Month: February 2024

The 3A Mideast Wrestling Regional was an industrial shredder this year.

Of the 16 regionals across the state, the 3A Mideast was the only one that had both a dual team state champion (Union Pines) and the state runner-up (Eastern Guilford) in the same tournament. Throw in traditional powerhouses like Orange, Greensboro Dudley and Cape Fear and you have the makings of a field so deep, seeding nightmares became inevitable.

Orange senior Jared Hutchins earned the top-seed in the 132-pound tournament and survived, to the truest sense of the term, to win his first regional title at Union Pines High School in Cameron on Saturday.

In three dominant performances, Hutchins mowed through a deep field and scored a major decision over Logan Mitchell of Union Pines 14-6 in the championship match. Hutchins will be the #1 seed from the Mideast for the 3A State Championships, which will start Thursday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum.

This season, Hutchins won individual championships at the Eagle Invitational in Mebane and the Joe Via Memorial at South Stokes High in Walnut Cove.

It will be Hutchins third trip to the state championships. Hutchins, who is now 31-4 with 24 pins this season, finished 5th in the 2023 3A State Tournament. He reached the semifinals in the championship round after pinning Luke Connick, the 3A Eastern Regional champion, in the second round.

As a sophomore, Hutchins finished 28-10 and won two matches in the state tournament.

Hutchins, who eclipsed 100 career wins earlier this month, pinned Cristian Ramos of Douglas Byrd in 1:54 in the quarterfinals. On Saturday, Hutchins pinned Jameer Farmer of Person in 3:13 to advance to the final.

This season, Hutchins was a senior on an Orange team that had ten new starters. As a veteran, he remembered what it was like to receive daily lessons in the school of hard knocks from early days as a Panther.

“It made me better,” Hutchins said during the Tiger Holiday Classic in December. “It’s helped me get to where I am now. I want to place in the top three in the state tournament.”

Hutchins is one of three Orange grapplers to qualify for the state championships. At 126 pounds, junior Braden Crawford qualified for the second year in a row. At 175 pounds, senior Andre Hill also reached the state tournament for the second time.

Cedar Ridge, which had four wrestlers reach the state tournament in 2023, had a difficult day. Senior Kaden Tatro finished third in the in the 165-pound tournament, beating Hunter Macklin of Dudley 10-1 in the consolation final. It will be Tatro’s third trip to the state tournament.

Overall, Tatro won four matches in the regional tournament to put his career wins total at 159. He is now in sole possession of 2nd place in school history, having surpassed Josh Collins total of 151, set from 2001-2005. Chandler Collins holds the record of 166 wins.

Tatro reached the 182-pound regional final last year.

On Saturday, Tatro, seeded #2, faced Troy Shannon of Terry Sanford in the semifinals. Tatro led 4-2 going into the third period, but was penalized twice for stalling in the final two minutes. The second warning came with nine seconds remaining, which tied the match 4-4. Shannon got a takedown with five seconds remaining for the decisive points.

Hill, the #2 seed at 175 pounds, pinned Trenton Westbrook of Cape Fear in 2:34 in the opening round. Cameron Perryman of Dudley upset Hill in the quarterfinals. Hill had to win four matches on Saturday in order to take third place.

He scored two pins and two technical falls to punch his ticket to Greensboro. He pinned NaZiah Rice of Westover in 2;50 in the consolation final. Hill is 44-3 on the season with 29 pins.

Crawford reached the semifinals at 126 pounds after pinfall wins over Emanuel Garcia of Person and Hunter Hill of Harnett Central. Shawn Bass of Dudley never trailed in beating Crawford 4-1 in the semifinals. Crawford bounced back to defeat Jazten Hall of Fayetteville 71st 5-0 to officially reach the state tournament. In the 3rd place match, Joseph Lloyd of Union Pines defeated Crawford via pinfall in 2:42.

The depth of the field worked to the detriment of numerous competitors from Cedar Ridge and Orange.

Cedar Ridge junior Pierce Prescod came into the 120-pound tournament with a 44-9 record. If Prescod was in, say, the 3A West Regional, that record would have likely earned him a #3 seed (which is what Aydan Mull of Tusculum received with a 43-12 mark).

In the Mideast, Prescod got a #5 seed, where he faced Eastern Guilford’s Tremayne McNeely in the second round. McNeely won 5-1.

In 2023, Prescod controversially fell one match short of the state championships when his opponent, Carson Cori of South Johnston, claimed he couldn’t continue due to an injured back after it was returned that Prescod illegally slammed him. Prescod, with a 44-11 record, didn’t make it to Greensboro.

This year, Prescod also fell one match short of the state tournament. Facing Keaton Crawford of Union Pines, Prescod led 8-3 going into the final period. Crawford scored a takedown with 35 seconds remaining to even the match, then got a takedown 44 seconds into sudden victory to move on to Greensboro.

It was the final tournament for Cedar Ridge senior James Este-Wittinger, who reached the state tournament in 2023. Este-Wittinger reached the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Chevelle Cade of Westover 3-2 in the consolation quarterfinals.

Tori Dalehite: The former Cedar Ridge second baseman started her senior year with the UNC Greensboro softball team with three starts during the Carolina Classic on the campus of the University of South Carolina at Beckham Field in Columbia, S.C. Dalehite started in left field in the season-opener against Virginia on Friday  morning, a 6-5 Cavaliers victory where UVA jumped out to a 6-0 lead. After sitting out an 8-4 loss to #23 South Carolina on Friday afternoon, Dalehite went 2-for-3 against Virginia on Saturday morning. Dalehite scored the opening Spartan run off a bases-loaded walk by Maycin Brown. Virginia won that game 7-2. Later on Saturday afternoon, the Spartans earned its only win of the weekend with a 5-4 victory over Jacksonville State. Dalehite went 2-for-3, again starting in left field. In the finale on Sunday morning, Jacksonville St. scored four runs in the second inning to beat the Spartans 6-3. Dalehite finished 0-for-2,  but scored a run after drawing a walk. UNCG will play a doubleheader against Winthrop in Greensboro on Wednesday.

Takia Nichols: The all-time home run hitter in Cedar Ridge history started her second season at North Carolina Central in the NFCA Leadoff Classic at the Eddie Moore Complex in Clearwater, FL. Nichols got a pinch-hit single in a 7-0 loss to #13 Utah on Saturday night. Nichols went 1-for-2 with a walk, batting cleanup as the designated hitter, in a 4-1 loss to Iowa on Saturday afternoon. She also started against South Alabama and Indiana. The Eagles defeated Central Arkansas 5-4 on Friday afternoon in eight innings.

Mary Moss Wirt: The Elon softball team went 3-1 during the Elon Softball Classic at Hunt Softball Park over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, Wirt started at catcher as the Phoenix had a 5-4 walkoff win over Evansville. Wirt scored a run off a walk in a 15-8 loss to Miami (Ohio) on Saturday. Wirt drew a walk. She also started as catcher in an 8-7 win over Kent State. Sunday’s game against Appalachian State was canceled due to rain.

Carson Bradsher: In her first college at-bat, Bradsher got a base hit for South Carolina Upstate in its 8-0 win over Towson at Cyrill Stadium in Spartanburg, SC on Saturday afternoon. Bradsher, a former Orange shortstop, scored off a Taliyah Thomas in the fourth inning. It came during the Spartan Classic, where South Carolina Upstate went 2-2. On Sunday, the Spartans defeated South Carolina State 7-1. Against the Bulldogs, Bradsher came on as a pinch-runner and scored off a single by Denver Lauer.

Lauren Jackson: After sitting out last weekend’s doubleheader against Lander, Jackson started her sophomore season for the Division II Lenoir-Rhyne Bears last week. Jackson started in a 7-3 win over Columbus State at Cougar Field in Columbus, GA on Friday. Jackson went 1-for-4. On Saturday, Jackson went 0-for-3 in a 6-5 over Tuskegee. The Bears are 6-2.

Jackson Berini: Last week, Berini started all four games for Gaston College, a stretch where the Rhinos went 3-1. Each time, Berini started at second base (he played shortstop at Orange). In an 8-2 win over Fayetteville Technical Community College, all ten runs were scored after the sixth inning. Berini went 0-for-3 with a run scored. On Saturday, Berini drove in two runs in a 9-1 win over Cleveland Community College in eight innings at Sims Legion Park. He had an RBI single in the eighth and finished 1-for-4. The Rhinos swept the doubleheader with an 8-4 win in seven innings. Berini went 1-for-2 with a stolen base. On Sunday, Cleveland defeated Gaston 6-5 in nine innings after trailing 5-1 going into the sixth inning. Berini went 0-for-4. Gaston College is 9-2.

Abby Dease: The Division III Smith College women’s swimming team defeated Holyoke 161-138 in a dual meet in South Hadley, MA on Saturday. Dease finished 3rd in the 1000 yard freestyle, finishing at 11:49.06. smith is 4-6 this season.

It was a perfect night for Orange men’s basketball.

Members of the 1969 Orange 3A State Championship team were seated behind the Panther bench. They reminisced about the old days and marveled at the modern day Orange team on the floor in front of them.

And what a show that saw.

In a game that bore no resemblance whatsoever to its previous tilt against Southern Alamance, Orange sophomore Coleman Cloer scored 40 points, a career-high, while sophomore center Mason Robinson added 14 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in a 93-39 rout of the Patriots at Panther Gymnasium. Orange, which never led in regulation in its first matchup against the Patriots, never trailed on Friday night.

Cloer’s outing was the most points for an Orange player since Jerec Thompson, who was in the building on Friday night, scored 40 points against Eastern Alamance in his final game at Panther Gymnasium on February 11, 2022.

Sophomore Kai Wade added a season-high ten assists as the Panthers won on Senior Night, where Ryan Honeycutt (out for the season with a broken thumb), Ryan Moss and Malykhai Justice were honored in a pregame ceremony.

Coming off its first conference loss to Person, the Panthers claimed a share of the Central Conference title with its most complete performance of the year.

The cherry on top of the sundae came roughly 45 minutes after the game from, of all places, Roxboro, where Orange had just lost on Tuesday night. Person rallied in the final minutes to beat Eastern Alamance 74-69, eliminating the Eagles from the title race.

With that, the Panthers claimed its first regular season championship since the 2016-17 season and the first for Orange coach Derryl Britt since he came aboard in 2018.

“I’m so happy for these guys,” Britt said before the Person game had ended. “They work really hard and I’ve put them through a lot. And I know I do. But when they can come out and have games like this….I tell them that on night like this, it should be a showcase. It should be a showcase to all the witnesses why we work so hard, why we’re so disciplined. They understand it.”

Of Orange’s ten conference wins, they never trailed in seven of them.

An outsider who had never seen these two teams before Friday night would find it inconceivable that, just seven weeks ago, the Patriots had the Panthers dead to rights in Graham. On December 14, Southern Alamance led 60-55 with :28 remaining in regulation. Cloer, in his first game of the season, hit two free throws with :5.8 left to tie the game, leading to an extra session and Orange winning in a 15-round war of a game.

The rematch was a first-round knockout.

Mason Robinson slammed home the opening points off an offensive rebound and they were off to the races. Cloer had a personal 7-0 run, including a lay-in off a feed from Wade, which led to a Southern Alamance time-out. Cloer and Xandrell Pennix closed out the first quarter with consecutive 3-pointers and Orange led 25-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Pennix opened the second quarter with a corner shot from beyond the arc, following by an ally-oop where Robinson laid in a feed from Freddy Sneed. That triggered a 14-1 run, which included two more three-pointers from Cloer and another from Pennix.

Orange shot 12-of-25 from 3-point range, with Pennix going 4-of-5. Cloer was 5-of-13 from downtown. Ethan Ellis, who was called up from the junior varsity, hit both of his 3-point attempts in his first varsity game.

Southern Alamance (13-9, 6-4) lost 6-foot-3 guard Liam Forester last month for reasons that the Patriots coaching staff didn’t care to discuss. Forester scored in double-figures in ten of his 16 games before he left the team after a loss to Burlington Christian Academy on January 15.

It was showtime in the second half, which included Cloer flushing down a 180-degree dunk and Sneed finally slamming home a dunk, sending the Orange student section into delirium.

The night was perfect right down to the junior varsity game, where Orange won 52-51 following a 3-pointer from James Kenley with nine seconds remaining. The junior varsity Panthers are coached by Orange graduate Robbie Liner.

The conference championship guarantees Orange a first-round home game in the 3A State Playoffs and a bye into the semifinals of the Central Conference Tournament. The semifinals will be held at Person High School, where Orange will play on February 20.

The last time Orange hosted a state playoff game, it was against Northern Guilford in the 3A State Quarterfinals. Without star Connor Crabtree, who injured his ankle against Triton in the 4th round, Northern Guilford held off the Panthers 56-48.

ORANGE 93, SOUTHERN ALAMANCE 39 

SOUTHERN ALAMANCE: (Jordan Moore 7, Seth Dalrymple 1, Riley Warren 4, Tyler Moore 7, Chris Epps 16,  Myles Darrouch 2, Kolby Kronbergs 2).

ORANGE: (Mason Robinson 14, Xandrell Pennix 14, Freddie Sneed 7, Kai Wade 7, Coleman Cloer 40, Ethan Ellis 6, Hector Garrido 5)

CARY–It wasn’t the last lap of her life. Far from it.

But it was Katie Belle Sikes’ last lap as an Orange Panther. As Ainsley Rasinske approached her, Carrboro’s Ellie Hill had just put the Jaguars ahead by .11 of a second in the 200 yard freestyle relay 3A State Championship final. The capacity crowd roared as Rasinske yielded to Sikes one more time.

Sikes final anchor leg would be one to remember.

In lane four, she dove in the water just behind Carrboro’s Avery Shuping. Like a blue streak underneath the aqua water, she surged ahead almost effortlessly and completed 25 yards in just over eleven seconds. Within an instant, Orange went from trailing to leading comfortably.

25 yards later, Sikes touched the wall as a Panther just once more. In her last high school race, she clinched one final state championship.

If there was a way to freeze that moment for just a little longer, Sikes would have.

Orange, comprised of Sikes, Rasinske, Riley and Piper White, won the relay at 1:39.23, three full seconds ahead of Carrboro’s time of 1:42.30.

Sikes had earned individual titles since she was a freshman. She became the first female swimmer from Orange to win a state championship as a sophomore when she captured the 50 yard freestyle in 2022.

When she formally signed with the University of Georgia last November inside Orange High Gymnasium, she said the only thing she had never done was help her teammates (or as she more commonly refers to them, “her friends”) win the 200 yard medley relay state championship.

On Thursday night at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, Sikes erased the only blot on her otherwise spotless record.

Sikes, White, Zoe Jones and White opened the night with a tight victory over Central Cabarrus to take the state championship. Last year, Central Cabarrus edged Orange by .15 seconds for the gold medal.

Piper White completed the freestyle in 24.48 seconds, edging Cabarrus’ Audrey Wolff by six-hundredths-of-a-second to take the crown.

“I think what’s really impressed us about Katie Belle over the four years we’ve known her is what a quality kid she is,” said Orange swimming coach Ron Geib. “Everybody sees her swimming prowess and it’s undeniable how fast she is. But that girl will cheer everyone from the newest member of our team to the most experiences member of our team. She’s just as happy as someone else winning as she is for herself winning.”

With four first place finishes, the Orange women’s team finished 2nd in the team standings, their best-ever showing. The Lady Panthers came away with 187 points. Lake Norman Charter won the state championship with 300 points.

Individually, Sikes was as strong as ever. For the third year in a row, she captured the 50 yard freestyle state title. The only minor quibble would be her time of 22.38 seconds was a tad shy of the 22.17 seconds she completed the race in last year, which set an event record and earned her automatic All-American status.

But her other individual race on Thursday night made up for it.

Sikes earned her second straight 100 freestyle state title at 48.76 seconds, setting a new state championship event record, regardless of classification. It was the 25th fastest time ever recorded by a high school swimmer in American history and earned Sikes automatic All-American status in two separate events.

For the second year in a row, Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the 3A State Championships. She’s the fifth woman to repeat as MOFS of the 3A championships dating back to 1992.

Sikes ends her Orange career with five individual state championships, three relay state titles (she was a member of the first Orange relay swim team, regardless of gender, to win a state championship in 2023) and seven individual regional championships.

Cedar Ridge junior Sophia Stinnett finished with her first individual state championship medal. After winning two championships at the Central Regionals on Saturday in Greensboro, Stinnett finished third in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:01.25 Abbey Cronin of Central Cabarrus took the gold. Stinnett also came in fourth in the 500 yard freestyle at 5:15.99. Madison Bowen of Croatan, in a thrilling finish, took first after Kathryn Ford of Fred T. Foard led almost the entire race.

Orange’s Riley White, another senior, also went out in style. She earned the bronze medal in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 59.06 seconds. Carrboro’s Maya Lambers won the state championship at 55.83. seconds. White also came in fourth in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:11.77. Cedar Ridge junior Quinn McCrimmon finished tenth. Kaylee Eggers of Rocky Mount earned the state title.

Orange sophomore Piper White finished sixth in the 50 yard freestyle. She came in seventh in the 100 yard freestyle.

Cedar Ridge junior Quinn McCrimmon finished 10th in the 200 yard individual medley. McCrimmon also came in 13th in the 100 yard butterfly.

Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team of Stinnett, McCrimmon, Sierra Godfrey and Hala Zafar finished 14th.

CARY–It turns out the two best 3A 500 yard freestyle swimmers in the state have been practicing together for years.

And they’re on the same team.

Just like the fierce inner-team competition between Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen drove the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in the 1990s, Luke Roman and Alex Andre were the dynamic that steered Orange men’s swimming to the Central Conference championship for the third straight year this winter.

Often, the best swimmer that Roman and Andre would face in a given week wouldn’t be from an opposing team in a dual meet.

It would be in practice against each other at the Orange County Sportsplex on many a weekday morning.

The ultimate proof came in the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary on Thursday night, when Roman and Andre were paired alongside each other in the 500 yard freestyle finals.

Roman would walk away with the 3A State Championship at 4:41.62.

Andre, situated one lane to the left of Roman, beat Carrboro’s Matt Strada to the wall for second place with a time of 4:44.45. Strada took the bronze at 4;47.37.

Roman, in lane four, led after completing the first lap in 24.94 seconds. Strada would briefly take the lead after lap three, but Roman came back and reassumed command by .15 of a second following the fourth turn. Andre would surpass Strada on lap five, but Roman delivered his best moments in the final stages. He lengthened his lead to 2.1 seconds going into the bell lap.

Roman becomes just the second male swimmer in Hillsborough history to win a state championship. The only other champion was Orange’s Ben Scott, who won the 2018 3A 100 yard freestyle title.

“It’s means so much to me,” Roman said. “I got so emotional when I saw the first place on that scoreboard. Swimming is kind of like a life cycle. I go to school, I swim and I feel like that’s all I do. In the end, I’ve wanted this for such a long time. I’ve been praying so long for this.”

It was a twist of fate from the 2023 3A State Championships. In the sane pool, Andre finished third in the 500 while Roman came in seventh. Facing Andre on a daily basis helped make him a state champion.

“It definitely gets a little competitive,” Roman said. “But we’ve been swimming all of our lives with each other. So it’s something that we’re used to. I love it in the end.”

Earlier in the day, Andre finished fifth in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:00.82. Strada won the gold with a time of 1:55.95.

“By constantly pushing each other in practice, we make each other better,” Andre said.

Roman wound up with two medals on the day. He captured the bronze in the 200 yard freestyle. Andrew Commins of Carrboro took the gold with a time of 1:3.96. Owen Lin of J.H. Rose earned the silver.

“I couldn’t be happier for Luke,” said Orange Swimming coach Ron Geib. “Luke has battled his own mindset sometime and he’s defeating himself when he can win. He’s now proved to himself that he can win at this level. It’s always been there. It’s just a matter of getting over that mental hurdle.”

The elusive state championship completes a dominant year for Roman. Two weeks ago, he lapped the field to win the 500 yard freestyle in the Central Conference Championship in Hillsborough. On Saturday, he took the gold medal in the Central Regionals in the 500, swimming’s marathon race. It’s so lengthy, teammates are stationed at the end of the pool to hold up placards signaling how many laps a swimmer has remaining.

“When you’re doing a 500 yard race, that’s tough,” Geib said. “To be down in the pool and not relent, it’s huge.”

Cedar Ridge’s Nikhil Agans, a senior, finished seventh in the 200 yard freestyle. In the 100 yard freestyle, Agans reached the finals and came in 8th.

In the opening event of the men’s finals, Andre, Roman, Nicholas Baczara and Ayden Twiddy finished 9th in the 200 yard medley relay. After finishing 9th in prelims on Thursday morning, the quartet won the consolation race at 1:46.21.

To close the night, Andre, Baczara, Twiddy and Roman came in 5th in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Carrboro, which claimed the team state championship, won the 400 relay state title.

ROXBORO–In a best-case scenario, the Orange men’s basketball team could have wrapped up the Central Conference regular season championship in Roxboro on Tuesday night.

But the terms “best-case scenario” and “Roxboro” never belong in a sentence together for Orange.

Certainly not on Tuesday night.

As Person defeated Orange 74-68 in Rockets Gymnasium, the race for the conference championship suddenly got more interesting on several fronts.

Orange (11-11, 9-1 in the Central Conference) now leads Eastern Alamance by one game in the loss column for first place with nine days remaining in the regular season. The Eagles defeated Cedar Ridge 72-50 in Mebane on Tuesday to improve to 7-2 in the Central Conference.

Following its Senior Night contest against Southern Alamance this Friday, Orange will travel to face Eastern Alamance on the final night of the regular season February 16.

It was Orange’s fourth straight loss inside Rockets Gymnasium. The Panthers haven’t won in Roxboro since December 15, 2015.

Orange center Ryan Honeycutt, the only senior to regularly start for the Panthers, will miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken thumb following a hard foul against Cedar Ridge in the third quarter on Friday night. Honeycutt’s thumb was in a cast as he watched the game from the bench and won’t be removed for another six weeks, which will cut into baseball season, his top sport.

Losing Honeycutt removed a top finisher and a valuable, experienced rebounder for an Orange team that was fully healthy for the past 12 games, a stretch where the Panthers had gone 9-3 and had won eight straight. Without him, Orange’s offense looked off kilter against the Rockets early.

Then Orange’s leading scorer, Coleman Cloer, was hit with three fouls in the opening quarter, two of which came off the ball. It forced Cloer, who wasn’t called for a foul in either of Orange’s two games last week, to the bench for the entire second quarter.

Not that Cloer was alone in getting in foul trouble. Person’s top two scorers, Lance Clarke and DaeJon Hodge, each picked up two fouls in the first half. Clarke didn’t play in the second quarter, either.

But Person still had finishers. Orange’s last lead in the game came at 4-2 following a drive by sophomore Kai Wade. Without Honeycutt there to close out on him, Hodge drained a series of short, baseline jumpers to put Person ahead 6-4. When Cloer picked up his third foul on an offensive foul on the weak side trying to gain position against Clarke, the Panthers went into a tailspin.

Person went on a 14-2 run that included two more jumpers from Hodge and a three-pointer from Quante Bowman that gave Person its largest lead at 20-8. The only period Orange’s offense was in a rhythm came in the final 4:30 of the second quarter when its three-quarters court press began creating turnovers. Junior Xandrell Pennix led the charge with eleven points in the second quarter, including two three-pointers. Orange finished the half on a 9-2 run behind two 3-pointers from Pennix and got within a point following a lay-in from Freddy Sneed.

In Orange’s 63-58 win over Person in Hillsborough last month, they hit ten 3-pointers. On Tuesday night, they were limited to four.

Cloer, limited to three points in the first half, came out like a hungry animal in the second half. He tied the game at 39-39 following a three-pointer from the corner where Orange got a rare fortunate bounce off a Person rim. The Rockets quickly summoned the lead for good when Clarke scored on a baseline jumper from 15-feet. Person’s Romello Snow, who didn’t score in the first meeting with Orange, dropped a quickly finger roll, the last of his eight points. After Sneed responded for Orange, Clarke drained a 3-pointer to put Person ahead 46-41.

The Rockets got balanced scoring in the fourth quarter to pull away. Reserve center Lamont Johnson opened with back-to-back field goals, the first of five different Person players to score in the final eight minutes. After Cloer was called for his fourth foul for using his off arm to shield a Person defender, Hodge hit a wing jumper to give the Rockets a 58-50 lad with 4:00 remaining. Clarke rebounded a miss by Johnson for a lay-in to increase Person’s lead to 60-50.

Cloer scored 19 of Orange’s 21 points in the fourth quarter, but the only other Panther to get on the scoring ledger late was Mason Robinson off a dunk set up by Cloer.

Orange made a late charge behind Cloer and actually got the lead down to 70-68 after he hit three free throws, but Clarke and Bowman each hit two free throws to put the game away.

As Orange left the floor following its first conference loss, the Rockets students showered them with “overrated” chants.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior basketball guard Amiyah Ware. In her first year at Cedar Ridge, Ware grabbed the scene unlike any women’s basketball player in Hillsborough since possibly Tere Williams at Orange High in the mid-1990s, putting up scoring numbers never seen in town history. A transfer from The Burlington School, Ware set the county record by scoring 54 points in a game against Western Alamance on January 10, 2023. She broke a record that had stood since 1978. The following month in a win over Durham School of the Arts, Ware scored 51 points in a win at Sikes Gymnasium. She became the first player, regardless of gender, to ever score 50 points in a season in Orange County history. This year, Ware has been the leading scorer for a Cedar Ridge team that’s on track to make the state playoffs for the first time since 2018. The Red Wolves swept the season series from Orange for the first time since 2014. She scored 15 points in a victory over the Lady Panthers. Last month, Ware had a season-high 35 points in an overtime win over the Panthers. In November, Ware signed with Division II North Greenville to play college basketball.. While her career at Cedar Ridge will only be two years, she will leave a legacy in the record books that won’t be forgotten.

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Amiyah Ware

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior basketball guard Amiyah Ware. In her first year at Cedar Ridge, Ware grabbed the scene unlike any women’s basketball player in Hillsborough since possibly Tere Williams at Orange High in the mid-1990s, putting up scoring numbers never seen in town history.