HURLOCK — Kent County and North Dorchester will face off tomorrow in the semifinal round of the Class 1A East Region I high school girls basketball tournament.
It will be the third meeting in seven weeks for these two small school rivals, with each winning on the other’s court — most recently the Eagles (10-9) scoring a commanding 51-29 victory at KCHS on Feb. 19.
A month before, the Trojans (8-11) were equally impressive in their 62-44 victory at North Dorchester.
There had been some personnel changes in between the two Kent County-North Dorchester games, but KCHS has since sorted that out, according to coach Tyray Johnson, who is optimistic heading into Tuesday’s playoff game in Hurlock.
“I think we have a legitimate shot of winning it,” Johnson said of the rubber match.
The game plan is pretty straightforward: play a box-and-one defense to try to contain the Eagles’ star, junior forward Remedy Wongus.
The Trojans wrapped up their regular season Feb. 20 with a 45-32 victory at St. Michaels, completing a sweep of the two-game series by an average of 20-plus points a game.
KCHS pulled ahead, 7-4, in a low-scoring first frame and never trailed.
The spread at halftime was 26-15 with Talicia Wright (10 points) and Aaliyah Waits (game-high 18 points) each scoring six points, Asia Wilson and Love Jackson each adding five, and Saniyah Jones contributing four.
After three quarters, the Trojans extended their lead to 38-24.
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Two-time defending region champ Perryville (11-5) is seeded No. 1 in 1A East Region I.
North Dorchester is No. 2 and KCHS is No. 3.
Bo Manor (3-16) and St. Michaels (1-18) complete the tournament field.
Colonel Richardson folded its program in January due to an insufficient number of players.
Bo Manor defeated St. Michaels in the only first-round game, 49-28, on Friday, Feb. 27 and will now travel to Perryville.
As the top seed, Perryville received a bye and advanced directly to the semifinals on Tuesday.
The championship game is Thursday, March 5 at the higher seed.
