Orange Women’s Basketball

In what may have been a first in program history, the Orange women’s basketball team didn’t allow a point in the final 18 minutes of regulation in a game. The Lady Panthers rolled past South Granville 51-6 on Tuesday night to improve to 3-0. Junior forward Jala Rainey made the first start of her high school career and scored nine points, the most since the end of her freshman year when she scored 15 against Northern Durham. Rainey had a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Senior Grace Andrews led Orange with ten points. Orange will wrap up the week on Thursday against Carrboro, then venture into Big 8 Conference play next Tuesday against East Chapel Hill in Hillsborough.

Orange sophomore guard Aaliyah Harris scored a career-high 17 points as the Lady Panthers defeated Southern Alamance 47-39 in Graham on Friday night. In the second half, the Lady Panthers were held to two field goals, but Harris went 4-of-4 from the foul line to help Orange pull out its second win of the season. It was just the second time in Harris’s career that she scored in double figures. Last year, she put up 12 points in a 55-48 win over Franklinton in the Granville Central Holiday Tournament. She scored nine points against Granville Central in the season opener on Tuesday. Orange hosts South Granville on Tuesday in Hillsborough. You can hear that game starting at 6 on Hillsboroughsports.com. 

Photo courtesy of Card Chronicle

Scott Satterfield: The 1991 Orange High graduate, who grew up miles from the Caldwell community where he watched his father Freddie run street stock race cars at the Orange County Speedway, is the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Coach of the Year. The official announcement came Thursday morning from the ACC office in Greensboro. Among a panel of 46 media members, Satterfield received 23 votes. Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall finished second with 17. Dabo Sweeney of Clemson received 15 votes.

Satterfield took over the reigns of the Louisville Cardinals last December after leaving Appalachian State, his alma mater. The Cardinals were picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. Louisville went 7-5, 5-3 in the ACC. They became bowl eligible with a victory over N.C. State in Raleigh on November 16. The Cardinals also played three ranked teams in 2019, including its season-opener against #9 Notre Dame on September 1.

On October 13, Louisville defeated #19 Wake Forest at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, its first road win over a ranked team since 2011.

At Appalachian State, Satterfield led the Mountaineers to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championships. His final game with the Mountaineers came in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship game, where Appalachian defeated the University of Louisiana 30-19 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone. Afterwards, Satterfield left for Louisville while assistant Mark Ivey prepared the Mountaineers for the New Orleans Bowl, which they won over Middle Tennessee.

Satterfield played quarterback and safety for the Orange Panthers in 1990. His junior season was cut short in 1989 after he tore his ACL in the season opener against Eastern Alamance in Mebane.

Trenton Gill: The former Cedar Ridge football and soccer star was named 3rd-team All-ACC punter by a panel of 46 media members and the ACC’s 14 head coaches. Gill received 61 votes. After he didn’t play his freshman year at N.C. State, Gill averaged 47.6 yards per punt in 2019, a school record. He also averaged a net of 41.5 yards per punt. 50% of Gill’s punts were over 50 yards. Of Gill’s 56 punts, 17 were downed inside the 20-yard line. As a placekicker, 50% of Gill’s kickoff were touchbacks. Gill was nominated for the Ray Guy Award, but didn’t made the cut for semifinalists. Gill was an All-Big 8 Conference performer in soccer and football at Cedar Ridge.

Icez Barnett: Belmont Abbey defeated Division II Chowan 83-57 in women’s basketball on Tuesday night. Barnett played six minutes and grabbed one rebound. The Hawks are now 1-6 overall, 1-2 in Conference Carolinas. Chowan returns to action against Erskine on December 14.

Lauren Cates: Spartanburg Methodist defeated the Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team 66-56 in Spartanburg, SC on Monday. Cates started and was the only Eagle to play all 40 minutes. She finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-11 from 3-point range. Cates also had three rebounds and one assist. Wake Tech is 5-3, 3-2 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Cates has started all eight of the Eagles games. She is the second leading scorer on the team with 10.6 points per game. She’s shooting 37% from 3-point range. The Eagles travel to Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, VA on Saturday.

The new chapter of Orange women’s basketball has officially opened.

Icez Barnett, Lauren Cates, Grace Dively and Kate Burgess were the last pieces of the most successful team in school history. That was the 2016-17 squad that won 21 consecutive games to open the season, finished 26-2 and won the Big 8 Regular Season and Tournament Championships.

All four of those players graduated in June.

On Tuesday night, Coach B.J. Condron started three sophomores, one freshman and a senior in long-awaited season opener against Granville Central. Without the smooth poise of Barnett controlling the offense or Cates waiting in the corner for one of her trademark 3-pointers, the Lady Panthers were predictably rough around the edges, but they still had enough for a comfortable win.

Grace Andrews and Jarmil Wingate each scored ten points to lead Orange to a 56-36 victory, the fourth year in a row that the Lady Panthers won its season opener. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris added nine, while freshman center Erin Jordan-Cornell scored eight points.

While the ball handling wasn’t as secure as past Orange teams, there was a new shade of aggressiveness and tenacity from the Lady Panthers. More than a few players probably awoke to bruises on their bodies Wednesday morning from diving on the floor for the many loose balls caused by deflections.

Part of that may have come from Orange practicing for an inordinate amount of time. The Lady Panthers were originally slated to start on November 22 against Northern Guilford, but the game was cancelled because the Nighthawks’ football team hosted a state playoff game.

With an extra eleven days before its first game, Condron arranged extra practices with various men’s players.

“We’ve been emphasizing putting in more effort,” Condron said. “We wanted to play hard defensively to get our offense going. They took it to heart. It’s something I was unsure about because we’ve seen it in practice at times, but not all the time.”

Orange led 16-12 at the half, but Central nearly tied the contest in the opening minutes of the third quarter after Coryiah White sank an 18-footer. Central missed a layup that would have evened the game. Orange went on a 10-0 run behind nine points from Andrews in the third quarter. Wingate added a field goal, while Jordan-Cornell got to the foul line ten times in her first Orange game.

“Jarmil always puts herself in a good position because of her effort,” Condron said. “She can hit a midrange jump shot. I think towards the end we had some really good passes against the press that found her open a few times.”

Going into the fourth quarter ahed 34-23, Orange put the game on ice with seven different players scoring. Sophomore point guard Aaliyah Harris scored nine, while classmate Mary Moss Wirt added six.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to react in the first game,” Condron said. “I think Aaliyah did a good job setting the tone for it all. We were a little bit unsure, but she battled for loose balls and led the charge. Everybody kind of followed in with her.”

Orange will travel to Southern Alamance on Friday night.

The Orange women’s basketball team finally started its season on Tuesday night, eleven days after they were supposed to. The Lady Panthers defeated Granville Central 52-32 in Hillsborough. After four starters graduated last year, Orange started three sophomores and one freshman. Forward Jarmil Wingate scored ten points, including eight in the second half as the Lady Panthers pulled away with a 10-0 run in the third quarter. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris added nine points. Senior Grace Andrews added ten points as Orange beat Central for the second straight year. Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell added nine. Orange will travel to Southern Alamance on Friday night. You can hear that game on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 6. 

Payton Wilson: UNC defeated N.C. State 41-10 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh on Saturday night. Wilson concluded his freshman season with the first interception of his college career, which led to a field goal from Chris Dunn in the 2nd quarter that evened the game 6-6. Wilson also led N.C. State with 14 tackles, including four solo. To conclude his freshman season, Wilson led the team with 69 tackles, one more than sophomore Tanner Ingle. Wilson had 36 unassisted tackles, second on the team. He had five tackles for loss and will likely be included in several year-end awards which will be announced in the subsequent days.

Trenton Gill: The former Cedar Ridge punter was busy during the 2nd half of the UNC game. He had six punts for a 48.3 average. His longest punt was 68 yards, his only attempt over 50 yards on the night. Two of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. Gill, who was named to the Ray Guy Watch list last month, was not named a semifinalist. He ends the year with 56 punts for an average of 47.6 yards per attempt. His longest of the year was 75 yards. 24 of the 56 punts were over 50 yards, and 16 of them were downed inside the 20-yard line.

Icez Barnett: Division II Mount Olive defeated Chowan 63-57 on Tuesday inside the Helms Center in Murfreesboro on Wednesday night. Barnett scored two points off 1-of-4 shooting from the field. She played ten minutes. Barnett also grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots. On Saturday, UNC Pembroke defeated Chowan 55-51 at English E. Jones Center in Pembroke. Barnett played 20 minutes, the most of any of her six games thus far. She went 0-for-5 from the field and finished scoreless, but she did grab two rebounds and dish out an assist. The Hawks are 1-5 overall, 1-1 in Conference Carolinas. Chowan travels to Belmont Abbey on Tuesday.

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team routed Sarah Lawrence 68-28 on Monday at Oosting Gymnasium in Hartford, CT. Campbell, a redshirt sophomore, scored seven points off the bench in 15 minutes. She shot 3-of-5 from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3-point range. Campbell also grabbed four rebounds, and was credited with two assists and a steal. The Bantams had a game scheduled against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Sunday, but it was canceled because of winter weather. Trinity is 6-1, has won six in a row and closed out a stretch of seven games in ten days with the Sarah Lawrence win. They travel to Connecticut College on Thursday.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The former Orange Panther ended his college soccer career with Division III Dickinson College last month. Johns Hopkins defeated Dickinson 2-0 in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Tournament at Franklin & Marshall University in Lancaster, PA on November 9. Reid-Shaw started at center back. The Red Devils end the year 10-8. Reid-Shaw ends his career with 67 games played. He scored he only goal of his Dickinson career on his senior night game, a 3-1 victory over Muhlenberg on October 30. This season, Reid-Shaw played in 17 games, starting 13. He had one assist in his sophomore year.

Payton Wilson: After he missed the Louisville game on November 16 with an injured shoulder, Wilson returned to the lineup for the N.C. State football team on Thursday night in Atlanta. Georgia Tech defeated the Wolfpack 28-26 in Bobby Dodd Stadium. Wilson finished with seven tackles, including a half-tackle for loss. The loss ended any chance of the Wolfpack making a bowl game. Wilson is second on the Wolfpack with 55 tackles. Only sophomore safety Tanner Ingle has more. He also has five tackles for loss and three pass breakups. N.C. State will face North Carolina next Saturday in Raleigh to end the year.

Trenton Gill: The former Cedar Ridge kicker had three punts against the Yellow Jackets. He averaged 40 yards per punt with one downed inside the 20-yard line. Gill also had six kickoff for with two touchbacks.

Keshawn Thompson: The FCS Campbell Camels ended the season with a 41-31 loss to Charleston Southern at Buccaneer Field in Charleston, S.C. Thompson had two tackles against the Buccaneers. Thompson concludes the campaign with 24 tackles with one for a loss. After a 6-1 start, the Camels end the year on a four-game losing streak. They went 3-3 in the Big South Conference.

Adam Chnupa: The FCS Elon Phoenix concluded the season in thrilling fashion on Saturday. Skyler Davis kicked a 35-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining as Elon defeated Towson 25-23 at Unitas Stadium in Towson, MD. Chnupa was credited with a tackle on special teams, the first tackle of his college career. Elon ended the year 5-6, 4-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Icez Barnett: The 2019 Orange High graduate scored her first college points on Saturday. Division II Chowan edged North Greenville 76-75 at the Helms Center in Murfreesboro. It was Chowan’s Conference Carolinas opener. Barnett played nine minutes off the bench, scored four points and grabbed five rebounds, four of them offensive. She also had two steals. The Hawks are 1-3 and will host Mount Olive on Tuesday.

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team won two games in the Gordon College Classic at Bennett College in Wenham, MA this weekend. On Friday, the Bantams defeated New England College 68-56. Campbell played seven minutes as a reserve and didn’t score. On Saturday, Trinity defeated Gordon 68-57. Campbell didn’t play in the game. Trinity has won five in a row and will play its seventh game in ten days against Sarah Lawrence College on Saturday.

Lauren Cates: As mentioned in Wednesday’s update, the Wake Technical Community College women’s basketball team defeated Lenoir Community College 88-51 on Wednesday in Kinston. Cates, who graduated in June, finished with 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. She was 2-of-5 from 3-point range and one of four Eagles in double figures. Cates also had five rebounds, four assists and two assists. Through seven games, Cates has started every contest for the Eagles. She’s averaging 11 points per contest and shooting 42.5% from 3-point range. Wake Tech returns to action against Spartanburg Methodist on December 2.

Madison Wardlow: After she played in some of the opening game of the season for Guilford Technical Community College, Wardlow is out right now with a leg injury.