Month: February 2019

The fields for the Big 8 men’s and women’s basketball tournament have been finalized. Of the four teams from Hillsborough, the Orange women’s basketball team will be the only squad hosting a game when the tournament begins.

The Lady Panthers will open with East Chapel Hill on Monday night at 6 PM inside Panther Gymnasium in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, hours after finishing its season against Southern Durham in a heartbreaking loss on Senior night, Cedar Ridge will turn right back around and face the Spartans on Monday afternoon at 5:30 at Spartan Gymnasium.

In the men’s tournament, Orange will travel to Southern Durham on Monday night at 7. Also on Monday, Cedar Ridge faces Big 8 regular season champion Hillside at 7.

The Orange women’s team completed a 19-5 regular season with a 71-26 trouncing of Northern Durham on Friday night at Panther Gymnasium. Senior Icez Barnett, despite barely playing more than 12 minutes, finished with 22 points in her final regular season home game. Lauren Cates added 14. Overall, 12 Lady Panthers scored.

Orange defeated East Chapel Hill twice during the regular season, but both contests were tight. In the first matchup on January 4, the Wildcats led at the half 17-12. After being held to 21 points through the first three quarters, the Lady Panthers scored 19 in the fourth quarter to prevail 40-33. Cates led Orange with 18 points.

In Hillsborough, Orange won 45-39. Cates finished with 17 points while Barnett added eleven.

The Cedar Ridge women’s team led for the majority of its game against Southern Durham on Friday night, but the Spartans came out on top 56-51. The Red Wolves led by as many as 12.

It was a tough ending for Cedar Ridge senior Madison Wardlow, widely regarding as the greatest women’s player in school history. Wardlow finished with 28 points, becoming the first Cedar Ridge player with 1,000 points in her career. Tori Dalehite added eleven. It was also the final home game for Cedar Ridge seniors Natalia Garay and Amy Stutzer.

Southern won the first matchup 58-28 on January 30 at Spartan Gymnasium.

The Cedar Ridge women’s team is the only team in Hillsborough that has been to the state playoffs in back-to-back years. In order to reach the postseason for the third straight season, Cedar Ridge will likely have to win the tournament.

If Orange wins in the opening round, they will host the semifinals on Wednesday.

Next week’s game at Southern Durham will be the second time in six days that the Orange men’s team has traveled to face the Spartans. On Tuesday night, Southern romped past the Panthers 95-55. On Friday night, Orange shot out to a 20-9, but Northern quickly erased that deficit and went on to an easy 75-60 victory in Hillsborough.

Both the women’s and men’s championship games are slated for Friday night at Hillside High School in Durham. Hillside, which will move up to 4A at the conclusion of the season, claimed both the men’s and women’s regular season championships.

Big 8 Conference Men’s Tournament:

#1 Hillside

#8 Cedar Ridge

#4 Chapel Hill

#5 Northern Durham

#3 Northwood

#6 East Chapel Hill

#2 Southern Durham

#7 Orange

Women’s Tournament:

#1 Hillside

#8 Northern Durham

#4 Chapel Hill

#5 Northwood

#3 Southern Durham

#6 Cedar Ridge

#2 Orange

#7 East Chapel Hill

Orange senior Levi Anderson is one win away from becoming the 25th wrestler in school history to win a state championship.

On Friday, Anderson won both of his matches to advance to the championship of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Championships in the 145-pound division at the Greensboro Coliseum. Anderson started the day by pinning Yoel Del Rio of North Brunswick in 1:32 to advance to the semifinals. On Friday night, Anderson scored his sixth pinfall victory in the last two weekend, putting West Carteret’s Devin Bumgartner’s shoulders to the mat in 2:24. Bumgartner was the first person in the tournament to extend Anderson beyond the first period.

Anderson, now 49-3, will face Spencer Leonhardt of Morganton Freedom on Saturday afternoon for the 3A Championship at 145 pounds. It will be Anderson’s 146th match in a career that spans back to his freshman season in 2015-16. Anderson has a career record of 122-23. He claimed the 3A Mideast Regional Championship at Southeastern Guilford High School in Greensboro last weekend.

Sadly, the career of Cedar Ridge senior Darius McLeod ended on Friday. In the 132-pound state quarterfinals, McLeod lost to Heath Gonver of Northern Guilford 8-3. In the consolation round, Dayvion Downs of Kings Mountain scored an escape point to defeat McLeod 1-0. McLeod ends his wrestling career with 98 wins. He concludes his senior season with a record of 34-12. McLeod competed five days after suffering a cut to his bottom lip that required ten stitches to his bottom lip in the regional semifinals last Saturday. McLeod finished the match and won it, qualifying for the state championships.

After defeating Midwest Regional Champion Sam Voncannon of Asheboro in a major decision on Thursday, Orange senior Avery Jenkins lost a 2-1 decision to West Caldwell’s Easton Griffin in the quarterfinals at 170 pounds on Friday morning. In the consolation rounds, Jenkins defeated West Carteret’s Jake Reynolds in a sudden victory decision. Jenkins took down Reynolds, who was the Eastern Regional Championship last weekend, in the fourth overtime period to advance 4-2. On Saturday morning, Jenkins will wrestle Kurt Hayes of Charlotte Catholic. The winner advances to the consolation semifinals against Charles White of Morehead, who Jenkins defeated two weeks ago in the 1st round of the State Dual Playoffs in overtime. Jenkins now has a 40-10 this season and has a career record of 117-39.

At 120 pounds, Orange senior Gavin Wiggins lost in the state quarterfinals to Bailey Wicker of Piedmont via pinfall in 5:55. In the consolation rounds, Nathan Bray of Topsail defeated Wiggins 7-1. Wiggins concludes the season 24-9. He ends his Orange career with a record of 125-41, including a 42-11 record his sophomore season.

Also on Friday, Tanner Glock of Sun Valley defeated Orange sophomore Kessel Summers 10-9 in the 113-pound consolation round. Summers ends the season 37-14.

At 182 pounds, Orange’s Chandler Harward ended his career with a loss to Jack Wilton. Harward concludes the season 29-12, but was vital in getting Orange the victory in the Jim King/Orange Invitational in December. He agreed to wrestle two weight classes higher than his usual weight, leading Orange to 12 team points and winning the tournament.

The cliche “wrestle like it’s your last match” isn’t a cliche for several Orange and Cedar Ridge wrestlers this weekend.

For most of them, these are their final days as a wrestler. For several seniors, their goal of winning a state championship is still intact after the first day of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.

On Thursday night, Orange senior Levi Anderson pinned Kristian Jones of Greensboro Dudley in 32 seconds to advance to the state quarterfinals at 145 pounds. It was another match where Anderson didn’t go the distance. Last weekend, Anderson won the 3A Mideast Regional Championship by winning four matches. Three of the victories were by pinfall and the other was by injury default. On Friday, Anderson faces sophomore Yoel Del Rio of North Brunswick in the quarterfinals. Del Rio, the #2 seed from the East Region, is a sophomore who defeated Stephen Baynard of West Henderson 7-1 on Thursday.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals is Cedar Ridge’s Darius McLeod, who claimed his 98th career victory on Thursday night. McLeod, in a thriller, won a sudden victory over Zach Winterstein of Clayton 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 132 pound division. McLeod battled through three overtimes with Winterstein without a winner being declared. McLeod scored the takedown in the fourth period to advance. On Friday, he will face Heath Gonyer of Northern Guilford. McLeod is now 34-10 on the season.

Orange’s Avery Jenkins won convincingly in his opening match of the 170 pound tournament. Jenkins defeated Midwest Regional Champion Sam Voncannon 11-2, earning a major decision to advance to the state quarterfinals. Voncannon came into the match 49-3. On Friday, Jenkins will face Easton Griffin of West Caldwell. Two of the four regional champions in the 170 pound bracket lost in the opening round.

Orange senior Gavin Wiggins won his opening round match, as well. Wiggins defeated Jacob Yim of Marvin Ridge 8-5 to move on to the state quarterfinals. On Friday, Wiggins will take on a familiar face in Piedmont’s Bailey Wicker. Last year, Wiggins faced Wicker when Orange faced Piedmont in the 3A Dual Team State Championship match.

Two other Orange wrestlers lost in their opening round matches on Thursday. At 113 pounds, Orange’s Kessell Summers dropped an 11-9 decision to West Carteret’s Sam Johnson. Summers will start action in the consolation round on Friday against Tanner Glock of Sun Valley.

At 182 pounds, Chandler Harward lost to North Brunswick’s Bryan Arago 13-1. Harward, a senior who didn’t break into the starting lineup until this season, faces Jack Wilton of Sun Valley in the consolation round on Friday.

On February 6th, Orange guard Lauren Cates became the first Lady Panther since 2011 to score 1,000 points in her career. Cates scored 19 points as Orange defeated Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. On Friday night, Cates will play her final regular season home game against Northern Durham. Before the contest, she will be honored by Bria Berry Holly, the last Orange player to score 1,000 points. Orange will also be searching for its 19th win of the season. On Tuesday night, the Lady Panthers sewed up 2nd place in the Big 8 Conference by defeating Southern Durham. Orange also guaranteed themselves a spot in the 3A state playoffs. The Lady Panthers will start play in the Big 8 Conference tournament at home against East Chapel Hill on Monday night. Tipoff will be at 6.

It will be a special night for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team on Friday night. It will be the final home game for the greatest Cedar Ridge women’s player in history: Madison Wardlow. Currently, Wardlow has 973 career points, the most in school history. Wardlow is on the verge of becoming the first Cedar Ridge player to score 1,000 points. It will also be the final home game for Natalia Garay, who has been a starter since her sophomore year. Garay helped Cedar Ridge make the state playoffs the past two years. In 2017, Cedar Ridge reached the 2nd round of the state playoffs. Amy Stutzer, a three-sport star at Cedar Ridge who also plays softball and golf, will also be honored on senior night as the Red Wolves face Southern Durham. The women’s game starts at 6, while the men’s game will follow immediately afterwards.

The Orange men’s basketball team will face Northern Durham on Friday night for senior night. However, Orange doesn’t have any seniors on its roster. They have juniors like Machai Holt, Mekai Collins and Joey Mcmullin. Last week, Orange had a dramatic double overtime victory over Chapel Hill in a game where the Panthers suited up only ten players. On Friday, Orange will look for its 11th win of the season. They will also look to avenge a loss to Northern Durham on February 6th in overtime at Poe Gymtorium. Orange will likely travel to Southern Durham for the opening round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament on Monday night. This interview was conducted after Orange’s victory over East Chapel Hill on January 29.