By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CHAPEL HILL — Freedom High was selected as the site of the West 3A Regional championship basketball games, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) announced Wednesday.
The regional finals will be played at eight neutral floor sites throughout the state on Saturday, a change from last season. With COVID the primary factor, the NCHSAA played last year’s Regionals at the highest-seeded remaining team’s home courts.
Traditionally, the two regional rounds were played in college venues — girls and boys –before COVID generated a change in that two years ago. Before the move to college arenas, Hickory was home to the West Regionals for two decades.
NCHSAA officials said when dates, etc., for this year’s regionals could not be coordinated with college venues, it began discussions with the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association (NCBCA) about potential high school gyms with the capacity to play host to regional games.
The first-round regional games were played on Tuesday, and the NCHSAA announced it would be revealing regional title game sites on Wednesday.
NCHSAA officials said they communicated to member schools — before the state playoffs began — that the regional rounds could be moving to to-be-determined neutral high school sites.
The brackets released by the NCHSAA did not note that possibility, and the first acknowledge of those changes to the broader general public came in a press release to media around 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets cost $10 and there is no re-entry at any site. Tickets are only available through the NCHSAA’s Digital Ticketing partner GoFan (https://gofan.co/app/school/NC1661). Each participating school will receive 250 ticket codes for families and their community members to purchase tickets to the Regional Finals. The remainder of tickets at each venue will be sold to the general public. Tickets are on sale now.
The NCHSAA has reserved 60 spots at each site for those holding NCHSAA, North Carolina Coaches Association (NCCA), Senior Tar Heel, officials or administrator passes.
STATE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS
COMPLETE STATEWIDE BRACKETS (East results): www.nchsaa.org
GIRLS
SATURDAY’S REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
West 1A at A.C. Reynolds: No. 5 Bishop McGuinness (24-6) vs. No. 2 Mountain Heritage (23-3), 4 p.m.
West 2A at Greensboro Grimsley: No. 5 Shelby (22-2) vs No. 2 Salisbury (25-1), noon
West 3A at Freedom: No. 19 Enka (15-14) vs. No. 4 N. Davidson (25-2), 2 p.m.
West 4A a McDowell: No. 8 Chambers (22-6) vs. No. 4 Charlotte Catholic (28-2), p.m.
East 1A at Greenville Rose: No. 2 Wilson Prep (24-0) vs. No. 1 Bertie (20-4), noon
East 2A at Lee County: No. 3 Farmville Central (26-4) vs. No. 1 St. Pauls (27-1), 2 p.m.
East 3A at Southern Lee: No. 2 Pittsboro Northwood (28-1) vs. No. 1 Fayetteville Sanford (30-0), 2 p.m.
East 4A Green Level: No. 2 Raleigh Millbrook (23-3) vs. No. 1 Apex Friendship (28-2), 4 p.m.
BOYS
SATURDAY’S REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
West 1A at A.C. Reynolds: No. 2 Winston-Salem Prep (25-2) vs. No. 1 Hayesville (26-0), 6 p.m.
West 2A at Greensboro Grimsley: No. 6 Concord Robinson (26-3) vs. No. 4 N. Surry (23-4), 2 p.m.
West 3A at Freedom: No. 8 W. Charlotte (20-9) vs. No. 2 Central Cabarrus (30-0), 4 p.m.
West 4A at McDowell: No. 10 N. Mecklenburg (27-4) vs. No. 1 Weddington (29-0), 4 p.m.
East 1A at Greenville Rose: No. 2 Wilson Prep (22-5) vs. No. 1 Chatam Charter (32-1), 2 p.m.
East 2A at Lee County: No. 2 Kinston (23-2) vs. No 1 Farmville Central (26-3), 4 p.m.
East 3A at Southern Lee: No. 5 Fayetteville 71st (26-4) vs. No. 2 W. Carteret (26-4), 4 p.m.
East 4A Green Level: No. 15 Panther Creek (21-7) vs. No. 5 Cleveland (30-1), 6 p.m.