Who wants three of four CCC girls basketball berths?

In the 2A Central Carolina Conference girls basketball race, it’s Ledford and then everybody else.

And we do mean everybody else.

Salisbury was sitting pretty going into Wednesday night’s game at West Stokes. The Hornets were in second place alone at 3-1 but their 43-36 to the Wildcats threw the league into pandemonium.

“We’ve really hurt ourselves,” said Salisbury coach Jennifer Shoaf. “Now, we’re jumbled way down at fourth or fifth with a bunch of other people.”

That’s true. Five teams fighting for the league’s second, third and fourth playoff spots. The top seed will surely go to Ledford. The Panthers are 15-0 overall, 5-0 in the CCC.

Salisbury, East Davidson, Lexington and West Stokes have two losses apiece. Central Davidson has three, but it’s also beaten Salisbury and West Stokes, so it’s very much in the mix. Only luckless West Iredell (three overtime losses) and North Rowan appear to be out of it.

Earlier this week, East Davidson ambushed Lexington, the team Salisbury hosts tonight. Central Davidson can help its cause by winning tonight at North.

For North’s boys, a loss to Central in Spencer would all but eliminate them from contention. The two-time defending league champs are already down four games to front-runners Lexington and West Stokes, who appear to have a pair of playoff spots locked up.

Salisbury’s boys, who have two CCC losses, are in much better shape than North, but retreat into a heavily congested pack if they can’t upset Lexington tonight.

In other doubleheaders, South Rowan is at Davie County, East Rowan visits West Rowan and North Iredell calls on A.L. Brown.

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If there’s a close game in Mount Ulla tonight it will probably come when the girls tangle. The East and West girls are practically even on paper, even though they have vastly different styles. Both have one league loss.

Northwest Cabarrus’ girls are good, but they’re already 0-4 in the 3A North Piedmont Conference, while Mooresville is also winless. Realistically, that leaves a five-team fight for three state playoff berths.

Statesville’s in the worst shape of the quintet, because of its home loss to North Iredell. North Iredell, A.L. Brown, East and West have protected their homecourts so far, including East’s huge win over A.L. Brown on Tuesday.

Former North Rowan coach Gary Atwell, who’s now an assistant at A.L. Brown, feels this league is so even that the conference champion might suffer three losses.

“If you win all six home games and split your road games, that’s 9-3, and that might just do it,” said Atwell.

If that theory’s going to hold, the Wonder girls (12-1, 3-1), fresh from a huge bounce-back win over Statesville, must slow down rampaging North Iredell (11-2, 4-0) in Bullock Gym.

“That’s going to one tough ballgame,” predicted Statesville coach Addie Hightower. “It’ll be head to head.”

The Wonder boys started hot, but have been just another team since 2002 arrived. They’re down to 2-2 in the league and face a must-win situation against the struggling Raiders, who feature 3-point shooters Daniel Harkey and Duran Scott.

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In the 4A Central Piedmont Conference, the always frenzied South-Davie boys rivalry shifts to Mocksville, where the War Eagles won in controversial fashion last season.

A lot is at stake. The CPC gets three state playoff spots, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that two of them are the property of West Forsyth and R.J. Reynolds. That means the team that loses this one is in dire straits.

South played its best game to beat the War Eagles 93-92 in a memorable double-overtime Christmas Tournament semifinal. It came down to a call with less than a second left. Davie’s called that loss a fluke ever since. Now it’s put-up or shut-up time.

Both teams are fighting ankle injuries to key players. Guard Andrew Morgan’s missed the last two games for the Raiders. Davie’s high-scoring Sean Stevens, injured in a win over South Iredell a week ago, played Tuesday against West Forsyth, but may not be 100 percent.

The girls game is huge, too. A road win by coach James Greene’s Raiders makes them clear-cut favorites to win the league, but Davie has an edge in the backcourt with Brittany Walker.

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Mike London contributed to this article.