These area high school basketball teams have sights on state title as playoffs begin
As the high school basketball regular season comes to a close, area teams are setting their sights on playing at Colonial Life Arena come March 1.
Twelve Grand Strand teams, five boys and seven girls, punched their tickets to the SCHSL playoffs, with the Conway boys and Socastee girls each earning region titles and No. 1 seeding in the tournament.
On the girls side, Socastee will play host to region rival St. James, which made the field as an at-large team. Carolina Forest, a No. 2 seed, will host While Knoll in the Lower State portion of the Class 5A bracket. Both Socastee and Carolina Forest went 8-2 in region play, but Socastee had the tiebreaker with its two wins by a combined four points.
In the Class 4A bracket, North Myrtle Beach earned a home game with its second-place finish in Region 6 and will welcome A.C. Flora to town. Myrtle Beach will travel to South Aiken in a matchup of third-place region finishers.
Loris will travel to Ridgeland-Hardeeville in the Class 3A bracket, while Green Sea Floyds was to make a trip to Cross in a Class A matchup Monday night.
In the boys bracket, Conway and Socastee will carry the mantle for the Grand Strand in Class 5A, with the Tigers hosting Stall and Socastee traveling to Lexington to take on River Bluff. Conway secured a Region 6-5A title thanks in large part to its strong defense and timely scoring. Both Class 4A representatives will be on the road, as North Myrtle Beach travels to take on a strong Colleton County team and Myrtle Beach will make the trek to Aiken to play the Thoroughbreds of South Aiken. Loris will also hit the road in the Class 3A bracket as it drew May River as its opening round opponent.
Girls playoff schedule
Class A
Green Sea Floyds at Cross – Feb. 11 7 p.m.
Class 3A
Loris at Ridgeland-Hardeeville – Feb. 12 7 p.m.
Class 4A
A.C. Flora at North Myrtle Beach – Feb. 12 7 p.m.
Myrtle Beach at South Aiken – Feb. 12 6 p.m.
Class 5A
White Knoll at Carolina Forest – Feb. 12 6:30 p.m.
St. James at Socastee – Feb. 12 6 p.m.
Boys playoff schedule
Class 3A
Loris at May River – Feb. 12 7 p.m.
Class 4A
Myrtle Beach at South Aiken – Feb. 13 7 p.m.
North Myrtle Beach at Colleton County – Feb. 13 7 p.m.
Class 5A
Socastee at River Bluff – Feb. 13 7 p.m.
Stall at Conway – Feb. 13 7 p.m.
