What looked like a competitive matchup for the East Burke girls basketball team vs. visiting Hibriten sure met that expectation for head coach Crystal Bartlett.

The Lady Cavaliers endured the competition and got prepared for the road ahead with a 55-44 win, leading to a new program-best 36th consecutive home win.

It also pairs as the 49th consecutive win in regular season play, dating back to December 2022, as they start the season with a 7-0 mark.

“We worked on our defense the last couple of days because they got different players that can score,” said Bartlett, earning her 211th career win.

Braelyn Stilwell and Macy McNeil were on top of things to pick up loose balls from the Lady Panthers while Addison Sisk and Kara Brinkley crashed the boards to lead defensive efforts.

East Burke led 16-9 after one quarter, having to rally from an early Hibriten lead and later building up a 30-19 advantage at the halftime break.

A 17-12 third-quarter edge continued to boost the Lady Cavs lead, but Hibriten won the fourth quarter 13-8, only to fall by 11.

Another advantage the Lady Cavs had in this challenging contest was passing the ball around and recording eight assists, each led by three from Stilwell and McNeil.

Stilwell finished with 22 points as a third-quarter 3-pointer crossed her into second place on the Lady Cavs all-time scoring list, becoming the third player to reach 1700 career points.

Sisk (14) was the other double-digit scorer, followed by Brinkley (8), McNeil (4), Addie Brittain (3), Anna Coble (2), and Arieanna Williamson (2).

Conference play begins Friday at Maiden in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A.

Maiden, Newton-Conover, and Bandys look to be the teams that will give East Burke a competitive game this season.

“Conference season is what matters, and it will be a stronger season this year; we got better, and everybody is contributing.”

BOYS: East Burke 83, Hibriten 53

Owen Hartmann went off for a new career-high of 29 points, leading the Cavaliers in their non-conference finale at home.

Hartmann, averaging 12.3 points per game, made 10 field goals (eight for 2 pts) and was 7 for 7 at the free-throw line.

Leading scorer Barger Shook (14.8) was held to 10 points despite scoring eight in the second half.

Other leading scorers included Luke Demiter (season-high 12), Dautry Ragle (11), and Jay Dixon (9).

The Cavaliers, beginning conference play Friday at Maiden, are off to their best start at 5-2 since the 2015-16 season when EB started 8-3 heading into Christmas.