ROCKINGHAM — The would-be winners of this year’s Sandhills Athletic Conference basketball championship tournament will hang in the balance.
The Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, both seeded as the top team in their respective brackets, won’t get a chance to try and reclaim the conference tournament title.
Athletic director James Johnson said in an email Thursday afternoon that Friday’s SAC tournament championship games have been canceled.
Johnson cited the recent inclement weather as the reason for the tournament’s cancellation, noting the decision was made after Lee County Schools canceled classes for Friday.
“Our conference athletic directors and remaining basketball coaches decided today to cancel the basketball tournament finals if any of the school districts were not able to play tomorrow night,” Johnson’s email explained.
“There will be no make-up date to allow the teams an extra day to prepare for the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday.”
The Raiders (15-9) and Lady Raiders (19-5) each claimed the SAC’s 4A automatic berth for the NCHSAA postseason, which will begin Tuesday.
Both teams are guaranteed first-round home playoff games. The NCHSAA is set to seed playoff brackets Sunday, a day later than originally planned. The Richmond Observer will update both teams’ schedules once they’re finalized.
Bowling state championship rescheduled
Richmond’s boys’ and girls’ bowling teams were supposed to bowl in the state championship meet Friday at the Sandhills Bowling Center in Aberdeen.
Also because of Lee County’s closure, that meet has been temporarily postponed.
Head coach Ashleigh Larsen shared that the meet has been rescheduled to Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Sports editor's note: A detail about the NCHSAA's playoff seeding was corrected on 2/20/25 at 4:50 p.m.
