In Red Wolves Gymnasium on January 27, 2021, the Orange women’s basketball team entered a barren, desolate Red Wolves Gymnasium to face its crosstown rival.
There were no fans allowed inside because America was still frozen in the pandemic. The sounds from the mouths of coaches B.J. Condron of Orange and William Dobbs of Cedar Ridge, along with the players, were muffled because they were wearing masks. Cedar Ridge suited up only five players, and one of those fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Needless to say, Orange, which suited up eleven players, won by the score of 52-13. Though then-Cedar Ridge principal Carlos Ramirez applauded his team after the buzzer sounded, it was the textbook definition of bleak.
Two of those five players who suited up for Cedar Ridge that day, and forced to play the entire 32 minutes simply because of necessity, were freshmen Cameron and Cierra Copeland.
Four years later, the twin sisters started as the Red Wolves women’s basketball team carried out a milestone much more to its liking.
For the first time since 2014, the Red Wolves completed a season sweep of crosstown rival Orange with a 37-32 victory inside a much more crowded Red Wolves Gymnasium on Friday night. Cedar Ridge senior Amiyah Ware scored 15 points to help the Red Wolves finish the game on a 15-5 run.
Cedar Ridge improved to 5-4 in the Central Conference. They’re currently a half-game ahead of Walter Williams for third place and now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Orange, which goes a long way to helping the Red Wolves host a game in the Central Conference Tournament.
Orange (10-9, 4-5), which was tied with Western Alamance for first place in the Central Conference two weeks ago, dropped its fourth straight game.
Addie Atkins led Orange with 12 points.
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, it appeared that Orange would avenge its overtime loss to the Red Wolves from January 10. The Red Wolves missed its first six shots from the field in the second half. Atkins drained a 3-pointer with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter off a pass from Evelyn George to put the Lady Panthers ahead 26-17. Cedar Ridge point guard Sarah Utley started the comeback with a running one-hander over the outstretched arms of Natalie Robertson from the right baseline. After a shot by Orange’s Shannon Murphy rimmed out, Utley came down the floor and sank a three-pointer from the top of the floor to cut the Red Wolves deficit to 26-22, leading to an Orange timeout.
The turning point came late in the third quarter when Orange center Marshea Byrd, who finished with eleven rebounds, had a stickback attempted that nearly balanced on the front of the rim before it fell off. Cedar Ridge’s Jamee Watson threw a gorgeous bounce pass that avoided the right baseline and found center Addie Reid, who banked in a shot while getting fouled by Byrd. That cut Orange’s lead to 27-25 at the end of the quarter.
Ware started the fourth quarter with a baseline drive push shot off a pass from Watson that beat Orange’s 1-2-2 zone press. Then Watson drained a jumper from the top of the key to give Cedar Ridge its first lead since it was 10-8. Ware grabbed a defensive rebound following a subsequent Orange miss and eventually found Kate Finnegan for a 19-footer to give the Red Wolves a 30-27 lead.
Orange’s Maura McMurtry sank a 15-footer over Watson with 4:27 remaining, but Cedar Ridge kept the Panthers scoreless for the next four minutes. Ware rebounded her own miss and scored on a short baseline jumper, then followed with a deep scoop shot that banked in high off the window.
Byrd’s stickback shot with 16 seconds remaining gave Orange a fleeting hope, but Reid erased that with two free throws in the waning seconds.
Cedar Ridge, which improved to 11-9, travels to Eastern Alamance on Tuesday. The Red Wolves eleven wins are the most for the team since the 2017-2018 season, when they finished 14-11.