By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
The Williamston Lady Tigers and Plymouth Vikings will continue their quest to win state championships when the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state playoffs resume this evening.
Tonight’s game will be the final basketball game ever played at Williamston High School, as the school will merge with Bear Grass next season to form the Riverside Knights.
Williamston will play for a sectional championship at home against the Southwest Onslow Stallions. The Lady Tigers will be looking for a little revenge after the Stallions knocked Williamston out of the volleyball playoffs last year.
Plymouth will be on the road for tonight’s sectional title tilt. The Vikings will play at Weldon.
The games will tip off at 7 p.m.
GIRLS
The Lady Tigers (26-0), the top-ranked team in the N.C. Preps.com/High School Media Poll, posted victories of 66-55 over Gates County and 60-50 over Perquimans to reach tonight’s sectional title game. Williamston, the Four Rivers Conference champions, will be in for its biggest test to date.
The Stallions (16-4), the Coastal Plains Conference champions, cruised to wins of 63-33 over Plymouth and 63-46 over North Edgecombe in the first two rounds.
Katie Paschal, who will play with the East Carolina Lady Pirates next season, went over the 3,000-point mark in her career with a 37-point performance in her team’s win over Perquimans on Wednesday, becoming the sixth girls player in state history to do so.
The senior is fifth on the all-time list with 3,031 points.
Paschal only trails Clinton’s Danyel Parker (3,225 points from 1986-89), Smoky Mountain’s Cetera DeGraffenreid (3,081 points from 2003-07), Eden Morehead’s Amy Simpson (3,067 points from 1995-99) and Bunn’s Nakisha Stewart (3,037 points from 2001-05) on the all-time list.
Paschal is averaging 33.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.7 steals and 5.3 assists per game.
Also for the Lady Tigers, Zakkeya Morris is averaging 9.9 points, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Cassie Harrell is coming up with 7.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. Courtney Wynn is contributing 5.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.5 assists a game. Charnel Jones comes up with 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while Shakera Norfleet adds 3.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game.
After getting off to a 2-4 start, the Stallions have won 14 straight. Each win has been by at least eight points, with the exception of a 46-44 victory over Jones in the conference tournament.
In other 1-A East matchups tonight, Cape Hatteras (17-5) takes on Jones Senior (15-5), Pender (19-2) faces South Robeson (22-4) and fifth-ranked River Mill Academy (30-4) battles Union (22-4).
The Eastern Regional Women’s Tournament will be held at J.H. Rose High School in Greenville. The 1-A tournament games will take place Friday at 7 and 8:30 p.m.
The regional championship game is set for Saturday at 5 p.m.
The 1-A state championship game will be held March 13 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
BOYS
The Vikings (16-9), the No. 2 seed and conference tournament champions out of the Four Rivers Conference, advanced with wins of 76-73 over eighth-ranked Lejeune and 60-47 over Southeast Halifax.
Things get much stiffer for Plymouth tonight, as the Vikings take on a Weldon team that is ranked fifth in the N.C. Preps.com/High School Media Poll. The Chargers (24-1), the Tar Roanoke Conference champions, posted wins of 90-46 over Cape Hatteras and 74-67 over Jones Senior.
After dropping its season opener, the Chargers have cruised to 24 consecutive wins.
In other 1-A East matchups tonight, Perquimans (17-10) takes on North Edgecombe (18-5), fourth-ranked Pender (25-1) faces Red Springs (19-8) and West Columbus (17-7) battles Goldsboro (20-7).
The Eastern Regional Men’s Tournament will be held at ECU’s Minges Coliseum.
The 1-A tournament games will be played Tuesday at 7 and 8:30 p.m. The regional championship game is set for Saturday at 11 a.m.
The 1-A state championship game will be held March 13 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.