BLADEN COUNTY — The ‘22-23 girls’ basketball season was an entertaining season with plenty of great games and performances. One great game from last season was the East Bladen Lady Eagles beating St. Pauls in a 55-49 victory to take home the SAC 7 Conference Tournament Championship. Forward Laila Smith dropped 25 points in the victory and St. Pauls guard Jashonte Harris went for 27 in the tightly contested title game.
The East Bladen and the West Bladen rivalry played out with two straight victories by the Lady Eagles but both games were full of great individual performances. West Bladen’s guard Rylee Chadwick was a leader for the Lady Knights this season and she led by example despite the loss away from home in the first matchup between county rivals. She mixed her offensive game up from the mid-range and put the ball on the floor for buckets in-close with a 21-point display. East Bladen’s senior forward AnnGray Heustess was solid on both ends of the floor with 13 points and 10 blocks on the same night.
Smith would lead all scorers in the first game with 25 points and she’d go on to drop 25 in her team’s second meeting with the Lady Knights. She made her presence felt on the inside of the paint and guard Iveonna “NeNe” Ward dropped bombs from behind the three-point line; they both combined for 52 points in the 70-29 victory for the Lady Eagles.
St. Pauls almost didn’t make it to the final game in the Conference Championship game when they went head-to-head with Red Springs in the semifinals for a 56-53 triple-overtime win. Harris’ 43-point night was enough to get the Lady Bulldogs past the Lady Red Devils and into the final. Red Springs center Monica Washington was dominant inside the paint but foul trouble down the stretch disrupted the Lady Devils rhythm. Point guard Rilee Sampson shouldered much of the burden for the Lady Red Devils down the stretch during the overtime period and she rescued her team with some crucial three-pointers in big moments.
The Bulldogs had a night to forget at the free throw line but Harris nailed four crucial free throws in the final seconds of the third overtime. The Lady Eagles’ run to the SAC 7 conference championship wasn’t easy with Fairmont standing between them and a trophy in the semifinal round. Ward pulled-up from the mid-range to sink the decisive game-winning shot to squeeze past the Golden Tornadoes in a 42-40 victory.
Fairmont’s Taniya Sims was aggressive in the interior in the first half to give her team a slight lead going into halftime. The Golden Tornadoes’ early success from the field in the first half dissipated as their opponents turned the dial up on the defensive side of the ball. East Bladen trapped their opponents into double-teams and forced them into turnovers down the stretch. Heustess drained a three with a hand in her face to bring the Lady Eagles within one with under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Golden Tornadoes responded with a couple of field goals to retake the lead with less than two minutes remaining.
Ward came up big for the Lady Eagles with a game-tying three before splashing the game-winning dagger a few moments later. The Lady Eagles used the momentum they built up against the Golden Tornadoes from the night before to snap their 10-game losing streak to St. Pauls in the title game.