Alex Central girls, not in preliminary, earn wild card bid in 3A
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) has released finalized brackets for the basketball playoffs, with Freedom’s girls seeded as No. 1 in the West 3A bracket.
Visit www.nchsaa.org to review all of the state basketball playoff brackets
After a review until 3 p.m. on Sunday of preliminary brackets released by the NCHSAA, a change was made and Alexander Central moved in with a wild card bid.
As the first step in the process, the NCHSAA released standings from each conference in the state. Those are provided by conference presidents.
It’s the first time in NCHSAA history that it released complete statewide standings.
The records used may or may not be the exact overall record(s) in a season impacted by COVID-19. For instance, the Northwestern Foothills 2A did its standings on a seven-game record (the first half results of all teams in a 14-game season).
The brackets are 32 teams each – down from 64 – and all conference title teams went into a bracket first, then second-place teams. Any additional wild-card spots came, based on conference winning percent, from all of the remaining teams in each class in the state.
Opening round games are Tuesday.
BREAKDOWN FOR GREATER HICKORY AREA
QUALIFIERS
GIRLS
2A
Bunker Hill (10-0, No. 5 seed) – Will play host to No. 12 North Davidson (10-2); winner plays No. 13 R-S Central (10-3) or No. 4 Forest Hills (10-1).
East Lincoln (10-4, No. 11 seed) – Will play at No. 6 Shelby (12-0); winner plays No. 14 Patton (8-5) or No. 3
Salisbury (13-1).
Newton-Conover (14-0, No. 9 seed) – Will play at No. 8 Canton Pisgah (12-1); winner plays No. 16 Ledford (11-3) or No. 1 West Stokes (11-0).
Patton (8-5 No. 14 seed) – Will play at No. 3 Salisbury (13-1); winner plays No. 11 East Lincoln (11-3) or No. 6 Shelby (12-0)
3A
Alexander Central (11-3, No. 13 seed, got in via wild-card bid) — Will play at No. 4 Ashbrook (12-1); winner plays at No. 12 Hickory (8-2) or No 5 Northwest Cabarrus (11-2).
Freedom (9-0, No. 1 seed) – Will play at home against No. 16 North Buncombe (11-3); winner plays No. 9 Asheville (11-2) or No. 8 Cox Mill (9-4).
Hickory (8-2, No. 12 seed, got in via wild-card bid) – Will play at No. 5 Northwest Cabarrus (11-2); winner will play No. 13 Alexander Central (11-3) or No. 4 Ashbrook (12-1).
4A
South Caldwell (6-6, No. 2 seed) – Will play No. 15 West Forsyth (10-3) in Hudson; winner plays No. 10 Lake Norman (9-1) or No. 7 Myers Park (7-0).
BOYS
2A
East Lincoln (11-3, No. 11 seed) – Will play at No. 6 North Davidson (11-0); winner will play No. 14 Forbush (9-3) or No. 3 North Lincoln (12-2).
North Lincoln (12-2, No. 3 seed) – Will play at home against No. 14 Forbush (9-3); winner will play No. 11 East Lincoln (11-3) or No. 6 North Davidson (11-0).
Patton (8-0, No. 7 seed) – Will play at home versus No. 10 Shelby (13-1); winner plays No. 15 R-S Central (12-1) or No. 2 Forest Hills (10-2)
West Caldwell (7-2, No. 13 seed) – Will face No. 4 Ashe County (10-3) on the road; winners meets No. 12 Salisbury (8-4) or No. 5 Mountain Heritage (11-0).
3A
Hickory (9-1, No. 3 seed) – Will play at home against No. 14 North Buncombe (10-4); winner will play No. 11 Charlotte Catholic (11-2) or No. 6 Mount Tabor (11-2).
4A
McDowell had the best 4A record in the Northwestern 3A-4A and earned the league’s bid. But because the Titans are in quarantine, the NCHSAA – as it had it would do before the season began – did not move the other 4A (South Caldwell) into a playoff bid.
