Month: December 2022

Nothing anything different?

Not just around the website, but around Hillsborough sports this winter?

Funny how that works. Winter is a season closely associated with the end, whether it’s the end of the calendar year or the final years of someone’s life. For this website, a new theme was recently required simply because the old one was no longer eligible to be updated. So I opted for something that is more of a magazine format that will showcase new faces, more teams and hopefully more schools. We’re also honored to showcase the cheerleaders for Cedar Ridge and Orange for the first time under our new tab and we look forward to continue that for years to come.

It’s also a new winter season and we’ve hit the ground running with basketball coverage. It’s our honor to do it. So far, we’ve broadcast 16 basketball game over the first three weeks of the year.

For the Orange men’s basketball team, it’s their best start since 2019-2020. It’s unlike any team that Coach Derryl Britt has ever had. Frankly, I’m not sure I can recall any team anywhere that got off to a 6-2 start while regularly playing seven players in their first year at the varsity level–three of them starters.

The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team won three games in November under new head coach Mike Jones, who has had to learn under pressing circumstances. A former assistant at East Chapel Hill High, Jones wasn’t hired until three weeks before the season started. Fortunately, senior Colton Taylor has provided leadership to help a young team in a deep conference.

In wrestling, the Orange is looking to defend its Central Carolina Conference championship. It appears their main challenger will be Person. In the Jim King/Orange Invitational last week, the Panthers finished fifth. Cary, which has won the JKO more than any other team since its start in 1980, returned to the top this year with 183 points.

For this edition of the Magnificent 7, we’re going to focus on the first three weeks of the winter sports season. We’ll have another column later this week honoring last week’s recipients.

1. Coleman Cloer, FR., Orange men’s basketball: How can a start be any more impressive? As a freshman, Cloer led the Panthers in scoring in his first varsity game against East Chapel Hill. On November 29, Cloer hit two free throws with :7.2 remaining to propel Orange past Franklinton inside Red Rams Gymnasium.
2. Colton Taylor, SR., Cedar Ridge men’s basketball: Led the Red Wolves with 16 points in Chris Jones’ first win as the head coach of the Red Wolves against Durham School of the Arts on November 21. A week later, Taylor had another solid game as Cedar Ridge defeated East Chapel Hill, the place where Jones was an assistant under head coach Ray Hartsfield.
3. Kaden Tatro, JR., Cedar Ridge wrestling: Won the 182-pound championship at the Red Wolf Invitational on November 19. Tatro, who qualified for the 3A State Championships last season as a sophomore, won his opening 18 matches of the season, including 12 pins. He won against Orange and Chapel Hill during a quad match last week at Orange High.
4. Fernando Martinez, SR., Cedar Ridge wrestling: Won his 100th career match against Omar Rushing of Western Alamance. He became the fifth wrestler in school history to win 100 matches. Martinez, the defending 113-pound Mideast Regional champion, is off to a 15-3 start with eleven pins. He has already surpassed Ethan Knapp for 4th place on Cedar Ridge’s all-time wins list.
5. Xandrell Pennix, SOPH., Orange men’s basketball: As a sophomore with barely a year’s experience on the varsity team, Pennix has become Orange’s most established long-range shooter. Pennix scored 18 points in the win at Franklinton. He added 14 points in the season-opener against East Chapel Hill, 15 points vs. Franklinton.
6. Jada Reed, SR., Orange women’s basketball: Scored 12 points in the season-opening win over East Chapel Hill. Reed, who replaced Aaliyah Harris as the starting point guard, added a career-high 18 points against Franklinton on November 29. She also led Orange with eight points in a loss to Chapel Hill on November 22.
7. Acoya Isley, SR. Orange wrestling: Finished 2nd for the Orange wrestling team in the 195-pound championship of the JKO. Isley, who also qualified for the State Championships last year, is off to a 9-1 start with eight pins. He opened the year with wins over Southern Durham, Enloe and Eastern Alamance as the Panthers are undefeated in dual meets to begin the year.

CARRBORO–It didn’t take the Orange men’s basketball team long to equal win numbers from a year ago.

Orange, starting four players in their first varsity season, hit a season-high 12 3-pointers to defeat Carrboro 76-46 at Jaguars Gymasnium on Tuesday night. Freshman Coleman Cloer paced the Panthers with 20 points, while sophomore Xandrell Pinnix added 12.

The victory was Orange’s third road victory of the year. Last year, the Panthers won three road games all season.

Truman Terry led the Jaguars (0-4) with eight points.

Orange hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter to push its lead to 11-2 in the first quarter and largely cruised from there. With Orange coach Derryl Britt utilizing a full-court press, the Panthers got a three-pointer from Cloer, followed by another from Pinnix. Cloer had eleven points in the opening quarter.

Another freshman, Kai Wade, finished with eight points. In the waning moments of the third quarter, Wade took a rebound from Thomas Loch and threw in a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Orange (5-2) has opened the season with four road games in seven contests. After starting the year with a victory over East Chapel Hill at home, the Panthers got a one-point win at Franklinton when Cloer hit two free throws with :7.2 seconds remaining. Three days later, Orange held off Riverside 59-56 at Chambers Court, Orange’s first win over the Pirates since 2013.

Most nights, Britt starts at least four players playing their first season at the varsity level. Cloer and Wade are freshmen. Junior Ryan Honeycutt played baseball last spring before earning a spot on the basketball team because his 6-foot-6 frame was too much for Britt to ignore. Honeycutt had ten points against Carrboro.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: ORANGE 41, CARRBORO 36

A huge shot from sophomore Addie Atkins propelled the Orange women’s team past Carrboro at Jaguars Gymnasium in the opening game of the doubleheader. It was the Lady Panthers’ second straight road win.

With Carrboro leading 34-32, Atkins took the ball after a held ball and calmly drilled a three-pointer with 3:19 remaining in regulation. Just moments earlier, Carrboro’s Yazmin Paisant put the Jaguars into the lead with a running one-hander. It was the Jaguars’ first advantage since the early moments of the game.

It was Atkins’ only field goal of the night, but Orange finished the game on a 9-2 run. Moments later, Nikayla Whitted scored on a drive to vault Orange ahead 37-34.

Whitted had a career-high 14 points, the only Orange player in double figures. Senior center Erin Jordan-Cornell finished with seven points to help the Lady Panthers (3-3).

Carrboro (1-3) was led by Briana Campbell, who finished with 12 points.

Jordan-Cornell picked up two fouls in the first quarter, depriving the Lady Panthers of its main low-post presence for most of the first half. Whitted made up for it with ten points in the first half, including two 3-pointers in the opening quarter.

Jordan-Cornell scored all seven of her points in the third quarter. Senior Addie Reid finished with six points.

The Lady Panthers were coming off a 46-8 victory over Riverside at Chambers Court on Friday night. The Lady Panthers held the Pirates to only one field goal in the final 20 minutes.

Whitted had eleven points for Orange. Reed added eight points while Jordan-Cornell scored seven.

Orange will have one final nonconfernce game before its Central Carolina Conference opener next week. The Lady Panthers will host the Durham School of the Arts on Friday night at Panther Gymnasium at 6PM. Orange will have three CCC games next week, starting with a road trip to Western Alamance on Tuesday night at 5:30. Orange will host Northwood, the defending 3A State Champions, next Wednesday night. They will travel to Walter Williams on December 16.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is freshman Victoria Matthews. This season, Victoria shot the lowest average for the Cedar Ridge women’s golf team, coached by Chris Casey. This season, she opened with a 67 during a Central Carolina Conference meet at Occoneechee Golf Course in Hillsborough, which is her favorite place to play. Matthews is an all-around athlete who has softball as her main sport. She will begin her first season with the Cedar Ridge softball team in February. Victoria averaged a 70 throughout the Central Carolina Conference season. Victoria, Alice Ann Koehler and Emily Worthy helped re-establish the Cedar Ridge women’s golf team this fall after there was no team last year. Matthews also has plans to play other sports as she continues her stint at Cedar Ridge. 

For two schools separated by 13 miles, one would think that an Orange win over Riverside in men’s basketball would be more common. To the contrary, the Panthers hadn’t beaten the Pirates since 2013 going into Friday night. Orange stretched out to a 13-point lead and held on to beat the Pirates 59-56 at Chambers Court in Durham. Once again, Orange’s younger players led the way. This time it was freshman Kai Wade who had a career-high 19 points, including several crucial steals during the second half. Orange opened the game without a field goal in the first five minutes, but Wade kept the Panthers in the game by scoring seven of Orange’s eight points in the first quarter. Kaleb Barnhardt came away with several crucial steals and handled the ball in the fourth quarter against Riverside’s full-court pressure that they used to try to tie the game. In a strange final sequence, Orange’s Coleman Cloer threw the ball up the floor with :1.8 seconds remaining. The ball bounced off the floor and to the backboard, where Barnhardt raced over and dribbled out the final seconds. It was the first win for Orange at Riverside in recorded history. The Panthers won despite playing its third game in four days. During a four-game stretch last week, Orange went 3-1 with wins at Franklinton and Riverside. They will travel to Carrboro on Tuesday. 

Through many twists and turns, Carson Bradsher has never lost sight of her goal to play college softball. There are no backward steps in life, something that Bradsher has learned throughout a process that has been challenging. Last month, in a ceremony inside Orange High Library, Bradsher formally signed with South Carolina Upstate in Sparanburg, South Carolina. Joining Carson for the ceremony was her father, Wayne, who retired just last week. Also there was her mother, Shannon, a member of Orange’s first fast-pitch softball team in the 1990s. Carson made All-Big 8 Conference in her sophomore season, a year that was limited to only eight conference games. During that year, she hit .700 and led the Lady Panthers in seven offensive categories. Orange won the Big 8 Conference championship with an undefeated mark. Bradsher’s freshman year was limited to only four games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carson’s summer travel coach, Rick Webster, was also on hand for the ceremony. She will join a USC-Upstate team that has been a member of the Big South Conference since 2018. Last year, the Spartans went 48-10 in 2022 and won the Big South Regular Season Championship.