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West Rowan girls 55, East Lincoln 42

 Deja vu! For the second year in a row, the West Rowan girls beat East Lincoln in the 4th round of the NCHSAA basketball playoffs.  Just like last season, East scored 42 points in the game against the Falcons, and just like last year, it wasn't quite enough.

The season came to an end for the East Lincoln girls as they lost for only the second time this season Friday night (March 8th).  A slow second quarter saw East fall behind by ten points and they couldn't make up the difference. 

Both the #3 seeded Mustangs and the #2 seeded Falcons had lost only once.  Just like last year, the team from Mt. Ulla eliminated East.  Following their win over East last year (49-42), they went on to win the NCHSAA 3A girls championship. 

For East, it was only the 5th loss in the last three seasons.  

Like last year, outstanding performances in this year's season-ending game came from Kiara Anderson and Taniyah Thomas.  Anderson, now a sophomore, scored 18 points, had four steals, 3 rebounds and an assist in Friday night's game.  Thomas, a senior, had 9 points, two steals, two assists, a rebound and a blocked shot.  Emma Montanari, a freshman last year and a sophomore this season, had two points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, two assists, and blocked three shots.  Sophomore Lane Pethel scored 8 points and had seven rebounds.  Junior Nevaeh Atkins scored three points; and senior Abbie Hege had two.

This year's senior class finished with a career record of 98-10, three Western Foothills Conference regular season and three WFAC tournament titles, two East Lincoln Winter Jam titles, a sweet 16 appearance in 2022, a final four appearance in 2023, and an elite eight appearance this season.  

East led at the end of the first period 12-11, but shots weren't dropping in the second quarter--they scored just three points and trailed 25-15 at halftime.  They played the Falcons evenly in the third and fourth, but ended up losing by 13 points.

Lincoln Charter girls 53, North Wilkes 43

The LCS girls advanced to the semi-finals of the NCHSAA 2A  girls championship, eliminating the #1 seeded Vikings. The win was the second one on the road for the Eagles, who overcame a 27-23 halftime deficit outscoring North Wilkes 11-9 in the third period and 19-7 in the decisive fourth quarter.  The loss was the sixth of the season for the Vikings, champs of the 2A Foothills Conference.  Lincoln Charter's girls finished second in the Catawba Shores 1A/2A Conference, but have won all four of their playoff games--beating Maiden 51-40, Randleman 53-38, East Surry 41-36, and North Wilkes 53-43 Friday night.  

They'll play another road game of sorts on Wednesday (March 13th). They'll play Catawba Valley Conference champ East Burke--but this time it will be on a neutral court: at Winston-Salem's Joel Coliseum. Both the 1A and 2A girls and boys semi-finals will be played that day--the first game at 2 PM and the others to follow.   The 2A state championship games will be played on Saturday (March 16th), also in Winston-Salem.  

Lincoln Charter was behind 15-14 at the end of the first quarter on Friday and trailed 27-23 at the half.  They outscored the Vikings 11-9 in the third period to cut the margin to 36-34; then beat them 19-7 in the fourth, overcoming a 43-42 deficit with two minutes left in the game.  

Symphani Stevens' goal with just over a minute and a half left put the Eagles ahead 44-43. A pair of free throws by Taylor Riggenbach gave LCS a 46-43 lead. Two more free throws by Tyler Beller made it 48-43, and Kallie Lusk's two charity tosses gave LCS a 50-43 lead.  Another free throw by Tyler Beller and a pair by Symphani Stevens produced the final score.   

LCS is now 25-5 for the season; East Burke, the #3 seed, is unbeaten at 30-0 after a win Friday night over East Rutherford 57-40.

Other playoff score/schedule:

3A boys: Hickory 82, Southern Guilford 55

The unbeaten (31-0) Red Tornadoes will play also unbeaten Central Cabarrus (31-0) in the semi-finals.

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