5 rebounds. Junior Laila Smith who reached the 1,000-point plateau in the conference tournament championship game posted a double-double against Vance Charter with 20 points and 19 rebounds along with 4 assists and 3 steals.

Sophomore Niyah Wooten pulled down 13 rebounds and contributed 4 points, 4 steals and 4 assists Tuesday night. Sophomore Ariel Cromartie tossed in 15 points, snared 6 rebounds and had 4 steals.

In the Lady Eagles 2nd round 52-50 win over Chatham Charter, Ward and Laila Smith had identical statistical lines of 21 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals each.

Ward poured in 40 points in East Bladen’s 83-63 opening round playoff win over North Edgecombe, and Laila Smith blistered the nets with 26 points. Cromartie added 10 points against North Edgecombe.

Ward leads the East Bladen attack averaging 19.9 points, 5.4 steals, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Laila Smith averages 16.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 3.3 assists. Cromartie adds 9.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals. Sophomore Niyah Wooten contributes 7.2 rebounds and 2.4 steals, and sophomore Cabria Baldwin collects 3.4 rebounds and 2 steals per game.

The Lady Firebirds of Falls Lake bring an 11-game winning streak into Friday’s game. Their only losses were to No. 11 1A East seed Gates County 49-36 and to No. 20 3A East seed Burlington Williams 66-62.

In Tuesday’s win over Chatham Central, 5-10 senior Emerson Thompson recorded a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds and collected 7 assists, 6 blocked shots and 4 steals for the Lady Firebirds. Teammate Destiny Williams, a 5-7 freshman, also had a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Thompson posted a triple-double of 50 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in Falls Lake’s 75-57 2nd round win over Washington County. Williams had a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Falls Lake opened the playoffs with a 64-32 victory over Tarboro as Thompson claimed another triple-double of 20 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. Teammate Madisyn Shedd, a 5-9 junior, tallied 10 points and 8 rebounds against the No. 32 seeded Vikings.

For the season Thompson averages 26.6 points, 15.9 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 4 steals and 3.8 blocked shots per game. Williams contributes 5.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.3 steals. Khloe Massengill, a 5-11 freshman, adds 5.6 points, and Shedd chips in with 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Madison Oakley, a 5-4 junior, scores 4.2 points.