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SM, North Buncombe will meet in sectionals
Smoky Mountain will open the 3-A women's sectional basketball playoffs at home tonight (Thursday) with a 7 p.m. contest against North Buncombe.

The Lady Mustangs (21-3) are champions of the Western Athletic Conference and received a first round bye.

North Buncombe (18-8) is the third seed from the Mountain Athletic Conference. The Lady Hawks opened the playoffs Tuesday with a 48-43 victory at Foard. They are led by forward Tiffany Atkins, who scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half at Foard.

This will be a rematch of last year's first round game when North won 60-48 behind 21 points from Atkins.

"They come from a tough league," SM Coach Cindi Simmons said. "It's exciting to play a program of that caliber."

She watched the Lady Hawks Tuesday and was impressed as they rallied for the victory at Foard. She said Atkins played inside and on the perimeter.

"Their press is more to control the tempo," she said.

The Lady Mustangs hold a 12-11 edge in the series but have not defeated North since 1995. The teams played together in the WAC from 1990-97 before the Lady Hawks moved to the MAC in 1998.

SM was do minant in the first half of the series and won conference titles from 1992-94. The Lady Hawks were WAC champs from 1995-97.

The Lady Mustangs have not won a playoff game since 1996 and have not been past the sectional semifinals since 1994. They already have done two things this year that hadn't happened since 1994 as they captured WAC regular season and tournament championships. It may be a good omen that SM defeated North four times in 1994.

The winner will advance to the sectional finals Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at East Burke High just off Interstate 40 at Icard. The opponent will be MAC champion East Henderson or Enka, the WAC's third seed.

The sectional champion will advance to the Western Regional semifinals March 2 at Hickory.

The Blue Ridge women saw their season end Tuesday with a 42-28 loss to Hayesville in the 1-A sectionals at Reynolds. Jennifer Sherrill scored 10 points. Details of that game will be in next week's Herald.

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