In her sophomore year, Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell continues to collect postseason honors.
On Wednesday, Jordan-Cornell was named the District 6 Player of the Year by the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association. Joining Jordan-Cornell on the All-District 6 team was her teammate, junior guard Aaliyah Harris. Both Jordan-Cornell and Harris were named first-team All-Big 8 Conference on Monday.
In addition, Orange coach B.J. Condron was named District 6 Coach of the Year.
The All-District 6 first-team was comprised entirely of underclassmen. East Chapel Hill freshman center Laynie Smith, Bunn sophomore Kaitlyn Adams and Chapel Hill junior Laney Beale completed the first team.
District 6 covers nine counties across the north central part of the state: Orange, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Person, Rockingham, Vance, Warren and Caswell Counties.
Like most teams across the state, the Orange women’s team was directly impacted by the pandemic. Its top shooter, Mary Moss Wirt, missed the season after committing to play softball at Elon University. Condron gave regular minutes to sophomores Jada Reed, Makalya Alston and Nikayla Whitted. The Panthers wound up with a 6-4 record in a Big 8 Conference that included powerhouse Northwood, who went to the Final Four of the 3A State Tournament.
Condron will enter the 2021-2022 season with 91 career wins at Orange.
Jordan-Cornell’s ubiquitous presence could trigger the Panthers at any moment. She led the team in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Even when Orange’s offense was lethargic, such as the season finale against Southern Durham, Jordan-Cornell could find ways to come up big in the clutch. Her 3-point play against the Spartans, off an assist from junior forward Jarmil Wingate, in the final minute put Orange in the lead for the first time in the game and was enough to pull out a victory on the road.
“She does all the little things,” Condron said of Jordan-Cornell. “Not only does she perform on the court, but she is a good student teammate, and person.”
Even though she’s a 5-11 center, Jordan-Cornell was third on the team with assists.
“I think it starts with her unselfish attitude,” Condron said. “I don’t think she cares whether she scores or someone else does, as long as it gets done. She really bought into “passing up a good shot for a better shot” which is something we talked about a lot this year.”
Jordan-Cornell was also an All-Big 8 Conference performer in volleyball, where Orange upset defending 3A State Champion Chapel Hill in its season opener.
Without Wirt, Harris had a greater scoring load on her shoulders. In her third year playing varsity, she was second on the team with 10.6 points per game. She had a season-high 16 points against Southern Durham on January 22, which was Orange’s first win of the season.
“Cool that Aaliyah made first team also,” Condron said. “She works really hard on her game and showed a lot of improvement from last season.”
Orange had only one senior on the team, Jala Rainey. Jordan-Cornell, Harris, Wingate, guard Samantha George and Jada Reed are all starters expected to return in November in a brand new conference that will include powers like Eastern Alamance, Person and the aforementioned Northwood Chargers.
Orange’s 5-game winning streak set up a game against Chapel Hill on February 15 where the winner would make the state playoffs. The Tigers captured the game and lost to eventual 3A Eastern Regional Champion Asheboro in the opening round.