Cape Fear Christian Academy swept visiting Berean Baptist Academy in varsity basketball Friday to advance to both the girls and boys championship games of the 2018 CFCA Senior Classic on Saturday.

In the girls game, the Eagles (2-1) pulled away late to win a 49-37 battle against the Bulldogs.

“I think the most important thing is they’re starting to jell,” said CFCA girls’ coach Bobby Lamb. “Leah Brannon, Kristin (Bass) and LiLi (Talisha) McNeil, they’re starting to play as a team. The defense won the game in the second half. That was a great team we played tonight and we were blessed to come out with a win.”

Brannon led all scorers with 21 points.

Anslee McLamb had nine points. Kristin Bass had eight points. Talisha McNeill had six points. Meredith Taylor and Aubree Bass had two points apiece. Meghan Taylor had one point.

Grace Hall paced Berean, with 18 points.

“We had to throw a junk defense at (Hall), because she was a very talented player,” Lamb said. “That’s our key this year is to play defense and the offense will come.”

The game was a back-and-forth battle, but the Eagles held a lead at the end of every quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 16-14 in the first, 7-5 in the second, 10-8 in the third and 16-10 in the fourth.

Cape Fear Christian will face Southern Wake Academy in the girls championship, slated for a 1 p.m. start today. Southern Wake defeated Crossroads Christian 52-28 in the first game of the tournament Friday.

“Southern Wake has a great team,” Lamb said. “Great shooters. They’re well-rounded and have a great coach. When they throw the ball up, we’ve just got to be ready to play.”

The boys game was competitive early, but the Eagles (3-1) pulled away with a second quarter surge to take a 79-33 rout over the Bulldogs (0-4).

“So far this year we’ve been a pretty good third quarter team,” said CFCA boys’ coach J.D. Johnson. “I think we came out and did that again tonight. I don’t know. For some reason I think we’re a little bit nervous in first quarters and not really sticking to our assignments and kind of getting lost out there. I think we refocused at halftime, came out in the third and pretty much dominated that third quarter.”

E.J. Bethea had 21 points, Riley Adams had 12 and Ramiro Arrillaga had 11 to lead CFCA.

Mike Okoye and Parker Watson had eight points apiece. Lucas Capalbo and Eli O’Brien had six points apiece. Greg Moneymaker had three points. Marcus Owens and Richard Edwards had two points apiece.

Johnson was pleased with the Eagles’ passing and unselfish play.

“It’s great to see,” Johnson said. “We’ve got great kids, high-character kids. They’re very unselfish. We work at that stuff all the time and they’re very willing to do it. They’re willing to set each other up and they know the next guy’s going to do that for them. When we play that way, we can look pretty good at times, so it’s working out well.”

Brian Thompson had 14 points and Aaron Sinclair had 13 to lead Berean.

Holding a 23-19 lead in the second quarter, the Eagles went on a 15-4 run to end the quarter and led by double digits the rest of the way.

CFCA outscored Berean 15-12 in the first quarter, 23-11 in the second, 27-3 in the third and 14-7 in the fourth.

Cape Fear Christian will meet Crossroads Christian in the boys championship, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Crossroads beat Southern Wake Academy 86-44 in the first round Friday.

“We’ve got to come out ready to play early,” Johnson said. “They have a very good team. They’re very well-coached. They’re going to throw a lot of different looks at us. We’ve got to be prepared. We’ve got to take care of the ball. We’ve got to execute. If we do that, I think we should be all right.”