EB girls rout another postseason foe as they eye return to Winston-Salem

It’s not time to pack the van for another March trip to Winston-Salem just yet, but the East Burke girls basketball team again appears to have a full tank of gas.

The No. 2 seed Lady Cavaliers (29-1) punished another postseason foe, defeating visiting No. 7 Lexington, 69-51, on Tuesday night in the third round of the NCHSAA 2A state playoffs.

The win was East Burke’s 50th in a row at home, a streak spanning more than two calendar years, and was the team’s 18th straight win overall since the McDowell Christmas Invitational final.

It also marks the seventh season overall and third straight season under 10th-year coach Crystal Bartlett that EB has advanced to the regional semifinal (fourth) round of the playoffs.

It’s hard to believe for a team with 12 consecutive victories by 16 or more points, but slow starts had been an issue of late for the Lady Cavaliers.

In three of their last four games prior to Tuesday, EB either trailed or led by a point at the end of the first period.

But there was no slow start Tuesday. Braelyn Stilwell scored the game’s first basket off a steal and added two free throws and an assist for an Anna Coble transition layup as — coupled with a Journi McDowell 3-pointer — EB built a 9-0 lead in just over 3 minutes to open the contest.

“Going into this game, that’s one of the things I told my team, we need to get off strong,” said Stilwell, whose latest monster statistical effort included team-highs of 23 points, eight assists, and five steals, plus nine rebounds.

“Make our shots, play good defense because it’s been a few games in a row here we had started slow,” she added. “Our energy was high at the beginning of the game, and it just stayed that way.”

EB’s Kara Brinkley drained a 3 to get into the scorebook and push the lead to 15-3, and Macy McNeil became the fifth Lady Cavs player with a field goal as she made it 21-5. A Stilwell corner 3 moments later gave EB a 24-5 edge in the final minute of the opening period.

“It’s huge, we hadn’t gotten off to a good start in a while,” Bartlett said. “We’re usually a second-half team. But our girls did a good job on defense. We had a good gameplan I think, and the girls executed it really well. And that’s a good team. They’ve got five quality players out there.”

Lexington trimmed the margin to 24-11, but that was as close as it got the rest of the way. Back-to-back 3s from McNeil and Addie Brittain followed by an Addison Sisk basket gave EB its first 20-plus point lead at 32-11 as Brittain and Sisk put a sixth and seventh EB scorer in the book on the evening.

EB led 40-19 at the half and 51-34 after three quarters, and the lead grew as large as 65-38 on a Coble reverse layin midway through the fourth.

“Our subs came in and did a good job, Macy, Addie,” Bartlett said. “And Journi played well, (Addison) played well, they all did. I think Anna got cold because she got in foul trouble, but she played well in the second half and played great defense on their best shooter all night. And Kara defended their best player and contained her well too.”

“I think we did well,” said Brittain, who made three first-half 3s for her nine points. “We all understand the game and work together a lot really well.”

Brinkley finished with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and three blocks, McDowell had eight points, five rebounds, and three steals, and Sisk supplied six points, seven rebounds, and three assists.

Stilwell is now just 10 points behind Clay Byrd’s all-time EBHS basketball scoring record of 2,274 career points, a mark she has a chance to break in her final game in Icard on Friday as EB hosts No. 6 seed Forest Hills (26-3) at 7 p.m.

“I didn’t know that record was in reach,” Stilwell said, “but when I broke the (EBHS girls) scoring record and then hit 2,000 (points), they told me I was pretty close to that. So that was my next goal, and I really want to get it.

“It’s not about me, it’s a team accomplishment. I can’t score points without my teammates doing what they do. It’s special. I can’t even imagine it, the possibility of doing it in my last home game here.”

The winner of Friday’s game will play either No. 1 North Wilkes (28-1) or No. 4 Andrews (25-1) on Thursday, March 13, in the West Regional final. EB’s bid for a return to the 2A girls state championship game would ultimately culminate on Saturday, March 15.

All regional and state finals for a second straight season will be held under the state’s new “Final Four” format, with all games hosted by Wake Forest University’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Start times for regional and state finals have not yet been announced.