East Ends Year with A Win & Fairmont One Game Closer to Clinching

EAST BLADEN

ELIZABETHTOWN-The East Bladen Lady Eagles defeated the Whiteville Lady Pack for a 56-26 victory on Tuesday night in a Waccamaw Conference clash. East Bladen honored senior guard Zoe Smith for their final home game of the regular-season. The host got out ahead early and stayed in front after a 20-5 first quarter. They had three players in double-digit scoring during Tuesday’s finale–junior guard Iveonna “NeNe” Ward led all scorers with 21 points, sophomore guard Ariel Cromartie finished with 17 points, and Laila Smith dropped 10 points in the victory.

Whiteville was led by junior guard Elayzia Dawson scored 16 points to lead her team in scoring. The Lady Pack’s record slips to 7-12 overall and 5-5 in conference play with one game remaining against South Columbus this Friday. East Bladen wrap-up their regular season in first place and pending East Columbus game this Friday against West Columbus, both teams will share the spoils of the regular-season conference title at identical 11-1 records.

The top seed for the NCHSAA 1A East Region can be decided in next week’s conference tournament with a chance they’ll meet head-to-head once more. Strength of schedule could also be factored in if both teams were to fail to win the conference tournament. The Waccamaw Conference tournament will be held next week and the first round of NCHSAA Playoffs will be on February 27th.

WEST BLADEN

FAIRMONT-The Fairmont Golden Tornadoes defeated the West Bladen Lady Knights for a 69-27 victory in a SAC 6 clash on Tuesday. The Golden Tornadoes ripped through their opponents defense with three players in double-digit scoring–junior forward Taniya Simms led all scores with 22 points, junior guard Niah Smith finished with 15 points and senior forward Myasia Simms finished the night with 13 points.

West Bladen senior guard Kiera Lewis finished the night with 10 points to lead her team in scoring. The Lady Knights fall to an overall record of 4-14 and are now 0-9 in conference play with one game remaining. Fairmont stays atop the SAC 6 standings alongside St. Pauls after the win as they moved their conference record to 8-1.

West Bladen will play their final regular-season game against Red Springs on Friday at home. Fairmont will have a chance to clinch the regular-season conference title with a win against Clinton and a St. Pauls loss to Midway. If Fairmont and St. Pauls were to both win on Friday then the conference title will be split between the two.

OTHER RESULTS AROUND WACCAMAW/SAC 6 (Girls):

East Columbus(18-1, 10-1) 61, Heide Trask(3-19, 2-8) 17

Pender(8-10, 5-6) 54, West Columbus(0-15, 0-11) 16

Midway(11-9, 4-5) 37, Red Springs(4-17, 2-7) 32

St. Pauls(15-4, 8-1) 75, Clinton(12-9, 5-4) 33