Orange Women’s Basketball

Icez Barnett: The Division II Chowan women’s basketball team started its season with two games in two days. On Friday, North Georgia defeated the Hawks 82-67 in the opening game of the UNG Nighthawk Classic at the UNG Convocation Center in Dahlonega, GA. Barnett, who graduated from Orange in June after being named the co-Big 8 Conference Player of the Year in her senior season, played three minutes without scoring. She was 0-for-1 from the field with one steal. On Saturday, Georgia College defeated Chowan 59-54. Against the Bobcats, Barnett played 12 minutes. She went 0-for-2 from the field and grabbed two rebounds. Chowan plays its home opener against Francis Marion in Wednesday in Murfreesboro.

Lauren Cates: The Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team is off to a 3-2 start. Cates, who also graduated from Orange last June, has started all five games for the Eagles. On Wednesday, Cates scored 12 points in a 67-64 loss to Cape Fear Community College. Cates went 4-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range. She also had three rebounds and two assists. Cates also started in a 67-61 win over CCBC Essex last Sunday. Cates led the Eagles with 12 points in a 58-50 loss to USC-Salkehatchie on November 9. In a 117-24 rout of Fayetteville Technical Community College, Cates scored a career-high 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting.

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team won its first game of the season with a 74-52 victory over Montclair State at Trinity Tip-Off Tournament at Oosting Gymnasium in Hartford, CT on Saturday. Campbell, now a redshirt sophomore who graduated from Orange in 2017, played eight minutes. She grabbed three rebounds and had one assist. Eastern Connecticut State defeated Trinity 77-67 on Friday. Campbell came off the bench to score two points.

Trenton Gill: Louisville, coached by 1991 Orange High graduate Scott Satterfield, defeated N.C. State 34-20 on Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Gill punted twice. He averaged 54 yards per punt. His longest was 58 yards. Gill also had four kickoffs. Two of them went for touchbacks.

Keshawn Thompson: In FCS action on Saturday, Monmouth defeated Campbell 47-10 at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek. Thompson had a tackle for loss. The Camels are 6-4, 3-2 in the Big South Conference. They conclude its season at Charleston Southern next Saturday.

Adam Chnupa: Maine defeated Elon 31-17 on Senior Day for the Phoenix at Rhodes Stadium. Chnupa played special teams for Elon. The Phoenix are 4-6, 3-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association. They will conclude its season next Saturday at Towson.

Rodney Brooks: Johnston C. Smith defeated Livingston 34-6 at Alumni Memorial Stadium in Salisbury. Brooks finished the year with four tackles, including one-half tackle for loss. He also had a pass breakup. The Blue Bears end the season 4-6, 1-6 in the CIAA.

Kevin Wright: North Carolina Wesleyan had a successful end to the season on Saturday. The Battling Bishops defeated Maryville 23-0 at the Vernon T. Bradley Complex in Rocky Mount. Wright played safety. Wesleyan finished the year 6-4 overall, 5-2 in the USA South Athletic Conference. They finished one game behind conference champion Huntingdon.

Jack Schmid: Division III Wheaton College completed an undefeated regular season with a 10-0 record as they routed Elmhurst 58-0 in Naperville, IL. Schmid, a former quarterback at Orange, has played two games for the Thunder this season. Wheaton will host Martin Luther in the opening round of the Division III playoffs next Saturday at McCully Stadium.

Taylor Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team had its season end on Thursday. Mount Olive defeated the Saints 1-0 in the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas tournament. Jean started as the Limestone goalkeeper and made five saves in the loss. This season, Jean started 16 games in net. She finished with a 8-8 record and a 1.37 goals against average and 56 saves.

Keshawn Thompson: The Campbell Fighting Camels of the Football Championship Subdivision suffered its first Big South Conference loss of the season to #11 Kennesaw State, 38-35, at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek on Saturday. Thompson, who wasn’t credited for a tackle last week against North Alabama, made a career-high seven tackles against the Owls. A redshirt sophomore, Thompson had five tackles in a season-opening loss to Troy of the Sun Belt Conference. Campbell is 6-3 overall, 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. They return to action against Monmouth next Saturday.

Payton Wilson: #4 Clemson defeated N.C. State 55-10 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh Saturday night. Wilson, a redshirt freshman, left the game with a sprained left shoulder in the 2nd quarter and didn’t return. Wilson had two tackles up to that point. He emerged from the locker room with his left arm in a sling on the sidelines during the 2nd half. After the game, Wolfpack Coach Dave Doeren said he didn’t know how long Wilson would be out. N.C. State has three games remaining, starting with Louisville next Saturday in Raleigh.

Trenton Gill: Against Clemson, Gill had five punts for an average of 52.2 yards per punt. On a brisk night, his longest was 75 yards. Three of the punts were over 50 yards, two were downed inside the 20-yard line and one was a touchback. Gill also had three kickoffs, one of which was a touchback.

Adam Chnupa: The FCS Elon Phoenix’s hopes making the FCS playoffs took a drastic hit on Saturday after losing 31-17 to Maine at Rhodes Stadium in Elon. Chnupa, redshirt freshman, played special teams for Elon, who falls to 4-6, 3-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Rodney Brooks: In CIAA action on Saturday, Fayetteville State defeated Livingston 32-0 at Alumni Memorial Stadium in Salisbury. Brooks, who suited up for Livingstone, had three tackles, including one for a loss. Brooks is classified as a junior, according to the Livingstone website. The Blue Bears haven’t scored in eight quarters and have lost five straight. They’re 4-5 overall, 1-5 in the CIAA. They conclude the season next week against Johnston C. Smith in Salisbury next week.

Chandler Compton: After four years on the Wofford men’s soccer team, Compton’s college career came to an end on Friday night. The Terriers lost to Mercer 3-0 in the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament at Stone Soccer Stadium in Greenville, S.C. Wofford finished the year 4-13-1. Compton played in two games. He played 17 games in his Wofford career. He scored one goal in 2018 against VMI.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The college career of Lionel Reid-Shaw also ended on Saturday. Division III Johns Hopkins defeated Dickinson 2-0 in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Tournament at Franklin & Marshall University in Lancaster, PA. Reid-Shaw scored his only college goal last week in his final home game against Muhlenberg. Reid-Shaw concludes his career with the Red Devils with 67 games played. He started 45 with one goal and one assist. Dickinson ends the year 10-8.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone Saints women’s soccer team defeated North Greenville University 2-1 in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament on Saturday at Saints Field in Gaffney, S.C. Jean started at goalkeeper for the Saints and earned the win after she made three saves. Limestone, who is a #4 seed in the tournament, will face regular season champion Mount Olive on Thursday in the semifinals.

Brittany Daley: The season of the Division III Greensboro College women’s soccer team ended in the semifinals of the USA South Athletic Conference on Friday. Covenant College defeated Greensboro 3-1 on penalty kicks after the two sides played to a scoreless tie in regulation. Greensboro lost despite outshooting the Scots 22-3 in regulation. As she has done every game this season, Daley started at center back for the Pride. Daley didn’t attempt a penalty during the shootout. Greensboro, which went undefeated in the regular season last year only to lose in the USA South Conference Tournament and were denied a trip to the Division III National Tournament, end the year 13-4-2. Daley, a sophomore, started all 19 games for the Pride.

Bailey Lucas: The Division III Meredith volleyball team had its season come to an end in the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals on Friday. Maryville defeated Methodist 3-1 in the USA South semifinals at the Grant Center in Danville, VA. Lucas started again for Meredith and finished with 25 assists, eleven digs, and one kill. In the quarterfinals, Meredith defeated William Peace 3-1 at Weatherspoon Gym in Raleigh on Wednesday. Lucas started and had 28 assists, 10 digs and one kill. Meredith ends the year 20-9. Lucas was 2nd on the team this season with 267 assists.

Icez Barnett: The Division II Chowan women’s basketball team had an exhibition game against Gardner-Webb last week. The Running Bulldogs won 69-33. Barnett came off the bench and played three minutes. She grabbed one rebound. The Hawks will officially start its season on Friday against North Georgia in Dahlonega, GA.

Lauren Cates: Wake Tech Community College improved to 2-0 on the season with a 117-24 win over Fayetteville Technical Community College at Reid Ross Gymnasium in Fayetteville on Wednesday night. Cates scored 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range. Cates also had three rebounds, three steals and two assists. On Saturday, the Eagles suffered its first loss of the season to South Carolina-Salkehatchie 58-50. Statistics from that game weren’t immediately available.

With basketball season only two weeks away, the Orange men’s and women’s basketball teams won’t wait until the season-opener against Northern Guilford to ring in the new year.

Instead, they’re starting things in grand fashion on Friday afternoon.

The first-ever Panther Hoops Tip-Off Celebration is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 4:15 inside Orange High Gymnasium. The brainchild of Orange men’s basketball coach Derryl Britt, the event will include a grand introduction for the men’s and women’s players that will start the season at Northern Guilford on November 22 in Greensboro.

The event will include a 3-point shooting challenge, a dunk exhibition, and an Orange-White intersquad scrimmage. Each of the players for the 2019-20 season will be introduced with music and fanfare. Cost for the event is $3 for students and $5 for non-students.

The tipoff will take place just before the Orange football team’s Senior Night game against Chapel Hill at nearby Auman Stadium.

The Tip-Off Celebration will also include a cheerleading and dance presentation at 4:30. There will also be a drumlins presentation. The women’s team will be introduced at 4:45.

The Orange High women, which finished 2nd in the Big 8 Conference last season, are coached by B.J. Condron. They will look to replace co-Big 8 Player of the Year Icez Barnett, who now plays at Division II Chowan University. Orange also lost guard Lauren Cates, who led the team in scoring last season. Cates now plays at Wake Tech.

“It’s Coach Britt’s idea,” Condron said. “He’s been very persistent about it. He’s worked very hard to get it going and I think it will be a great way to introduce our team to the community this season. I’m looking forward to it.”

The men’s team will be introduced at 4:50. Britt, now in his second season, returns senior Joey McMullin, who started on Orange’s 2015-16 Big 8 Conference regular season championship team that reached the state quarterfinals. Jason Franklin, now on his third year on the varsity team, provides valuable backcourt scoring for the Panthers after being a regular starter last season.

Among the other events at the Tip-Off Celebration will be a relay race at 5:00. There will be a women’s 3-point shootout at 5:15, following by a men’s 3-point shootout at 5:30.

The women’s team will have a scrimmage starting at 6, following by a men’s scrimmage at 6:20. The event will wrap-up at 6:40 to give fans and students plenty of time to walk over to the football stadium to watch the final home football game of the season.

After starting the season against Northern Guilford, the Orange men and women will have its home opener against Granville Central on December 3. Granville Central is coached by Mike McDaniel, a former All-PAC-6 Conference linebacker at Orange who also was once a defensive coordinator for the Panther football team. It will be a rematch of an emotional Orange win over GCHS in front of a packed and heated gymnasium.

The Orange men will have an endowment game against Southern Lee on December 5, which will not include a women’s game. The Orange women will travel to Southern Alamance on December 6.

Trenton Gill: In his first year playing for the N.C. State football team, 2018 Cedar Ridge graduate Trent Gill has been put on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, presented to the college punter of the year. This season, as a sophomore, Gill has averaged 47.1 yards per punt. Of his 40 punts, eleven have been downed inside the 20-yard line. He’s had eighteen punts of over 50 yards, along with five touchbacks. Gill also handles kickoffs for the Wolfpack. At Cedar Ridge, Gill was an All-Big 8 Conference performer in football and men’s soccer. The Wolfpack will host #4 Clemson this Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Kayla Hodges: The Elon women’s soccer team had its season come to an end on Sunday in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. Top-seeded Hofstra defeated the Phoenix 3-1 on Sunday at Hofstra Soccer Stadium. Hodges started at midfield at fired one shot. After winning only three games in 2018, Elon went 12-6-2 this year. Hodges was named second-team All-CAA. She finished the year with four goals, two assists and ten points. Hodges, a sophomore, started all 18 games that she appeared in for Elon.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team ended the regular season with a 2-0 victory over King University at Parks Field in Bristol, TN on Sunday. Jean started as goalkeeper for the Saints and earned the win by making one save. She played 77 minutes. Limestone finished the regular season 9-8, 8-3 in Conference Carolinas. Limestone is the #4 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, which starts on Friday. In the opening round, Limestone will host North Greenville University. In the regular season, Jean started all 17 games for the Saints in net. She went 9-8 with a 1.37 goals against average. She had six shutouts.

Lionel Reid-Shaw: The Division III Dickinson men’s soccer team finished its regular season on Saturday. Johns Hopkins defeated the Red Devils 4-1 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. Reid-Shaw, who scored the first goal of his four-year career last week, started for the Red Devils at centerback. Dickinson ended the regular season 10-7 overall, 6-3 in the Centennial Conference. The Red Devils earned a #3 seed for the Centennial Conference tournament, which starts Saturday at Franklin & Marshall University in Lancaster, PA. Dickinson will face Johns Hopkins, once again, in the opening round.

Madison Wardlow: Now playing for the Guilford Technical Community College women’s basketball team, Wardlow scored 28 points for the Titans in an exhibition game in Apex. Interestingly enough, one of the officials for the game was Felton Page, who was Wardlow’s high school coach. Page resigned as Cedar Ridge women’s coach in March. On a totally and completely unrelated note, Wardlow finished the game with one foul. Wardlow will officially start her career on Wednesday night at Methodist College in the Riddle Center in Fayetteville.

Lauren Cates: The 2019 Orange High graduate started her college career with the Wake Technical Community College Eagles on Monday night. Cates started and scored nine points as the Eagles defeated Caldwell Community College 57-47 in Raleigh. Cates was 3-of-11 from the field. All of her field goals were 3-pointers. Wake Tech continues its season at Fayetteville Technical Community College on Wednesday night.

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.