First-round roundup: Forbush, East Wilkes girls advance to round 2

Two of the three Yadkin Valley-area basketball teams to make the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs, are moving on after first-round wins on Tuesday night.

Fifth-seeded East Wilkes advanced to the second round of the 1A girl’s playoffs with a 60-17 win against Bradford Prep (10-16) at home.

The Lady Cardinals (22-4) will be back at home on Friday night against No. 21 Highland Tech. The Lady Rams (16-9) were 33-26 winners on the road at No. 12 Piedmont Community Charter.

In the 2A girl’s playoffs, Forbush broke open a close game to cruise to a 77-44 win over Providence Grove in East Bend. The No. 15 Lady Falcons will now travel to No. 2 East Rutherford (25-2) in the second round on Friday night.

Forbush will also look for redemption as the Lady Cavaliers, who were 68-35 winners against Forest Hills on Tuesday, bested the Lady Falcons in the second round two years ago.

Now 20-7 this season, Forbush led by just two early in the first quarter, but used an 11-0 run to build a double-digit advantage and never looked back.

Morgan Pinnix led a trio of Lady Falcons in double figures with a game-high 14 points while Mallory Chapman finished with 13 points and Meredith Tomko added 10.

Katelyn Eads and Natalie Scott finished with nine and eight points, respectively, while Kendyl Berrier chipped in seven.

Providence Grove, which saw its season end at 15-13, was led by 12 points from Jade Nixon and 10 from Brooke Ingram.

The No. 26 East Wilkes boys saw its season come to an end on the road in a 66-50 decision at No. 7 South Stanly in the 1A playoffs.

The Rowdy Rebel Bulls (23-4) will host Mountain Island Charter in the second round on Friday. The No. 23 Raptors made the trek to Hiwassee Dam and scored an 82-73 win over the tenth-seeded Eagles.

After making their first postseason appearance since 2015-16, the Cardinals end their season at 10-15.

Look for more on all of the first round games (and Friday’s second round contests) in the March 7 editions of the Elkin Tribune and Yadkin Ripple.