Orange Women’s Basketball

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team played to a 1-1 tie with Drexel at Rudd Field in Elon on Sunday. The Phoenix remain undefeated at home. Hodges, a 2018 Orange graduate, scored Elon’s only goal in the 15th minute off a header from six yards out. Hannah Doherty assisted on the goal. Hodges now had three goals for the Phoenix this season. Elon is 8-3-2 overall, 2-1-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They travel to Maryland to play Towson on Sunday.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team fell to Queen’s College 2-1 at Dickson Field in Charlotte on Wednesday night. Jean, a 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate, made seven saves starting as the Saints’ goalkeeper. After not playing in her freshman year, Jean has started nine games this season. She has made 36 saves. Limestone is 4-5, 3-2 in Conference Carolians. They host Converse College at Saints Field in Gaffney, S.C. on Saturday.

Brittany Daley: Division III Greensboro College defeated Meredith College 1-0 at Pride Field on Wednesday night. Daley started her 13th game of the season at center back. Greensboro improved to 9-3-1 overall, 3-0-1 in the USA South Conference. They host Mary Baldwin University on Tuesday.

Jordan Rogers: For the first time in women’s soccer, Division III William Peace defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 2-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on Wednesday night. Rogers made her 13th start of the season at wingback. Peace improved to 6-6-1 overall, 2-1 in the USA South Conference. They face Methodist in Fayetteville on Saturday.

Alfredo Rodriguez: The 2017 Orange High graduate is now a forward for NAIA Montreat men’s soccer team in Black Mountain. Rodriguez has yet to play varsity this season and has shuttled between varsity and junior varsity with the Cavaliers. Montreat has won five in a row and has an overall record of 9-3-1.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: Reid-Shaw was back in the lineup for Division III Dickinson men’s soccer on Tuesday night. It was another down-to-the-wire win for the Red Devils, who defeated Misericordia 3-2 in overtime at Mangelsdorf Field in Dallas, PA. Dickinson’s Kevin Gilbert scored the game-winning goal in the 98th minute. Reid-Shaw has stared seven games this season for Dickinson. The Red Devils improved to 7-5 overall.

Lili Henry: The Division III Pfeiffer volleyball team defeated Methodist in a sweep at the Riddle Center in Fayetteville on Tuesday night. Henry had 15 assists, six digs and two aces for the Monarchs. She played all three sets. Methodist falls to 3-11, 2-4 in the USA South Conference. The Monarchs will travel to Greensboro on Saturday for a tri-match-match against Greensboro College and William Peace at Hanes Gymnasium.

Lauren Cates: The leading scorer from Orange’s women’s basketball team unofficially started her college career last weekend. The Wake Tech women’s basketball team had an exhibition during the Southeast JUCO Jamboree in Albany, GA. The Eagles will officially starts its season against Meredith at Wake Tech on October 22.

When B.J. Condron bid farewell to his women’s basketball class of 2019 last summer, he knew each of the five seniors had a bright future.

The months that followed, predictably, proved him right.

Icez Barnett, the leader of a 19-7 team last season, moved to Murfreesboro to start her college basketball career with Division II Chowan. Three-point ace Lauren Cates finally found a post-Orange basketball destination at Wake Technical Community College.

Not all of the accolades would be on the hardwood. Namron Chapman was named the North Carolina 4-H Youth Volunteer of the Year in July. Grace Dively, the starting point guard for three straight seasons, earned a $2,000 scholarship from Piedmont Energy to study chemical engineering at N.C. State.

Indeed, there was nothing that any of those five seniors could do that would surprise Condron.

And he was wrong.

Earlier this month, Condron received a text message from Kate Burgess, his starting center the past two years.

“I JUST MADE THE UNC ROWING TEAM!”

“What?!” Condron muttered to no one in particular.

“I had no idea she was going out for rowing,” Condron said. “She just sent that text in.”

Burgess was among 18 walk-ons chosen by UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney and her staff among 100 candidates.

Like some of her teammates, Burgess had an exemplary academic record. She also wasn’t afraid to touch a brain in biology class, so why would she be reluctant to go out for a sport she had never participated in?

In May, Burgess was honored by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association with the Heart of a Champion award at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill. She graduated with a 4.42 GPA with plans to study Biomedical Engineering at UNC.

Burgess isn’t interested in engineering as a career. She’s infatuated with it. In biology class, her squeamish classmates would shy away during activities like brain dissection. Burgess practically jumped for the scalpel, then posed for pictures after the grisly process ended.

If anyone asked, she would freely show them her brain dissection gallery on her iPhone.

After her basketball career ended with Eastern Alamance defeated Orange in February in the 3A State Playoffs, there was still a hunger within Burgess to compete.

“I’ve dreamed of being a Division I athlete since I was a kid,” Burgess said. “Especially at UNC because I’m Tar Heel born and bred.”

As her first semester at UNC started in August, Burgess approached assistant rowing coach Emily Gross, who informed her about the walk-on process.

“When I got to school, I got an email telling us about rowing walk-on tryouts,” Burgess said.

The only problem was she had never rowed a boat in her life.

“I figured why not?” Burgess said. “It could be fun and would be a new challenge.”

Burgess had played a sport every season for the past six years. In addition to women’s basketball, she ran cross country (with Dively) in the fall and track & field in the spring.

“We can be very particular about walk-ons because we have such a large campus,” said UNC Rowing Coach Sarah Haney, a resident of Hillsborough. “We don’t need a ton of walk-ons to fill our team. Kate is incredibly coachable. She was proactive before the tryout process about what she needed to do and how she could better herself to be prepared. We liked that attitude.”

Burgess’ 5-10 frame didn’t hurt. But it was her attitude that impressed Haney the most.

“Height definitely does matter, but if you don’t have the right attitude or work ethic, then your height can mean absolutely nothing,” Haney said. “So we liked Kate’s height. But we also liked that she’s presented to us from a character standpoint and a work ethic standpoint.”

While Condron was surprised by Burgess new sport, he knew Kate well enough to know she’s ready for anything.

“I was surprised at first because I didn’t know it was something that she was interested in,” Condron said. “But Kate is an athlete. She played three sports throughout high school. She is laser focused when it comes to accomplishing goals.”

UNC will start its season at the Head of the Charles on October 19 in Boston.