Month: January 2024

In just its third home game of the season, the Orange women’s basketball team jumped out to a 15-0 lead and rolled past Western Alamance 81-42 on Wednesday night. Coleman Cloer had a season-high 30 points for the Panthers, who remained tied for first place in the Central Conference at 2-0. Freddy Sneed brought the house down with a dynamic dunk off a steal in the fourth quarter. Sneed, a junior who has been a member of the varsity since he was a freshman, finished with seven points and has been a valuable defensive presence this season. Forward Mason Robinson, a sophomore, captured an ally-top pass from Cloer for a monster slam in the third quarter. Robinson finished with six rebounds and five blocks as the Panthers started a four-game homestead. Orange rebounded from three losses in the John Wall Invitational last week, where they played at Broughton High School and William Peace University. The Panthers faced defending 3A Eastern Regional champion Northwood, Broughton and the Jordan Falcons. The Panthers will return home on Friday night to face Walter Williams. Orange is the only undefeated team in conference play in the Central Conference at 2-0 after beating Southern Alamance last month in Graham.

Orange men’s basketball’s Freddy Sneed & Mason Robinson discuss win over Western Alamance

In just its third home game of the season, the Orange women’s basketball team jumped out to a 15-0 lead and rolled past Western Alamance 81-42 on Wednesday night. Coleman Cloer had a season-high 30 points for the Panthers, who remained tied for first place in the Central Conference at 2-0.

The Orange women’s basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat Western Alamance 45-42 on Wednesday night at Orange High School. The Warriors led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Panthers held Western Alamance without a point in the second quarter. Junior Evelyn George led Orange’s offense scoring a career-high 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field. George had a personal 12-0 run in the third quarter to put Orange ahead 30-22. In the fourth quarter, George put the Lady Panthers ahead with a short jumper off a baseline drive with 5:46 remaining in regulation. Orange wouldn’t surrender the lead again thanks to two important fourth quarter field goals by junior center Marshea Byrd. With 3:21 remaining, Byrd took a pass off the floor from Shannon Murphy and scored off the glass to put the Lady Panthers ahead 40-37. Orange improved to 2-0 in a wide-open Central Conference. In the Lady Panthers’ Central Conference opener, George drained two free throws with :10.2 seconds remaining to beat Southern Alamance 34-31. Last week, Orange finished seventh in the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoopla Tournament, beating Eastern Alamance on Saturday even though George didn’t play. The Lady Panthers will face Walter Williams in Hillsborough on Friday night at 6PM in a showdown for first place in the Central Conference.

Orange women’s basketball’s Evelyn George & Marshea Byrd discuss win over Western Alamance

The Orange women’s basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat Western Alamance 45-42 on Wednesday night at Orange High School. The Warriors led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Panthers held Western Alamance without a point in the second quarter.

The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team pulled off its biggest win in years on Tuesday night. The Red Wolves stunned Person 48-41, finishing the game on a 11-0 run in the final 2:37 for its second win of the season. Braedon Wilbourn led the Red Wolves with 19 points, a career-high. Senior center Harrison Perel scored off a lay-in from a pass by Hayden Kirk with 1:37 remaining to put the Red Wolves ahead 42-41. They never trailed again. Cedar Ridge built a ten-point lead early in the second quarter. Wilbourn scored ten points in the first half and freshman point guard Jordan Jacobson had eight points. The Red Wolves avenged a disappointing loss to Person last January, when they led by 19 points at the half but wound up losing 56-49. Cedar Ridge also bounced back from a tough loss to Western Alamance on Saturday in the 7th place game of the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoopla Tournament. Cedar Ridge led by four points with two minutes remaining, but the Warriors closed out the game with a 7-0 run. On Monday, the Red Wolves upset a Person team that came into the game 9-1. Wilbourn has scored in double-figures in each of his last three games. The Red Wolves will travel to Southern Alamance on Friday night.

Cedar Ridge men’s basketball’s Braedon Wilbourn & Harrison Perel discuss upset of Person

The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team pulled off its biggest win in years on Tuesday night. The Red Wolves stunned Person 48-41, finishing the game on a 11-0 run in the final 2:37 for its second win of the season. Braedon Wilbourn led the Red Wolves with 19 points, a career-high.

Without its star player Amiyah Ware, every game has been a battle for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team. On Tuesday night, the Red Wolves relied on its depth to defeat Person 46-43 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. In just her third varsity game, freshman Kate Finnegan led all scorers with 16 points and 18 rebounds as the Red Wolves improved to 5-5, 1-1 in the Central Conference. Sophomore guard Jamee Watson drained a key 3-pointer with 2:47 remaining to put Cedar Ridge ahead 41-34. After the Rockets cut its deficit to 43-41 with 55 seconds remaining, Finnegan scored on a lay-in off a pretty transition pass from Sarah Utley for the final field goal of the game with 24 seconds remaining. Utley finished with ten points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals. Cedar Ridge has already surpassed its win total from all of last season as they try to reach the state playoffs for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. The Red Wolves have its most wins in a year since the 2018-2019 season, when they won seven games. Ware, who broke the county record when she scored 54 points last year, was injured against Western Alamance on December 15. She watched from the bench last night and hopes to return soon. Cedar Ridge will host Southern Alamance in Hillsborough on Friday night.

Cedar Ridge women’s basketball’s Kate Finnegan & Jamee Watson discuss win over Person

Without its star player Amiyah Ware, every game has been a battle for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team. On Tuesday night, the Red Wolves relied on its depth to defeat Person 46-43 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

On the second day of 2024, the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team sprung the upset of the year.

Facing a 9-1 Person team that many felt will challenge for the Central Conference championship, a 1-10 Cedar Ridge team slowed Person’s transition game, grabbed key rebounds down the stretch and controlled the two minutes to shock the Rockets 48-41 on Tuesday night in Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Cedar Ridge’s Braedon Wilbourn led all scorers with 19 points while Landon Dalehite added 12 on a night where things that should be relevant were not.

Cedar Ridge’s losing a key guard who left the team over Christmas? Didn’t matter.

Person’s superior height and quickness advantage? Didn’t matter.

Person’s Lance Clark raining down 14 points in the second half? Nothing that couldn’t be solved with some well-timed defense.

What did matter was last January in Hillsborough. Cedar Ridge led the Rockets by 19 points at halftime. But Person rallied, held the Red Wolves to three points in the third quarter, nine free throw attempts the entire game and wound up winning 56-49.

Cedar Ridge coach Mike Jones generally has boundless optimism, but that game left a sour taste in his mouth. He can still quote the halftime score off the top of his head like its name of his daughter.

“I’ve wanted that one for a year,” Jones said. “I’ve been thinking about that game for a year. I’m so proud of the way my team just played. We punched them. We took a punch. We kept fighting. We ignored the crowd. We ignored the referees. We just focused and we played. I’m so proud of them.”

Cedar Ridge held the Rockets scoreless in the final 2:48, outscoring the Rockets 11-0 to end the game.

Clarke scored 14 points for Person, all in the second half. With 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, Person’s DaeJon Hodge collected an entry pass from Clarke and scored a lay-in to put the Rockets ahead 38-34, its largest advantage of the game. Dalehite responded with a clutch 3-pointer, which led to some clutch plays by the Red Wolves.

“That was probably the biggest jumper Landon has hit in his whole life,” Jones said. “That was a huge one.”

With 3:20 remaining, Wilbourn stole a pass from Hodge and scored on a lay-in to put the Red Wolves ahead 39-38.

Clarke immediately drained a 3-pointer off a skip pass from C.J. Hunt to put the Rockets in front 41-39. It was Person’s final field goal.

After Harrison Perel split two free throws with 2:38 remaining, Clarke appeared to have a steal for Person, but Cedar Ridge’s Hayden Kirk stole it right back and fed Perel for a lay-in to give the Red Wolves a 42-41 lead with 1:37 left.

In the final minute, Kirk grabbed a crucial offensive rebound off a Perel miss and fed Wilbourn for a lay-in. The Red Wolves got a crucial free throw from Dalehite with :14.1 remaining, then got another huge offensive board from Kirk to secure a stunning upset.

“The last three or four games, Harrison, Hayden and Luke Orstad have rebounded the basketball so well,” Jones said. “It’s just made a world of difference for us.”

Leading by seven at the break, the Red Wolves built a ten-point advantage early in the second half. It appeared that Clarke would shoot the Rockets troubles away when he drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter. Person started another rally whenHodge sank a baseline jumper, then Person’s Jordan Lunsford stole the inbounds pass, leading to Hodge scoring again while getting fouled by Perel to cut the Red Wolf lead to 28-24.

Cedar Ridge grabbed a win days after a heartbreaking loss to Western Alamance in the seventh-place game of the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoopla. On Saturday, the Red Wolves led 34-30 with 3:12 remaining. The Warriors scored the final seven points, capped by a three-pointer from James Newton at the buzzer.

But that was so 2023. It’s now 2024 and late Monday night, Jones was the happiest man in Hillsborough.

“I’ve been blessed to say I’ve been the coach here for a year-and-a-half,” Jones said. “This is the biggest win we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Two weeks ago, I was on vacation in Boone to visit my old stomping grounds at Appalachian State. Every time I talk to my old college friends, I have to fight the urge to say “Boone has changed so much” because I hate being repetitive.

But it has. Most of the restaurants and bars that I frequented in the late 1990s are something else now.

It was the 25th anniversary of my college graduation. I texted that to Amanda Smith, a friend who watched me finally walk across that stage at Varsity Gymnasium in December 1998. She simply replied with a gif of a clock with wings, flapping by with nothing limiting its headlong flight.

That’s how 2023 felt. From last winter, when Orange and Cedar Ridge wrestling each won conference championships. To the spring where Orange baseball pulled off an epic comeback in the state playoffs. To the fall when Orange and Cedar Ridge volleyball had memorable wins and Gabriel Schmid ended a legacy. It flew by.

It’s an unofficial list, but here are the top 10 Hillsborough sports moments from 2023.

10. Salomon Hernandez scores game-winning goal for Cedar Ridge men’s soccer against Western Alamance, September 20: The game against Cedar Ridge and Western Alamance at Red Wolves Stadium had been a fierce scoreless contest entering the final minutes. It appeared that the Warriors would break the scoreless draw with 27:36 remaining when Konnor Johnson lined up for a penalty kick. As Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Erik Galunas lined up, Johnson sent the shot wide right. With 4:36 left, Cedar Ridge Captain Iliah Babchenko stepped back for a corner kick. The corner was deflected by to Babchenko, who returned a cross into the penalty box. Hernandez timed his jump perfectly and made enough contact to knock it into the lower left corner of the net, setting off a wild celebration and leading to Cedar Ridge men’s soccer earning its first home game in the state playoffs since 2015.

9. Orange’s Acoya Isley wins 195-pound Mideast Regional championship, February 16: Going into the Mideast Regional championships at Cedar Ridge High last winter, Isley was the #2 seed in the 195-pound tournament with a 28-2 record. He faced the #1 seed Karin Sein of Eastern Guilford, in the championship match. It took only 41 seconds for Isley to score the match’s only takedown. To start the second period, Isley sunk in a half-nelson and scored back points when Sein suffered an injury and couldn’t continue. Isley became the first regional champion from Orange since Levi Anderson in 2019. Isley would eventually reach the 3A State Championship match at 195 pounds.

8. Cedar Ridge wrestling wins Central Conference Tournament championship:, January 21: 2023 will be remembered as the year where Cedar Ridge wrestling stepped out of Orange’s shadow. In December, Cedar Ridge defeated Orange in a dual match for the first time ever. The Red Wolves finished with 185.5 points behind individual championships from Fernando Martinez, Kaden Tatro, and Pierce Prescod. The success carried over into the following academic year. Cedar Ridge is one win away from taking its first regular season championship at the 3A level.

7. Orange lacrosse defeats First Flight to reach 3A/2A/1A East Region Final, May 9: Orange lacrosse hosted its first regional championship match in 2022 against First Flight. The Nighthawks drove over six hours from Kill Devil Hills and frustrated the Panthers with superior defense and a fabulous transition game that led to a 13-7 win. Last spring in the 3rd round of the state playoffs, Orange welcomed First Flight back to Hillsborough and had more offensive weapons. Tigh Metheny scored Orange’s first three goals while the Panthers held the Nighthawks scoreless for 18:56. The Panthers would host the regional championship game for the second straight year.

6. Cedar Ridge volleyball upsets Orange to win Central Conference Tournament, October 18: Possibly the biggest upset of the year locally in any sport. Orange had dominated the Red Wolves in its two previous matchups during the regular season. In the conference tournament title match, Cedar Ridge sophomore Claire Hargett had a career-high 24 kills. Senior Graylinn Serge finished with 12 kills and a season-high 24 digs. Cedar Ridge’s defense found a way to contain Orange’s taller outside hitters. Senior libero Natasha Buchler-Fosado had a career-best 25 digs as the Red Wolves won a conference championship for the fourth straight year.

5. Amiyah Ware scores 54 points, breaks Orange County basketball scoring record, February 3: Chances are Amiyah Ware would have set records late in 2022, but she was still recovering from a torn ACL that required her to miss the opening games. Once she got healthy, she etched her name in the record books permanently.  Ware scored 54 points against Western Alamance in Elon. She beat the county record set by Orange High’s Ronnie McAdoo set in 1978 when he scored 53 points against Southern Durham. Five days later, Ware scored 51 points in a win at Durham School of the Arts, becoming the first player, regardless of gender, in Orange County history to score 50 points in a game twice in the same season.

4. Orange baseball comes back from five runs down in the bottom of the tenth inning to beat Triton, May 12: Things looked bleak for Orange in the 10th inning against Triton in the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs. The Hawks got a three-run triple from Kenneth McCoy, then added an RBI single from Wyatt Avery to go ahead 8-3. Orange made its comeback 90 feet at a time in wildly random fashion. In the bottom of the 10th, Orange got five walks, three hits and a hit batter to make the greatest comeback in team history. Among the highlights was Garrett Sawyer, who had not had a plate appearance all year, somehow batting in the cleanup spot and drawing a walk with one out to score Jackson Berini and cut the lead to 8-7. After Neo Best, who was 0-for-5, tied the game with another bases-loaded walk, Wyatt Hedrick grounded a single up the middle to score Cameron Guentensberger to complete the comeback and send Orange to the round of 16.

3. Orange volleyball defeats Carrboro, wins 3A Eastern Regional championship, October 31: The 2023 Orange volleyball team never had the state championship as a goal. Since 2020, they hadn’t even been the best team in its own town, much less the state. Under first-year head coach Hope Heverly, Orange played ten straight matches away from home in late August and September. They won seven of them, setting up a undefeated run to the Central Conference championship. They avenged a loss to Carrboro in the Eastern Regional championship match on Halloween. Trailing two-sets-to-one, Orange won the fourth set 25-19. In the fifth, Katie Silcott scored the 14th point. Aubrey Jordan spiked home match point to carry Orange to a 15-9 win. Ella Wimsatt, the 2023 Central Conference Player of the Year, finished with 19 kills and 19 digs. Libero Sadye Porter, whose return to the team after sitting out her junior season can’t be underestimated, had 34 digs. Aubrey Jordan finished with 15 kills while Ava Wilkerson had 13 kills as Orange reached the state championship match for only the second time ever.

2. Gabriel Schmid repeats at 3A State Cross Country champion, November 4: Gabriel Schmid doesn’t live in his comfort zone. That’s how he went from not qualifying for the 3A State Cross Country Championships as a freshman to becoming just the second Orange High runner to win a state championship in cross country. On November 4, Schmid won his second 3A State Championship at the Ivey Redmond Sports Complex in Kernersville. He finished with a time of 15:14.75, a good 34 seconds ahead of the closest competitor. Last month, Schmid announced his commitment to run at N.C. State. Schmid improved on his time from the 2022 state championship that he won, also in Kernersville.

1. Katie Belle Sikes named Most Outstanding Swimmer of 3A State Championships, February 16:  In 2022, Sikes changed travel teams to a coach that encouraged swimming in high school competitions. Mind you, Sikes became the first Orange swimmer to win a state championship as a sophomore. Last February, Sikes won the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle state championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. She set a new state record in the 50 yard freestyle (regardless of classification) at 22.17 seconds. It was the 10th fastest time ever recorded in a high school meet in American history. She won the 100 meters championship at 49.45, another automatic All-American time. She took the anchor leg in the 200 yard freestyle relay with Riley White, Ainsley Rasinske and Piper White, becoming the first relay team to win a state championship in Orange history. Sikes officially signed with the University of Georgia last month. She’s already qualified for five regional events this winter.