Month: January 2023

Elijah Acosta has preserved through a senior season where he batted illness and injury to win a conference championship. Last Saturday in the 220-pound championship mach of the Central Carolina Conference tournament, Acosta wrestled Northwood’s Jake Dunning for the sixth time in two years. Acosta’s grip proved to be a strong one as he defeated Dunning 3-0 to take the title, his first individual championship this year. Acosta got an escape point in the second period. Late in the frame, Acosta made a rush at Dunning and scored a takedown with three seconds remaining. Dunning couldn’t get an escape point in the third period. Last year, Acosta qualified for the 3A State Championships and finished 3rd in the Mideast Regionals. This Saturday, Acosta and the rest of the Panthers will start action in the 3A State Dual Tournament. The 32-team field for the tournament will be released Thursday. Orange was the Central Carolina Conference regular season champion and will be the #1 seed in the 3A State Dual Tournament from the CCC.

Orange’s Elijah Acosta discusses winning the Central Carolina Conference 220-pound championship

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Only a sophomore, Cedar Ridge wrestler Pierce Prescod won a conference championship over the weekend. At the Central Carolina Conference championships at Orange High, Prescod pinned Taveon Moss of Person in 1:08 to take the 120-pound championship. In the semifinals, Prescod pinned Logan Church of Walter Williams. This season, Prescod is 42-9 with 29 pins. On January 14, Prescod took the 120-pound championship at the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High School. Prescod has 2nd on Cedar Ridge this season in victories. His performance helped Cedar Ridge win the Central Carolina Conference Tournament last weekend at Orange High. It was the first team championship for Cedar Ridge in wrestling as a 3A team. Prescod and the rest of the Red Wolves will return to action at the 3A Mideast Regionals, which will be hosted by Cedar Ridge High School starting February 10. Prescod, Kaden and Fernando Martinez all won conference championships for the Red Wolves last weekend.

Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod discusses winning the CCC 120-pound championship

Only a sophomore, Cedar Ridge wrestler Pierce Prescod won a conference championship over the weekend. At the Central Carolina Conference championships at Orange High, Prescod pinned Taveon Moss of Person in 1:08 to take the 120-pound championship. In the semifinals, Prescod pinned Logan Church of Walter Williams. This season, Prescod is 42-9 with 29 pins.

A day of redemption and rematches led to the greatest success as a 3A team for the Cedar Ridge wrestling team.

Inside the home of its crosstown rival that’s won title after title for decades, the Red Wolves captured its own championship on Saturday. Behind individual titles from senior Fernando Martinez, junior Kaden Tatro and sophomore Pierce Prescod, Cedar Ridge won the Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship at Orange High School. The Red Wolves finished with 185.5 points. Person came in second with 177 points

Orange, the regular season champions of the CCC, was hampered by the absence of six starters, including Acoya Isley, Dillon Heffernan and Hugo Vazquez. The Panthers finished fourth with 138 points.

Cedar Ridge coach Scott Metcalf, a graduate of Orange High School, led the Red Wolves to its second tournament championship in as many weeks. The previous Saturday, Cedar Ridge won the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High in Durham.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Metcalf said after the Red Wolves were awarded the team trophy. “We lost to Orange and Person in the regular season so coming back and winning here in the end means a lot. It’s special for our guys to finish strong like this.”

It was an extra special day for Martinez, who won the 113-pound championship. Martinez defeated the top-seed, Person’s Christian Lemaire, 13-2 in the title match. It was the third match this season between Martinez and Lemaire. In the Red Wolf Invitational on November 19 at Cedar Ridge, Lemaire defeated Martinez 7-5 in the championship match at 120 pounds. Three days later in a dual match between Person and Cedar Ridge, Lemaire defeated Martinez 9-0.

It was a blow to Martinez’s confidence after he won the 113-pound Mideast Regional championship last February.

“Honestly, I was expecting to get beat down a bit,” Martinez said. “I didn’t have much faith in myself in the beginning.”

Before his championship rematch against Lemaire, Martinez talked with an old coach who was in the stands that filled him with confidence.

“I knew I could perform way better than what I did originally,” Martinez said. “So I just blew it out of the water today. He told me I knew about my own abilities. I should embrace that. I am good, it just took me forever to acknowledge the fact that I am good.”

Martinez scored a takedown off a fireman’s carry just 31 seconds into the match. Lemaire could only muster an escape point in the opening period. Martinez avoided a single-leg takedown and put all his weight forward to start the second period to earn back points off a near fall and went ahead 4-1. He notched another takedown to take a 6-1 lead.

Martinez is 40-9 on the season.

Tatro rolled to his third individual championship this season at 182 pounds. Facing Ethan Kuball of Northwood in the championship, Tatro won 8-3 to improve to 49-4 on the year. In the semifinals, Tatro pinned Jordan McDowell of Walter Williams in 2:14.

In the championship match, Tatro immediately notched a takedown, then grabbed Kuball’s left leg and got two points for a near fall. In the second period, Tatro started from the bottom and immediately gained a sweep with 1:22 remaining. Tatro led 6-0 going into the third period.

Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod claimed his second individual title after winning the 120-pound championship. Taking on Person’s Taveon Moss, Prescod got a trip takedown 39 seconds into the match. Prescod got Moss onto his back and wrapped up the pin at 1:07 for his 42nd win of the season.

On a day filled with rematches, Orange’s Elijah Acosta continue his rivalry with Northwood’s Jake Dunning in the 220-pound championship match. Facing each other for the sixth time in the last two years, Acosta avenged a loss from January 4th with a 3-0 victory. Acosta, who is 24-5 on the season, scored the opening point on a escape 45 seconds into the second period. Late in the frame. Acosta shot in and bullied Dunning down for a late takedown to increase his lead to 3-0.

Dunning spent the third period futilely trying to break Acosta’s grip for an escape point.

On January 4, Dunning defeated Acosta 5-1 in a dual match, also at Orange Gymnasium.

At 152 pounds, Orange’s Sam Crawford defeated Western Alamance’s Mason Hogsed 7-5 in what may have been the most dramatic championship final of the day. Crawford charged out to a 5-1 lead after he gained Hogsed’s back for the opening takedown with 1:05 remaining in the first period. Crawford escaped from the bottom to go ahead 3-0 in the second period. Hogsed got an immediate sweep from the bottom to reduce the deficit to 5-3. Crawford escaped, but Hogsed got a single-leg takedown. After Crawford scurried free to go up 7-5, Hogsed charged and nearly had a takedown as the match ended. Hogsed appealed to the referee for a takedown after the final buzzer sounded, but no points were awarded and Crawford got his hand raised to improve to 31-9.

Orange junior Jared Hutchins won the 132 pound championship. Hutchins pinned Coltrane Northington of Northwood in 1:12. It took Hutchins only five seconds to get the opening takedown. Northington nearly got a headlock for a reversal, but Hutchins used his strength to get Northington on his back and score the pin at 1:11.

At 126 pounds, Orange sophomore Braden Crawford defeated Walter Williams Zy’Aire Priester for the title. Crawford led 5-2 at the end of the first period. Priester was a penalized a point after he grabbed Crawford’s trunks. Priester gained Crawford’s back and got both of his legs in midway through the period, but Crawford scored a sweep and earned the pin at 2:55.

Cedar Ridge had four other grapplers finish in second place. At 145 pounds, sophomore Ryan Rakouskas pinned Orange’s Aiden Cain in 42 seconds to reach the final. Northwood’s Ronald Walker claimed the championship with a pin at 2:18 of the championship match.

At 160 pounds, Cedar Ridge sophomore Edwin Huerta defeated Northwood’s Elijah Farrow 7-5 in the semifinals. Easton McCain of Person won the championship via pinfall in 4:00.

Cedar Ridge junior James Este Wittinger pinned Walter Williams Cameron Pettigrew in 3:00 of the 195-pound semifinals. Victor Rodriguez of Person won the 195-pound title.

At heavyweight, Cedar Ridge’s Conner Womble reached the championship match after he pinned Orange’s Jacob Carter in 1:31.

Orange’s Ben Musser finished 2nd at 138 pounds. Person’s Rodney Lyons claimed the 138-pound title via a 5-3 decision.

There’s a long checklist of goals for several Orange swimmers as the postseason meets get underway this week.

Junior Katie Belle Sikes managed to check another off in her unrivaled Orange career in the Lady Panthers’ final dual meet of the regular season at the Orange County Sportsplex last Thursday night. Sikes became the first Orange female swimmer to qualify for all eight individual events for the Central Regional championships. In a dual meet against Cedar Ridge and Walter Williams, Sikes won the 200 yard freestyle. She touched the wall at 1:56.81.

Sikes, who recently committed to swim at the University of Georgia, can swim in only two individual events in regionals, which will be held February 3 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Sikes has already claimed two regional championships and a state championship in the 50-yard freestyle in her career.

The Orange women defeated Cedar Ridge 99-66 and also defeated Walter Williams 110-24. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Walter Williams 110-26.

The men’s swimming meet was headlined by Cedar RIdge junior Nikhil Agans setting the school record in the 100 yard backstroke. Agains punched his ticket to Greensboro by winning the event at 59.25, over three seconds ahead of the previous record which had stood for three years. Earlier in the night, Agans qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing first with a time of 51.17 seconds.

Orange senior Even Phillips qualified for regionals in two more events. Phillips won the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:05.07, finishing ahead of teammate Nick Baczara. Phillips also won the 200 yard individual medley at 2:11.18. Baczara also qualified for regionals in the individual medley with a time of 2:18.67, good enough for second place on the night.

Earlier this season, Phillips qualified for regionals in the 50 yard freestyle, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard backstroke.

Orange Sophomore Luke Roman finished the regular season with a victory in the 100 yard butterfly at 58.51 seconds. Roman also won the 50 yard freestyle with 24.28, just shy of automatically qualifying for regionals. He has already qualified for regionals in the 500 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 200 yard individual medley, the 100 yard butterfly, and the 200 yard freestyle.

Orange’s Alex Andre won the 200 yard freestyle at 1:57.51. Andre has qualified for regionals in four other events.

Andrew Weeks automatically qualified for the 100 yard backstroke at 1:02.24, finishing second to Agans. Weeks has also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard individual medley.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Roman, Andre, Phillips and Weeks won at 1:40.11. They’re also set for regionals.

In the women’s meet, Cedar Ridge sophomore Quinn McCrimmon won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:54.00. Orange freshman Piper White finished second and also automatically qualified for regionals at 5:57.47.

Piper White also qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle. White, a freshman, finished first at 58.68 seconds.

Orange junior Riley White earned a spot in regionals by winning the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:22.00. Cedar Ridge sophomore Sophia Stinnett finished second at 2:28.75. while McCrimmon finished 3rd. Both Stinnett and McCrimmon automatically qualified for regionals.

Riley White has qualified for regionals in the 100 yard butterfly, 100 yard freestyle, 500 yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke. Piper White has qualified for the 200 yard freestyle, the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke.

Stinnett, who was All-Central Carolina Conference last year as a freshman, captured the 50-yard freestyle at 26.64 seconds.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sikes, Riley White, Piper White, and Ainsley Rasinske won the 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:51.35. Cedar Ridge’s team of Stinnett, McCrimmon, Abbygale Pearce and Hala Zafar finished second and punched its ticket to Greensboro at 1:58.22.

The Central Carolina Swimming Championships will be held at the Orange County Sportsplex on Wednesday night at 6:30. Orange is the defending conference champions in men’s swimming.

If Friday night had a 90s retro theme inside Orange High Gymnasium, an apt musical selection would have been songs from Boys II Men.

On December 20, the Orange men’s basketball team pulled away from Southern Alamance and won 80-63. By the time the Panthers returned home on Friday night, a month had passed.

Through heartbreak and narrow victories, the Panthers have grown up a lot. And the proof was in living color on Friday night.

The Panthers tore through Western Alamance 84-36 to start the second half of the Central Carolina Conference slate. Orange stomped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 1:34 and led by double-figures nearly for the balance of the game.

In Elon, the Panthers gradually pulled away from the Warriors to win 57-45, but it was still a contest the entire 32 minutes. On Friday in Hillsborough, it was a first-round knockout as opposed to an unanimous decision with the 1-2 punch of freshman Coleman Cloer and sophomore Xandrell Pennix landing the haymakers.

Cloer drained a three-pointer on Orange’s opening possession, followed by a jumper from Kai Wade. Pennix sank a three-pointer from 21-feet after an illegal screen call against the Warriors and the rout was on.

Cloer, a freshman who has scored in double-figures in 18 of Orange’s 19 games, led all scorers with 19 points. Pennix finished with 15.

Orange had a season-high 16 3-pointers. It was the most points scored in a conference game for Orange since Derryl Britt became the head coach in 2018. It was Orange’s most lopsided conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill 82-32 on December 17, 2019. Among the highlights was Cloer draining a 35-footer, with a defender right in front of him, from the midcoast logo along with Thomas Loch sinking a 3-pointer from the corner as the first quarter expired.

Kris Barnwell led the Warriors with 15 points. He was the only Western Alamance player in double figures.

Orange started this season with an abundance of youth and hopes to simply make the state playoffs for the first time in six years. Now, they’re 13-6, 5-2 in the Central Carolina Conference, tied with Person for second place. With six games remaining in the regular season and a postseason birth all but sewed up, Britt said afterwards the focus on the remainder of the season will be on mental strength for the playoffs.

“We talked about flipping the switch, going to another level, landing in another gear,” Britt said. “We did what we said we wanted to do. Now we have to maintain it. It can’t be for one game.”

Defensively, Orange didn’t led up in the second half. The Warriors got only four points in the third quarter. Pennix drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter, the last of which started a running clock with the Panthers got its lead over 40 points. Pennix has been in double-figures in eight of Orange’s last ten games.

On Tuesday night, the Panthers will host Walter Williams in another big game. Orange upended the Bulldogs 66-59 on December 16. The Bulldogs are one game behind Orange for third place in the CCC and are coming off a 31-point home loss to Northwood. If Orange wins, they will control the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bulldogs with four conference games remaining.

Orange hasn’t hosted a game in a conference tournament since 2016.

“None of my guys have been to the playoffs,” Britt said. “My goal is to start to prepare for that now. They’re going to see a different level of intensity, a different level of physicality. We started preparing for that over the past week-and-a-half. The first time around the conference, we finished 4-2. Now, we have to validate that. We have to confirm that. We can’t have a letdown.”

There were plenty of ways the Orange women’s basketball team’s game against Western Alamance could have gone on Friday night.

The way it went was the most surprising to just about everyone in attendance, including Orange coach B.J. Condron.

When the Lady Panthers faced Western Alamance in Elon on December 13, Orange never led and lost 58-39 at Coach Erma Adams Court.

On Friday night, Orange (10-9, 3-4 in the Central Carolina Conference) trailed for all of 30 seconds the whole night, pushed its lead to as much as 23 points, and dominated the Warriors 71-54 at Panthers Gymnasium in Hillsborough. Orange’s front-line tandem of senior Erin Jordan-Cornell and sophomore Evelyn George each finished with double-doubles. Jordan-Cornell came away with 17 points and 14 rebounds. George had 15 points and 15 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

Two weeks ago, Western Alamance was the #1 team among RPI in the 3A East Region. Even after a loss to Northwood last week, the Warriors still came into Friday night ranked #5, the highest of any team in the Central Carolina Conference.

Whatever led to Orange’s best win of the season, it wasn’t over preparation. The Lady Panthers hadn’t played in ten days. It’s previous performance was a flat effort against Eastern Alamance where the Eagles won 49-37 in Mebane. This week was filled with exams, which limited practice to just one hour on three separate days.

“In some ways, I was surprised,” Condron said. “This was exam week. Coming off a tough loss, we had a lot of time to think about to think about it. I wasn’t sure how our players were going to react to that. I think that Eastern Alamance game helped refocus us.”

The Warriors (14-4, 4-3) perimeter-oriented offense, led by guard Allie Sykes, Emma Johnson and Bri Pulliam, hit ten 3-pointers in the first matchup against Orange last month. On Friday night, they finished with just five.

Western Alamance’s Allie Sykes gave the Warriors its only lead of the game with a scoop shot ten seconds after the jump ball. Orange responded moments later when freshman Attie Atkins drained a 3-pointer in transition off a pass from George, and the Lady Panthers didn’t trail again. Jada Reed added another 3-pointer to spark an 13-4 Orange run, which included a pair of lay-ins by Jordan-Cornell and a 3-pointer by Nikayla Whitted.

Orange led 15-4 at the end of the first quarter. Orange had a 20-2 run that blew the game open in the second quarter and pushed its lead to as many as 23. Sykes got the Warriors’ only field goal of the frame, a 3-pointer. George and Jordan-Cornell led several transition opportunities that pushed Orange’s lead to 33-13 at halftime.

Tina Bowers, who led Western Alamance with 19 points, scored 18 in the second half. She was more aggressive after intermission winding up with 15 foul shots. Western Alamance made a charge, but the closest they could get was cutting Orange’s lead to 57-45 after a free throw by Amelia Weaver with 5:12 remaining in the fourth quarter.

As Orange did for much of the night, the Lady Panthers got a key basket off an offensive rebound. This time, Jordan-Cornell took a miss by Atkins and scored on a stickback. Atkins followed with a free throw with 4:35 remaining.

Western Alamance’s Cayden White scored on her own 2nd chance field goal, but Jada Reed knocked down a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound by George to put things out of any conceivable danger.

Orange has now won five of its last six games as they prepare to face Walter Williams on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. It will be the third matchup between the Lady Panthers and the Bulldogs in five weeks.

On December 16, the Lady Panthers played without Jordan-Cornell in Burlington but still fought all the way to the end. Williams had enough bodies to prevail 50-45.

12 days later, Jordan-Cornell was back for a rematch in the semifinals of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational in Gibsonville. Jordan-Cornell and George each scored 14 points as Orange rode out a 50-45 win over Williams. The Lady Panthers eventually carried home the tournament championship.

ORANGE 71, WESTERN ALAMANCE 54

WESTERN ALAMANCE  6    7    18    23–54

ORANGE                          15   18   17    21–71

WESTERN ALAMANCE–Emma Johnson 10, Bri Pulliam 4, Allie Sykes 14, Tina Bowers 19, Cayden White 2, Mia Napier 2, Amelia Weaver 3.

ORANGE–Jada Reed 12, Addie Atkins 14, Evelyn George 15, Erin Jordan-Cornell 17, Nikayla Whitted 8, Maura McMurtry 1, Marshea Byrd 2, Katelyn Van Mater 2.

3-point goals: Western Alamance 5 (Johnson, Pulliam, Sykes 2, Bowers) Orange 6 (Reed 3, Atkins 2, Whitted)

There wasn’t quite the sense of finality for the Cedar Ridge wrestlers that they would have ordinary felt on Senior Night.

In two weeks, Cedar Ridge will host dozens of schools for the 3A Mideast Regionals. One Red Wolf senior, Fernando Martinez, will be defending his regional championship at 113-pounds.

Nonetheless, for Martinez, Nick Meyer, Jalen Williams, Justin Hartsell, Gavin Mintz, and Louis Tedder, it was their final dual match at Cedar Ridge High School. Together, they’ve helped the Red Wolves bridge from the Big 8 Conference into the Central Carolina Conference. They’ve reached the brink of qualifying for the Dual State Tournament playoffs this year, finishing 3rd behind Orange and Person.

It’s possibly Cedar Ridge’s best 3A squad.

For Martinez, it was a poignant moment as the Red Wolves defeated Eastern Alamance 66-12 inside Cedar Ridge’s Auxiliary Gymnasium on Thursday night. The most successful Cedar Ridge wrestler since Josh Collins, who won 151 matches from 2001-2005, Martinez earned a pinfall victory over Kaitlyn Watson in 41 seconds at 113 pounds for his final victory as a Red Wolf in a dual match. Martinez now is in third-place in career wins at Cedar Ridge with 135. He has an outside chance of catching Collins for second-place at 151 career wins.

Martinez and Tedder have been teammates for six years going back to their days at Stanback Middle School. Tedder, a heavyweight who also played football this season, improved to 24-16 after he pinned Noel Jennings in 34 seconds.

“I’ve grown to have a great relationship with my coaches,” Martinez said about his time at Cedar Ridge, where he has started since he was a freshman. “Aidan Kearns and a couple of those guys have been on the team for a long time. So the relationship with them over the years has been pretty awesome. I’ve developed my skills in this room.”

All four of the Red Wolf seniors claimed wins in their final dual match. In addition to Martinez and Tedder, Williams claimed a forfeit win at 126 pounds. Justin Hartsell pinned Aidan Clark in 5:11 at 152 pounds. Hartsell improved to 23-16 with 13 pins.

At heavyweight, Cedar Ridge’s Connor Womble pinned Jeff Giovani in 3:05. Red Wolf sophomore Ryan Rakouskas improved to 29-16 with a pin against Chasen Phillips in 1:19. Rakouskas has 22 pins this year. At 160 pounds, Edwin Huerta pinned Chris Solomon in 5:34.

Kaden Tatro notched his team-leading 46th win of the season with a forfeit at 182 pounds. Angus Pritchard and James Este-Wittinger also had forfeit victories for the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge ended its dual season with an overall record of 24-11, 4-2 in the Central Carolina Conference.

This afternoon, Cedar Ridge will join the other six teams for the 1st annual Central Carolina Conference Tournament at Orange High School. The first match begins at 10AM.

Orange, the regular season champions of the Central Carolina Conference, will have Acoya Isley as the favorite at 195 pounds. Isley was the runner up at the Tiger Holiday Invitational in December at 195.

At heavyweight, Person’s Trevquan Gary figures to be a frontrunner. Last week, Gary outscored Orange’s Hugo Vazquez 3-1 in a dual match in Roxboro, which Orange won 43-25 to sew up its third straight conference title. Gary also pinned Tedder earlier this year.

Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod will compete at 120 pounds. Prescod, a sophomore who claimed the individual championship at the Silver Fox Invitational at Riverside High last week, is 39-9 for the Red Wolves. Orange’s Quadir Medley is also a contender at 120 pounds.

Kaden Tatro also claimed an individual championship at the Silver Fox at 182 pounds. Tatro went undefeated against conference opponents this season. Ethan Kuball of Northwood and Malakai Newman of Person may be Tatro’s main challengers.

Jared Hutchins of Orange will be a contender at 132 pounds. Orange senior Sam Crawford will be a contender at 152 pounds. On January 4, Crawford held off Northwood’s Abraham Owusu Tu 6-5 in Pittsboro, which may be a preview of the championship match at 152.

Playing its first home game in a month, the Orange men’s basketball team had a dominant showing against Western Alamance on Friday night. The Panthers stomped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 1:34 and routed the Warriors 84-36. It was Orange’s most lopsided conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill 82-32 on December 17, 2019. Orange sophomore guard Xandrell Pennix scored 15 points off five 3-pointers. Kai Wade added nine points. Orange’s 3-point machine had its most prolific game of the season. The Panthers drained a season-high 16 3-pointers. Orange has won 13 games, its best total since the 2016-17 squad. Coleman Cloer led all scorers with 19 points. Orange’s goal at the beginning of this season was to make the 3A State Playoffs for the first time in six years. The Panthers are currently ranked #17 in the 3A East RPI Index, putting them in range to host a state playoff game. Orange is currently tied with Person for second place in the Central Carolina Conference with a 5-2 record. The Panthers will have a showdown against Walter Williams on Tuesday night in Hillsborough, continuing a four-game homestead. Tipoff will be ten minutes after the women’s game, which starts at 6PM.

Orange’s Xandrell Pennix, Kai Wade & Freddy Sneed discuss win over Western Alamance

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In what may have been the biggest upset of the Central Carolina Conference this women’s basketball season, Orange led by as many as 23 points and rolled past Western Alamance 71-54 on Friday night in Hillsborough. Senior Erin Jordan-Cornell scored 17 points for the Lady Panthers, who defeated a Western Alamance team that was ranked #1 in the 3A East Region just two weeks ago. The Warriors rolled past the Panthers 58-39 on December 13. Orange countered Western Alamance’s 3-point attack with some big shots from downtown of their own. Freshman Addie Atkins had a season-high 14 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the third quarter that shut down a Warriors threat after they had whittled the Panthers’ lead down to 12 points. Orange led by as many as 23. Atkins had been a regular starter for Orange alongside seniors Jordan-Cornell, Nikayla Whitted and Jada Reed. The Panthers have won six of its last seven games, including victories over Walter Williams and Western Alamance. On Tuesday, Orange will face Williams again, their third matchup against the Bulldogs in five weeks. They will meet again on Tuesday night in Hillsborough with tipoff at 6PM.

Orange’ Erin Jordan-Cornell & Addie Atkins discuss women’s basketball upset of Western Alamance

In what may have been the biggest upset of the Central Carolina Conference this women’s basketball season, Orange led by as many as 23 points and rolled past Western Alamance 71-54 on Friday night in Hillsborough.