ELIZABETHTOWN — Two county teams open play Tuesday night in the state high school basketball playoffs.
Girls teams from East Bladen and West Bladen were awarded bids to the 64-team 2-A bracket on Sunday by the N.C. High School Athletic Association. The Lady Eagles host Clinton at 6 p.m. and the Lady Knights travel to Kinston, where tip is at 6 p.m. with a boys game to follow.
Fans of the Lady Knights are encouraged to arrive early. Kinston’s boys are a big draw and home games are regularly sellouts.
East Bladen (21-4) finished runner-up to unbeaten St. Pauls in the Three Rivers Conference, a combination 2-A and 1-A conference, and earned the No. 16 seed. The Lady Eagles’ only losses this season were to the Lady Bulldogs twice, 4-A Jack Britt and 3-A Union Pines.
Clinton (17-6) is seeded 17th. The Lady Dark Horses of head coach Chris Owens were runner-up to East Duplin in the East Central Conference, winning nine of 12 in league play.
West Bladen (16-8), seeded 30th, tied for third in the league with Whiteville, and defeated the Lady Wolfpack 38-31 on Saturday at East Columbus in a tie-breaker game for seeding purposes. The Lady Knights had fourth-quarter leads in five of their eight losses, and counted five losses to St. Pauls (three) and East Bladen.
Kinston (23-3) is the No. 3 seed. The Lady Vikings of head coach Christopher Bradshaw went unbeaten in the Eastern Carolina Conference and swept to the tournament title last week. All three losses were in the John Wall Invitational to 3-A independent Concord First Assembly, 4-A Leesville Road and 3-A Southern Durham.
The winners on Tuesday advance to games on Thursday. The East Bladen-Clinton victor would play either top-seeded Farmville Central on the road or be home with 32nd-seeded Nash Central. The West Bladen-Kinston winner will play either 14th-seeded Reidsville or 19th-seeded Bunn; West Bladen would travel, Kinston would host.
The third round is Saturday. The East semifinals are March 3 at the highest seeded teams playing, and the East regional title game is March 7 in a neutral site. The state championship is March 14 at a neutral site.
Teams coached by Patty Evers (left) and Brian McCleney will step into the state playoffs on Tuesday night. Evers’ East Bladen squad is home to face Clinton. McCleney’s West Bladen cagers travel to Kinston.