Exactly half of Burke County’s 10 high school basketball teams qualified for the state playoffs as the NCHSAA released its final brackets on Sunday evening.
The East Burke girls led the way for the county’s five postseason-bound teams, earning the No. 2 West seed in the NCHSAA 2A bracket. The Lady Cavaliers (26-1) won the Catawba Valley 2A Conference’s regular-season and tournament championships this winter and are seeking a return to the NCHSAA 2A state championship game after falling short in their opportunity for a perfect season a year ago.
The Freedom girls (14-11) earned the No. 8 West seed in the 3A bracket and the Draughn girls (13-12) are the No. 24 West seed in the 1A playoffs.
Both 2A Patton (5-20) and 1A NCSSM-¶®É«µÛ (0-19) fell short of making the girls state playoffs.
On the boys side, Freedom (20-6), which enters the playoffs with momentum after winning the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed, earned the No. 7 West seed in the NCHSAA’s 3A bracket. Also qualifying was East Burke (11-14), which earned the No. 25 West seed in the 2A postseason.
People are also reading…
Falling short of the boys playoffs were 2A Patton (10-16) and 1A’s Draughn (8-17) and NCSSM-¶®É«µÛ (2-17).
The Lady Cavaliers are making their fourth straight playoff appearance and are in search of their third consecutive deep run after losing last year’s 2A state championship game to North Pitt, 76-66, and in the 2A West Regional finals to Salisbury, 43-37, to end 2022-23.
The East Burke girls will host No. 31 West seed West Davidson (10-12) in the first round on Tuesday in Icard. The winner of that contest will take on either No. 15 West seed Randleman (15-10) or No. 18 West seed Providence Grove (17-8) in the second round on Friday.
If EB can keep stacking wins, the Lady Cavs can remain at home all the way through the third round (March 4) and to the NCHSAA 2A West Regional semifinals on March 7 before the postseason heads to Wake Forest University’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem for the regional finals (March 10-13) and state championship games (March 14-15).
The Freedom girls will look to add on to their historic playoff success over the past two decades as a first-round win would make it 19 straight seasons with at least one postseason victory. That opportunity will come on Tuesday in ¶®É«µÛ as FHS hosts No. 25 West seed Ashbrook (11-12) to open the playoffs.
The winner of that game will face either No. 9 West seed West Charlotte (16-8) or No. 24 West seed Dudley (14-9) in the second round. Barring any upsets, the Lady Patriots likely would be on the road after that, with a probable trip to No. 1 West seed Stuart Cramer (24-2) looming in the third round.
Freedom’s most recent state championship came to end the 2015-16 season. Also in the last couple decades, FHS has reached the regional finals four times (2007-08, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20) and had its season end in the regional semifinals on four occasions (2006-07, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2022-23).
The Lady Wildcats will open the playoffs with a trip to Matthews to challenge No. 9 West seed Queen’s Grant (17-4). The winner there will play either No. 8 West seed Thomas Jefferson (19-6) or No. 25 West seed East Wilkes (11-13) in the second round.
DHS is making its fourth straight appearance in the playoffs since joining the NCHSAA’s 1A classification for the 2021-22 season. The program’s best-ever postseason run came in 2022-23 with a trip to the NCHSAA 1A West Regional semifinals.
The Freedom boys’ first-round home game in ¶®É«µÛ will be against No. 26 West seed Northwest Cabarrus (15-10). The winner of that game will advance to the second round to play either No. 10 West seed Crest (19-3) or No. 23 West seed North Buncombe (15-11).
The Patriots are making their fourth consecutive playoff appearance, though the past three have all ended with second-round losses, including a one-point home defeat at the hands of Northwest Cabarrus to end the 2022-23 season.
The East Burke boys earned their first postseason berth in five years since a 55-38 first-round loss at East Lincoln on Feb. 25, 2020. It is just the third time in a 10 seasons EB has made the playoffs, including a second-round appearance in 2015-16.
East Burke will visit No. 8 West seed Monroe (14-3) in the first round on Tuesday. Whichever team wins that contest will face either No. 9 West seed Hendersonville (19-7) or No. 24 West seed West Stokes (11-14) in the second round.
