Lady Bruins win 3-A Eastern Regional

Congratulations to the Beddingfield girls basketball team for their second N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A Eastern Regional championship in the past three seasons.

Minutes ago, the Lady Bruins, the 2006 3-A champion, defeated previously unbeaten South Central 62-46 in Greenville to advance to the state final against Concord, a 70-66 winner against previously undefeated Gastonia Forestview in the Western final.

They're going back to the 'ship!

Beddingfield's Best lands on elite all-star team

Congratulations to Beddingfield senior Jean Best who was chosen to play for the North Carolina side against South Carolina in the 2008 Carolina Classic All-Star Game in Charlotte's Bobcats Arena on April 5.

Best, a 6-foot-4 center who has signed with East Carolina University, will be joined on the N.C. team by her 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference nemesis Brittani Billups from Eastern Wayne. The pair, along with Wake Forest-Rolesville's Terrica Jones, are the only girls from schools east of Raleigh on the team.

The N.C. head coach is Marty Stanley of Kernersville Glenn while Rocky Mount's Pam Gainey is the assistant coach. Fike head coach George Drawhorn will serve as an assistant to the N.C. boys head coach Butch Blalock of Gastonia Highland Tech.

Thanks to Charles Alston of northcarolina.ihigh.com for posting this information.

2008 Carolina Classic rosters announced

NCHSAA releases regional pairings

The N.C. High School Athletic Association unveiled the brackets for its boys and girls basketball regional championships, which begin Tuesday in Greenville and Winston-Salem.

From the looks of things, the Beddingfield girls caught a break in the 3-A East Regional semifinals pairings. Rather than play unbeaten South Central, the top seed from the Coastal Conference, or perennial power Greensboro Dudley, which has ended Beddingfield's season two of the past three years, the Lady Bruins get Eastern Alamance, the No. 2 seed from the Mid-State Conference.

Now, I'm not saying Eastern Alamance will be a pushover for the Lady Bruins, but the Lady Eagles (20-7) are clearly a step behind the other three teams in the regional. This situation reminds me of 2006 when Beddingfield drew No. 2 Nash Central in the regional semis and edged Dudley in the East final on the way to the state title.

The West favorite has to be Gastonia Forestview (28-0) which spent all season second in the NCPreps.com poll, looking up at top-ranked Beddingfield. If the Lady Jaguars win the West, they can look to their second-round defeat of previously unbeaten Hickory, ranked No. 3 in the final 3-A poll, as the major hurdle. Or maybe it was Forestview's sectional championship triumph against Asheville T.C. Roberson, which had won 27 of 28 games prior to Friday and was ranked fifth for much of the year.

Forestview gets No. 7 Statesville (25-2) in the West semifinal while No. 8 Concord (28-2) and Franklin (23-6) tangle in the other semifinal.

The NCHSAA has made the 3-A girls regionals the last to be played this week and Beddingfield won't take the court at J.H. Rose High School until Friday night at 8:30. The regional championships for East and West are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday.

NCHSAA basketball regional pairings

Lady Bruins keep rolling

It's poll time again and the Beddingfield varsity girls basketball team still sits atop the NCPreps.com 3-A rankings.

The Lady Bruins are 22-0 with regular-season games remaining against Kinston tonight and at Hunt on Thursday evening. Realistically, Beddingfield should finish 24-0 as it heads into next week's 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference Tournament. Before the Hunt (and Kinston) folks get into a snit, I'll just point out the Lady Bruins haven't lost to either team in three seasons and handled both of them pretty well in their earlier meetings this season.

Thus, Beddingfield is looking at probable third meetings with Southern Wayne in the ECC semifinals and Eastern Wayne in the ECC final. Either of those Wayne teams could trip up the Lady Bruins but they seem to be headed for the top seed out of the ECC.

I don't know where the Lady Bruins' season will end but if Jean Best gets healthy, Monique Spry gets well and they get some breaks, it might end in Chapel Hill, just like the 2006 season did.


NCPreps.com high school girls basketball poll for Feb. 12

NCPreps.com high school boys basketball poll for Feb. 12

NCPreps.com high school girls basketball statistics for Feb. 9


NCPreps.com high school girls basketball statistics for Feb. 9

The polls still have Lady Bruins in front

It's poll time again and the Beddingfield girls refuse to budge from the No. 1 spot in the NCPreps.com 3-A girls rankings. Beddingfield is 21-0 and headed for a major showdown with Eastern Wayne tonight on the Lady Bruins' floor.

I don't know why Eastern Wayne hasn't found its way into the rankings because the Lady Warriors are probably as good as any team in the east without "Beddingfield" on its jerseys. An upset tonight would certainly propel Eastern Wayne into the rankings. More importantly, it might mean a No. 1 seed.

Eastern Wayne senior forward Brittani Billups is listed second in the state in all classifications in scoring (25.4 [per game) and rebounding (14.7).

There are no other boys or girls teams in The Wilson Daily Times readership area listed in the rankings, although the Rocky Mount girls are holding at No. 8.


NCPreps.com girls basketball poll from Feb. 5
NCPreps.com girls statistics from Feb. 4

NCPreps.com boys basketball poll from Feb. 5
NCPreps.com boys statistics from Feb. 4

Despite close calls, Lady Bruins still No. 1

Beddingfield had a couple of close calls this week but remained atop the NCPreps.com 3-A girls basketball rankings. The Lady Bruins (16-0) procured 167 votes to 140 each for Hickory and Gastonia Forestview, tied for second. Beddingfield garnered 15 of the 17 first-place votes with Hickory continuing to get the other two.

The Lady Bruins trailed Eastern Wayne by nine points with less than six minutes to play Tuesday night but pulled out a 70-58 victory. That came after Friday's miraculous 70-69 escape at Southern Wayne in which sophomore Casey Elliott hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the score while being fouled. Elliott drained the free throw with 1.7 seconds left then intercepted the Lady Saints' desperation pass.

This stretch brings to mind the recent one by the formerly top-ranked men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina. The Tar Heels survived narrow misses at Clemson and Georgia Tech before getting their first loss at home Saturday at the hands of Maryland.

With Hunt next on the Lady Bruins' schedule, Beddingfield should hope to avoid the fate that befell the Heels.


NCPreps.com girls basketball poll

NCPreps.com boys basketball poll

Lady Bruins still on top

The Beddingfield Lady Bruins have strengthened their grip on the top spot in the high school girls basketball 3-A rankings posted by the Web site NCPreps.com.
Beddingfield received 16 first-place votes and 176 votes among N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A schools. Gastonia Forestview, at No. 2, had no first-place votes and 157 overall votes and No. 3 Hickory had the other two first-place votes.
The Lady Bruins, now 15-0, have the first part of the week off due to exams and will return to the court Friday at Southern Wayne.
There are no other teams in The Wilson Daily Times readership area in the rankings although the Kinston boys team is listed at No. 4 in the 3-A poll, the same spot the North Edgecombe boys hold in the 1-A rankings.
In Rivals.com’s Fab 50 boys teams, Raleigh Word of God Academy, an N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A member, is listed No. 15 in the nation.
Yes, Word of God competes in the same classification as Greenfield.

NCPreps.com girls basketball rankings

NCPreps.com boys basketball rankings

Rivals.com Fab 50 boys teams