Basketball Recap: East Bladen Finds Playoff Glory Versus North Duplin

Eagles

Margin (Wins)

02/25/25 vs Northwest Halifax	55
02/04/25 @ South Columbus	52
02/07/25 vs West Columbus	51
02/03/25 vs South Columbus	48
02/28/25 vs Columbia	47

It's playoff time, and East Bladen had no trouble coming through when it counted. They put the hurt on the North Duplin Rebels with a sharp 68-45 victory on Friday. The Eagles have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 23 contests by 22 points or more this season.

East Bladen was led to victory by Laila Smith and NeNe Ward. Smith almost dropped a double-double with 18 points and nine boards, while Ward went 11-for-15 to rack up 25 points along with eight rebounds and seven steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Ward has scored at least a third of East Bladen's points. Ariel Cromartie was another key player, putting up eight points in addition to six assists and five steals.

When it comes to explaining why North Duplin lost, don't look at Tateyawna Faison. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Faison's evening made it three games in a row in which she has scored at least 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Addy Higginbotham, who posted four points along with ten boards and eight assists.

The win was the 13th in a row for East Bladen, bringing their record for this year to 25-3. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 39.8 points. As for North Duplin, their defeat ended an 11-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 24-5.

As of now, neither East Bladen nor North Duplin have any future games scheduled.