Exams over, area schools back on hardwood tonight

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 15, 2016 1:48 PM

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The marquee boys' game is Goldsboro at Kinston. The two perennial powerhouses enter their first Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference meeting of 2016 ranked among the state's top five teams. The Cougars (13-0) are No. 2 in the NCPreps.com poll, while the Vikings (7-2) are fifth.

The teams split their regular-season series a year ago.

Goldsboro puts the league's top-scoring offense (87.8 points/game) up against the league's second-best scoring defense, which surrenders 55.6 points.

Also on tap:

* D.H. Conley at Eastern Wayne;

* New Bern at C.B. Aycock;

* South Central at Southern Wayne;

* James Kenan at Spring Creek;

* Rosewood at Neuse Charter;

* Hobbton at North Duplin;

* Terra Ceia at Wayne Country Day;

* Faith Christian at Wilmington Christian;

* and Cape Fear Christian at Wayne Christian.

Spring Creek senior Amber Buchan heads into tonight's home game against James Kenan just two points shy of 1,000 for her career. Buchan will become just the second female in program history to achieve the feat.

Eastern Wayne head coach Phil Gray will recognize senior center/forward Naheria Hamilton as the school's all-time career leader in blocked shots during the girls' game. Hamilton has signed with Coastal Carolina University.

Gray also hopes to see Myesha Best return to the court. The freshman guard suffered a right knee injury during the East Coast Christmas Classic in late December.

Two-time defending Carolina 1-A Conference girls' champion Rosewood (10-3 overall) carries a 5-0 league worksheet to Neuse Charter, which has endured just one conference loss this season. The Eagles, led by Elon University signee Lexi Mercer, have emerged victorious in 32 of 33 regular-season conference contests during Rick Grantham's three-year tenure as head coach.

On the boys' side, Eastern Wayne (1-10) and Southern Wayne (1-11) continue to search for a victory in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play. The county rivals are a combined 0-7 against league opposition this season.

C.B. Aycock (7-7, 1-2 ECC) looks to snap a two-game skid when New Bern visits Pikeville. The Golden Falcons started the year 0-5, but have emerged victorious in seven of their last nine outings.

Princeton snapped a 16-game losing streak, including an 0-14 start to this season, with a nine-point victory at Spring Creek exactly one week ago. The Bulldogs are the guests of Lakewood, which shares second place with Rosewood at 3-2 in conference play.