East Bladen head coach Aking Elting directing his players before an inbounds.
Alex Brooks | Bladen Journal
ELIZABETHTOWN — The West Columbus-East Bladen basketball games have been moved to Jan. 31 due to the severe weather that rolled in on Friday evening.
East Bladen’s girl and boys team will be back in action against Whiteville away from home this Friday as Waccamaw Conference play ramps up.
East Bladen boys head coach Aking Elting and the Eagles dropped to second after a 66-47 loss to Heide Trask last week. Senior guard Lee Barnes and junior guard Dominick Collins have been firing offensively for the hometown Eagles since the start of the new year.
The Eagles also have been great on the offensive boards this season with sophomore’s Ronnie Covington and Keyshawn Kemp emerging as beasts around the rim.
The Whiteville Wolfpack currently sit in sixth place in the conference standings with a 1-2 record and they picked up their first conference win against a struggling East Columbus team last Thursday. Both teams will have over a week to prepare for their clash with each other this Friday at 7:30 pm.
The Lady Eagles sit atop the Waccamaw Conference with a perfect 4-0 record as they’ve been putting up 59 ppg in conference action this season, while holding their opponents to an average of 43 ppg.
East Bladen head coach Patty Evers and her girls have mastered turning defense into instant offense with their full-court press; the Lady Eagles forced over 20+ turnovers in their huge 26 point victory over Heide Trask last Wednesday.
The Lady Wolfpack will go into Friday’s game with a 1-2 record in conference play and they’ll be looking to bounce back from a six-point loss against East Columbus. Whiteville averaged 54 ppg on the offensive side and they held their opponents to 30 ppg in their first three conference matchups of the season.
The Lady Wolfpack will have their hands full trying to slow this East Bladen team down as they’ll face two of the top scorers in the conference in junior’s Laila Smith and Iveonna “NeNe” Ward. Friday’s game will tip-off at 6 pm at Whiteville after the conclusion of the boy’s JV game.