By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
After inclement weather forced some scheduling changes, all three area high school basketball conference tournament championships will now be played Friday.
Title games scheduled for Thursday night in the Catawba Valley 2A Athletic and Western Foothills 3A were moved after it snowed on Thursday morning.
The CVAC 2A finals are Friday at East Burke while the Western Foothills 3A games remain set for Statesville.
The Northwestern 3A-4A finals are Friday at Ashe County.
CVAC 2A
The CVAC tournament started on Monday with semifinals and then was originally set for Catawba Valley Community College on Wednesday and Thursday for semifinals and title games there on Friday.
Weather changed all semifinals – moving them up to Tuesday — with No. 4 Bandys playing at No. 1 East Burke and No, 3 Newton-Conover going to No. 2 Maiden.
Maiden (22-4) and East Burke (25-1, 14 straight wins) start at 6 p.m. on Friday at East Burke.
In boys’ semifinals moved up to Tuesday, No. 3 Bandys battled No. 2 Lincolnton at Lincolnton and No. 4 Newton-Conover played at No. 1 Maiden.
The boys’ final Friday is at 7 p.m. at East Burke as Maiden (21-4) chases its fifth straight win and Lincolnton (21-5) has won three straight and 10 of its last 11.
Maiden gained the top seed after sweeping Lincolnton in the regular season, winning 84-74 at Lincolnton and 103-96 at Maiden.
Western Foothills 3A
It’s an East Lincoln versus North Lincoln doubleheader for championships at Statesville.
The girls’ final at 6 p.m. is No. 2 East Lincoln (21-5, won two straight, eight of last nine) and No. 1 North Lincoln (24-2, unb eaten in league’s regular season, 23-game win streak).
In the boys’ final at 7:30 p.m., No, 3 East Lincoln (20-6) has won here straight and five of its last six while No. 1 North Lincoln (20-5) has won 14 straight after an 0-2 league start.
Northwestern 3A-4A
In games at Ashe County, it’s No. 2 South Caldwell against No. 1 Watauga for the girls’ title and No. 3 Freedom facing No. 1 Watauga.
In the girls’ game at 6:30 p.m., Watauga (18-5) has won five straight and 13 of its last 14 while South Caldwell (18-7) has won nine straight after snapping a five game skid.
Watauga’s boys (19-6) have won nine straight after having won three of four games and Freedom (15-6) has three straight wins and four victories in its last five games.