Diamond Steward (30), a freshman from Fayetteville, takes a shot in Thursday’s game for Catawba Valley Community College, which won to reach a semifinal on Friday in Louisburg./CODY DALTON, CATAWBA VALLEY ATHLETICS
HobbsDailyReport.com
LOUISBURG – Overcoming a slow start, the Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) women downed seventh-seeded USC Salkehatchie 88-50 on Thursday in the Region X/District J basketball tournament.
The second-seeded Red Hawks (24-5) face third-seeded Cape Fear Community College (23-4) on Friday at 4 p.m. at Louisburg College.
Cape Fear advanced with an 83-70 victory over sixth-seeded Wake Tech.
CVCC and Cape Fear a regular season series with each winning at home — the Red Hawks 73-60 on Jan. 5 and the Sea Devils 83-61 on Feb. 23.
On Thursday, Danielle Rainey scored a career-high 19 points to lead CVCC, while Zharia Brown and Aniya Taylor added 17 and 15 points, respectively.
CVCC took a quick 6-0 lead but USC Salkehatchie (13-15) rallied for a tie at 12 by the end oof the first quarter.
The Red Hawks led 40-33 at the half.
Loni Sales and Zymbraya Corley each scored a team-high 13 points to lead the Indians, who were called for four technical fouls.
If CVCC wins on Friday, it will play top-seeded Bryant & Stratton or fifth-seeded Clinton in Saturday’s championship game at 1 p.m.
The tournament winner gets the District J automatic bid into the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) tournament on March 19-23 in Harrison, Ark.
— Reported by CVCC Sports Information
REGION X/DISTRICT J WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
First round results
No. 6 Wake Tech 70, No. 11 Lenoir 37
No. 7 USC Salkehatchie 86, No. 10 Fayetteville Tech 49
No. 9 Brunswick 69, No 8 Guilford Tech 60
Thursday’s quarterfinal results
(at Louisburg)
No. 1 Bryant & Stratton 80, No. 9 Brunswick 45
No. 5 Clinton 93, No 4 Louisburg 82
No. 2 CVCC 88, No. 7 USC Salkehatchie 50
No. 3 Cape Fear 83, No. 6 Wake Tech 70
Friday’s semfinals
(at Louisburg)
No. 1 Bryant & Stratton (24-5) vs. No. 5 Clinton (10-15), 2 p.m.
No. 2 CVCC (24-5) vs. No. 3 Cape Fear (23-4), 4 p.m.
Saturday’s championship
(at Louisburg)
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.