Polk County’s girls basketball squad opens play Monday night in the state 2A playoffs, journeying to Icard to face East Burke in an opening-round game.
The Wolverines (13-10) are seeded 23rd in the 32-team 2A West bracket. East Burke (19-4) enters as the 10th seed.
The Lady Cavaliers feature two frontcourt players that have signed with Lenoir-Rhyne. Senior post Sydney Haas leads East Burke in scoring at 15.6 points per game and is a four-year starter. Forward Bailey Gragg is a three-year starter who verbally committed to Lenoir-Rhyne after her sophomore season.
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Wing Lauren Arney averages 15.3 points per game and is the reigning South Mountain 2A/3A Conference player of the year.
A win Monday night would give East Burke its fourth straight 20-win season. The Lady Cavaliers finished second, behind East Rutherford, in the SMAC race this season.
Polk County is led by sophomore Hayley Kropp, averaging 15.8 points per game. Junior Sarah Phipps averages 7.4 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, with senior Lyric Flood, a Lenoir-Rhyne soccer signee, averaging seven points per game.
The winner of Monday’s game advances to face the North Wilkes-Shelby winner.
