By Sonny Jones
ELIZABETHTOWN — Sophomores NeNe Ward and Lalia Smith combined to score 27 points and East Bladen connected on seven 3-point field goals Monday night in a 60-18 rout of Clinton in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Athletic Conference girls’ basketball tournament.
Ward led with 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and had four steals. Smith had 12 points, nine rebounds, two steals, seven assists and two blocked shots.
Eight Eagles scored, including freshman Ariel Cromartie with a career-high nine points, in a game that saw the final minute played with a running clock because the margin was more than 39 points. The clincher came on Cromartie’s 3-pointer.
The third-seeded Eagles, 16-7, advanced to the semifinals Wednesday against No. 2 Fairmont (22-3). The game will be played at Sampson Middle School in Clinton with tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Fairmont tied for first place in the conference standings with St. Pauls (17-4) with 11-1 records, but St. Pauls won a coin flip for the top seed.
St. Pauls will play No. 4 Red Springs (13-12) in Wednesday’s first game at 6 p.m. The Red Devils eliminated No. 5 Midway 41-31 on Monday.
Karli Priest and Ward each netted a pair of 3-pointers and AnnaGrey Heustess and Zoe Smith each connected for one in the first quarter as East Bladen raced to a 23-6 lead. Clinton never came closer the rest of the way.
East Bladen made 24 of 50 field goal attempts and had 16 assists on its 24 baskets.
Brittany Blackburn scored 10 for Clinton, which has a 10-14 record.
Clinton 6 4 6 2 — 18
East Bladen 23 11 9 17 — 60
CLINTON (18) — Evan Gillespie, KaMyah Smith, Janiya Mosely, Larkin Best 2, Brittany Blackburn 10, Giana Smith, Ava Williford, Daniyah Coxum, Anna Perry Sinclair 4, Avery Evans, Desirae Rogers, Tara Joyner 2.
EAST BLADEN (60) — NeNe Ward 17, Martha Simmons, Ariel Cromartie 9, Cabria Baldwin 0, AnnaGrey Heustess 3, Karli Priest 8, Zoe Smith 5, Maegan Burney 4, Laila Smith 12, Nia McKoy, Briana Phillips, Niyha Wooten 2.
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