Rivalry games aren’t supposed to make sense.
On Friday night, the Orange girls basketball team rolled into Cedar Ridge winless for 2018. They had lost six consecutive conference games, including a 46-39 decision to the Red Wolves on December 19th at Orange. The Panthers were 72 hours removed from a 49-27 loss to Hillside.
On the other hand, Cedar Ridge had five of its last six. On Wednesday night, they handed Southern Durham its first Big 8 loss of the season, rallying from a seven-point deficit with 5:12 remaining to beat the Spartans 49-43.
Leading 16-14 at the half, it appeared Cedar Ridge was set to pull away in the opening minutes of the second half. Center Grace Davies opened the third quarter with a three-point play, followed by a three-pointer from Madison Wardlow to push its lead to 22-14.
And as quickly as that lead came, it disappeared.
The Lady Panthers held the Red Wolves to nine points in the final 13 minutes, including only three field goals. Icez Barnett and Lauren Cates took over the offensive load for Orange, combining for 13 points in the second half as Orange (6-12, 2-6) upset the Red Wolves 39-31 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.
Barnett paced Orange with 13 points, while Cates finished with ten. Logan Woody led Cedar Ridge with nine points. But the most impressive job came from the Orange defense, who held Cedar Ridge center Yolanda Simpson to three points. Simpson came into the game with consecutive double-doubles earlier in the week against Chapel Hill (16 points and 12 rebounds) and Southern Durham (13 points and eleven rebounds).
Simpson’s only points came on three free throws in the fourth quarter. Barnett took a pass from Grace Dively and scored on a lay-in while drawing a foul to tie the game at 27 with 4:32 remaining. Orange got the ball on a held ball, leading to Cates giving Orange the lead for good with a three-pointer from the wing. After Cedar Ridge committed consecutive turnovers, Barnett scored on a three-point play to extend the Lady Panther lead to 32-26 with 2:40 left.
Cedar Ridge’s only field goal in the final five minutes came from Woody, who scored in the final minute after Orange had opened up a seven-point lead.
Dively had the hot hand for the Panthers in the first quarter, scoring six points. Woody struck back for Cedar Ridge with seven points in the first half, including five in the second quarter.
While Orange reveled in the upset, it greatly hampered the Red Wolves chances of catching Southern and Hillside for first place in the Big 8. After its upset of Southern on Wednesday, the Red Wolves were just one game back of first place.
Cedar Ridge (11-7, 5-3) travels to Northern Durham on Tuesday. Orange heads to Northwood Tuesday night at 6.
ORANGE 39, CEDAR RIDGE 31
ORANGE: Grace Dively 7, Icez Barnett 13, Lauren Cates 10, Janea Myers 4, Grace Andrews 3, Nashyra Wilkins 2.
CEDAR RIDGE: Grace Davies 5, Yolanda Simpson 3, Taylin Jean 2, Madison Wardlow 8, Logan Woody 9, Natalia Garay 4.