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High schools across the state began play in their respective conference basketball tournaments on Monday.

Then again, depending on how the weather is later this week, it may not matter.

Washington began play Monday night, easily beating Ayden-Grifton 85-63 in the first round of the Eastern Plains Conference Tournament to improve to 19-6. Tuesday morning, the Coastal Plains Conference updated its schedule to eliminate the first round and get second-round play later that day.

After that, all bets are off.

Winter weather was expected to impact a large part of the state, including Eastern North Carolina, starting Wednesday morning. As a result, the NC High School Athletic Association changed the individual state wrestling tournament so that it would begin on Saturday and finish on Monday. Originally, it was scheduled for this Thursday-Saturday.

The NCHSAA also announced the boys’ and girls’ basketball state playoff brackets would be released on Sunday instead of Saturday. Conferences have until Saturday to complete that portion of postseson play. It could also mean conference tournaments could be canceled altogether, meaning state playoff seedings would be determined from the regular-season standings.

Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Dr. Matthew Cheeseman issued an email to schools on Monday saying no after-school activities would be held on Wednesday due to the threat of winter weather. That helped force the change in CPC play. On Tuesday, Northside’s girls (22-1) hosted Southside (14-8) and Northside’s boys (19-4) hosted Pamlico County (6-14). Southside’s boys (8-14) had to travel to Lejeune (13-6).

There was no update as of noon Tuesday if the Eastern Plains Conference would alter its schedule.

The NCHSAA could just cancel all conference tournaments and go with state playoff seeding based on those regular-season standings. That would be good news for Northside’s boys and girls along with Southside’s girls and Washington’s boys, who are each guaranteed spots in the state playoffs.

However, it leaves the status of Southside’s boys in limbo. Southside and Pamlico County’s boys finished tied for third in the CPC. They split their regular-season games and each lost twice to Northside and Lejeune. That means a tiebreaker would have to take place to see who gets the state playoff berth. One scenario could see the two teams playing against each other in a special game to break the tie.

Terra Ceia’s postseason

Terra Ceia’s boys went 2-1 while the girls were 1-1 at the Mid-Atlantic Christian Athletic Association Tournament, played at Southeastern Free Will Baptist College in Wendell.

Terra Ceia’s boys beat Suffolk Christian Academy, 57-48, on Thursday but lost to Rock Church, 58-49, on Friday. That ended a 17-game winning streak for Terra Ceia. The Knights bounced back and won over Victory Christian, 72-50, in the third-place game.

Ryan Ange scored 26 points and Aidan Persons had 18 against Suffolk. Tripp Elliott led Terra Ceia with 20 points in the loss to Rock Church. Ange had 38 and Persons added 17 in the win over Victory. Terra Ceia’s record stands at 20-3 overall after those games.

Terra Ceia’s girls are now 11-5 after falling to Pamlico Christian Academy and beating Suffolk Christian.