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The East Burke High School girls basketball team is no exception to this rule.

That hasn’t stopped the Lady Cavaliers from reaching regionals in the state playoffs for three straight years.

East Burke secured a spot in this season’s regionals on Tuesday night at home in Icard as the No. 2 West seed Cavaliers (29-1) defeated No. 7 West seed Lexington (22-5) by a 69-51 final score in the third round of NCHSAA 2A postseason.

The 2022-23 East Burke team made it to the 2A West Regional finals before falling to Salisbury. Last year’s team made it a step further, not losing all season until the 2A state championship game loss to North Pitt.

This year, next up is Friday’s NCHSAA 2A West Regional semifinal game at home in Icard against No. 6 West seed Forest Hills (26-3).

Defense, team work shine

East Burke head coach Crystal Bartlett said that Tuesday night’s defensive performance was a good example of the improvement this year’s team has made on that side of the ball, something that could go a long way for the Lady Cavaliers as they seek to win it all.

“We’re a little bit smaller this year, but we’ve got more speed. The girls definitely guard the guards better,” Bartlett said. “Kara (Brinkley) did a good job on the boards (on Tuesday). She’s a great player. Anna (Coble) did a great job on their shooter. Braelyn (Stilwell) did a good job on (Lexington’s point guard). … I think that was the key, was our defense tonight.”

Stilwell, a star over the past two seasons for East Burke who is a senior now, said this year’s team may have the mindset to prevent some of the problems that have kept the program from being state champions the past two years.

“We really stay up for each other,” Stilwell said. “We keep the energy up. The bench is really great, so we do that on the court and off the court. We all keep shooting. We don’t get down on one shot. I feel like sometimes last year, if we weren’t making our shots at the beginning of the game, we stopped trying to shoot those shots and trying to drive. This year, we make sure we know we’ve got the next shot. It may not go in, but the next one will. If it doesn’t, the next one will. Just keep shooting and staying up.

“I just feel like we have each other’s backs. We had them last year and the year before, but I feel like we’re really a family. We just trust each other really well.”

Maci McNeil, another senior for the Lady Cavaliers, said the team’s entire roster understands where to be, what to do and when.

“Everybody really knows how to play out their role really well on our team. It just works well and meshes together. We have good team chemistry,” McNeil said.

While East Burke has been know for smothering opponents early and often in recent seasons, this year’s team might be better at finishing off its foes.

“I think the difference in this team is we’re a second-half team,” Bartlett said. “If we can do what we did in the first half and put a whole game together, I really think that we can do some great things the next three games, if we have that many.

“This group plays really hard and they’re still learning. I don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet because we’ve had so many injuries. They’ve fought through that, and we’re almost there. I’m proud of them for their grit and how hard they work.”

What needs work

Even though the Lady Cavaliers can pour on the points at any time, averaging right at 70 per game this winter, there still is some tweaking to do before starting regionals and potentially making a return trip to Winston-Salem.

“We need to just be a little more patient on offense,” Bartlett said. “But I thought tonight, we did a better job of that, and we’ve been talking about that lately. We haven’t seen a lot of man defense so far. We’ve been getting a lot of zone. So, we’ve got to get back to make sure we understand what we’re trying to do in man offense. Other than that, just keep grinding it out and understanding what we need to do in each situation.”

And although Bartlett has praised the team’s defense, the team’s seniors have identified facets that could stand some small improvements.

“I feel like getting back on transition defense (could use some work), especially if we’re in zone instead of man,” Stilwell said. “Whenever we’re in man, we tend to have our man. But whenever we’re in zone, we kind of just focus on the ball coming up the court. We just need to get to our spots, play good defense and make sure they don’t get to the rim.

“I also feel like we need to not foul as much and keep our hands to ourselves. We put a lot of the girls on the free throw line and need to work on doing that as much.”

While McNeil also identified a potential defensive tweak, she thinks it’s something the team can overcome pretty quickly.

Every team is different

Just like last year’s Lady Cavaliers have some characteristics that carried it one round further than the previous year’s squad, this season’s East Burke team has its own features and quirks that separate it from the past two iterations.

“All the teams we’ve had at East Burke have been great with great team chemistry, but this season, specifically, we’ve had a lot of things to overcome,” McNeil said. “We’ve had new teammates, transfers, freshman coming up to varsity who have taken on a big role. I think everybody just encourages each other, and that’s my favorite part of the team.”

While the team’s chemistry looks great at this point, it wasn’t that way on the first day of practice and has taken some work.

“I feel like it’s almost a new team because last year, I grew up playing with those girls,” Stilwell said. “Although we’re all friends, this year, we didn’t have the chemistry (at first). We’ve worked a lot to get that chemistry. These are girls I didn’t really know all that well growing up, but I love them a lot. They’re like my best friends, now. I feel like I can trust them. The bond we’ve made this year with all four classes is really special.”

All of the bonding and cohesion that has taken place during the season as the Lady Cavaliers now sporting some traits every coach envies.

“I think it’s their ability to overcome,” Bartlett said. “They don’t get down, no matter what happens. We’re able to overcome injuries and sickness. We didn’t get healthy until a couple weeks ago, and we’re still not quite (fully) healthy yet.

“I think that’s the biggest thing. They have grit and they’ll overcome. That’s what makes them special.”