Top seeds advanced from the first round of the 3A Big Eight conference tournament Wednesday night on their home courts whittling the field down to four boys’ and four girls’ teams.

The undefeated Chapel Hill girls limited county-foe Orange to just a single point in each of the first two quarters. The Panthers scored eight in the third and eight in the fourth, but the outcome of the 69-18 decision was never in question. The Tigers host the Southern Spartans Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Southern knocked Northwood out of the postseason.

The Cardinal Gibbons girls cruised to a 71-17 victory against Northern Vance. The Crusaders face either Cedar Ridge or Webb in round two Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. in Raleigh.

The Chapel Hill boys held off Northwood 53-49 to advance to round two where the Tigers face the Southern Spartans Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Freshman sensation David Caraher blocked a shot by a Charger with just seconds remaining that kept the game from going to overtime and set up a double header between Chapel Hill and Southern. The Spartans took down the Webb Warriors 72-66.

The No. 1 seeded Orange Panther boys advanced with a 73-65 win against Northern Vance Wednesday. Senior J.D. Brooks led the Panthers with a double-double, 22 points and 12 rebounds. Cardinal Gibbons travels to Hillsborough Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff to see which team advances to the championship game. The Crusaders took down the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves, 64-48.

Friday night’s championship games, hosted by Chapel Hill High School, will be broadcast on WCHL and here beginning at 5:00 p.m. with tipoffs at 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.