ELIZABETHTOWN – The East Bladen Lady Eagles defeated the Heide Trask Lady Titans for a 64-23 home victory in a Waccamaw Conference match up. There were three players on the Lady Eagles with double-digit points to end Tuesday evenings’ contest; senior guard Iveonna “NeNe” Ward led the way with 18 points, senior guard Laila Smith contributed 15 and junior guard Ariel Cromartie added another 15 points.

East Bladen also forced 27 steals and they out-rebounded their opponents 39-27. Cromarite’s active hands on the defensive end resulted in six steals and Smith snatched seven boards to help their team run away with their third straight. Heide Trask freshmen center Scarlett Dickson was the leading scorer for the Titans with 10 points on the night. The Lady Titans were able to bounce back with a win over South Columbus to move their overall record to 6-9 and they go to 2-2 in Waccamaw Conference play so far.

The Lady Eagles overall record is now 12-2 and they’ve moved to a perfect 4-0 in conference action to keep their place atop the standings. East Bladen were slated to take on West Columbus last Friday but due to winter weather the game has been postponed to Wednesday, January 29th at Cerro Gordo. Therefore, the Lady Eagles next game will be away to Topsail this Tuesday for their latest non-conference test.

The Topsail Lady Pirates are 9-5 on the season and they got a two point victory over West Brunswick in their latest victory last Thursday. Senior forward Ryan Lambert dropped 22 in the Lady Pirates last game and she’s been averaging 9.7 ppg this season. Topsail’s leading scorer on the year is freshman guard Ava Kita with 12.6 ppg, with her season-high being a 30-point performance against Dixon.

This will be the Lady Eagles fifth meeting of the season against a 3A/4A school and they’ve posted a 4-1 record in their non-conference meetings with the slightly bigger schools. East Bladen will return home to host Witeville this Friday to close out their week against a familiar conference opponent. Whiteville dropped to 1-10 after a 30 point defeat away from home against Scotland County last Wednesday.

The Lady Wolfpack sit in sixth place in the standings with a conference record of 1-2 but they have a handful of games ahead of them to turnaround their season. They’ll host Pender before travelling down the road to Elizabethtown to take on the Lady Eagles. Pender dropped their second straight against Red Springs to fall to an overall record of 1-4 last Monday. The Lady Patriots will clash with Lakewood at the top of the week before taking on Wilmington-Laney on Wednesday, then they play against Whiteville on Thursday, and will conclude their week against West Columbus.

East Columbus moved to an overall record of 7-3 on the year after a comfortable double-digit victory over Whiteville last Tuesday. The Lady Gators are second in the Waccamaw standings with a 2-1 record so far. They won’t play again until this Friday and the Lady Gators will welcome in the Heide Trask Lady Titans. South Columbus sits in fifth place in the standings after their 53-39 defeat against Heide Trask. The Stallions won’t play again until January 21st, with Whiteville and East Bladen slated as their next opponents upon their return back to the court.

West Columbus ended last week with a 20 point loss against West Bladen in a non-conference clash last Wednesday. The Lady Vikings are 2-8 on the season and they occupy seventh place in the Waccamaw Conference standings.

EAST BLADEN GIRLS BASKETBALL 24/25:

Tatum Allen SO.

Cabria Baldwin JR.

Neveah Brown SO.

Ariel Cromartie JR.

Taylor Dowless SO.

Tyliah Freeman SO.

Nia McKoy JR.

Aaliyah Monroe SO.

Sana’a Singletary FR.

Laila Smith SR.

Iveonna “NeNe” Ward SR.

Niyah Wooten JR.