Three Bladen County teams – West Bladen boys, East Bladen girls and East Bladen boys – received berths Saturday in the NCHSAA Basketball State Playoffs that begin Tuesday night.
West Bladen (23-1) is the No. 3 seed in the Class 2A East and will host No. 30 seed Eastern Wayne (11-14) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Knights were the co-champions of the Southeastern Athletic Conference regular season splitting their 2 games with Fairmont, but won the SAC Tournament with an overtime victory over St. Pauls’.
Eastern Wayne placed 4th in the Neuse Conference behind East No. 2 seed Goldsboro, No. 13 seed North Johnston and No. 18 seed Wilson Beddingfield. The Warriors did battle Goldsboro to the wire on Feb. 16 in a 1-point loss, but then lost 80-59 Wednesday at Goldsboro.
East Bladen’s girls (21-4) are the No. 12 seed in the Class 1A East and will host No. 21 seed North Edgecombe (16-8) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Lady Eagles were the Waccamaw 1A/2A co-champions along with No.3 1A seed East Columbus
The Lady Warriors placed 2nd in the Tar Roanoke 1A Conference behind No. 7 seed Northampton County and ahead of No. 17 seed Northwest Halifax, and No. 22 seed Weldon.
East Bladen’s boys (10-12) are the No. 25 seed in the Class 1A East and will travel to No. 8 seed Ocracoke (19-5), the Atlantic 1A champions. The Eagles placed 5th in the Waccamaw 1A/2A Conference behind No. 6 2A seed Heide Trask, No. 6 1A seed West Columbus and No. 31 2A seed South Columbus.
The Dolphins finished ahead of No. 21 seed Hobgood Charter, No. 23 seed Bear Grass Charter and No. 27 seed Columbia in the Atlantic standings. Gametime for Tuesday’s game at Ocracoke has not been finalized.
Other 1st round games involving Southeastern Athletic Conference and Waccamaw Conference teams follow:
SAC Boys
No. 24 St. Pauls at No. 9 Southwest Onslow (2A)
No. 19 Granville Central at No. 14 seed Fairmont (2A)
No. 22 Midway at No. 11 Martin County (2A)
Waccamaw Boys
No. 31 South Columbus at No. 2 seed Goldsboro (2A)
No. 27 SouthWest Edgecombe at No. 6 Heide Trask (2A)
No. 25 East Bladen at No. 8 Ocracoke (1A)
No. 27 Columbia at No. 6 West Columbus (1A)
Waccamaw Girls
No. 28 Pender at No. 5 Chatham Charter (1A)
No. 30 North Moore at No. 3 East Columbus (1A)
No. 32 South Columbus at No. 1 North Pitt (2A)
SAC Girls
No. 24 Clinton at No. 9 School of Science & Math (2A)
No. 28 Bartlett Yancey at No. 5 Fairmont (2A)
No. 29 Midway at No. 4 Eastern Wayne (2A)
No. 18 SouthWest Edgecombe at No. 15 St. Pauls (2A)
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