Orange High School

The Orange men’s basketball team claimed its eighth straight win over crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 63-41 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Early in the third quarter, Cedar Ridge led 23-22, but Orange went on a 18-6 run to put the game away. Orange’s Ethan Ellis drained a 3-pointer as the first half expired to put Orange ahead 22-18, which was its largest lead of the game at that point. Orange’s defense held the Red Wolves without a field goal in the second quarter. A big part of that was sophomore Jalen Crayton, who finished with seven points and five blocks. Crayton, the younger brother of 2024 Orange graduate Lily Crayton, found himself manning the middle after the transfer of Mason Robinson from Greensboro Day School last summer. Crayton has continued to make progress for a different type of Orange squad compared to last year’s conference championship team. This Panther team is driven defensively by guard Kai Wade, Xandrell Pennix and Freddy Sneed. Last week, Ellis hit two crucial 3-pointers in Orange’s win over Williams in Burlington. It was the Panthers fifth straight win over Williams and their third straight in Burlington. Orange will continue a busy week wit a trip to Roxboro to face rival Person in a crucial Central Conference battle on Thursday night.

Orange’s Jalen Crayton and Ethan Ellis discuss win over Cedar Ridge

The Orange men’s basketball team claimed its eighth straight win over crosstown rival Cedar Ridge 63-41 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Early in the third quarter, Cedar Ridge led 23-22, but Orange went on a 18-6 run to put the game away.

Since her freshman year, Evelyn George has gone about things her own way with the Orange women’s basketball team.

She’s never been the most physically imposing or boisterous. But she has been remarkably consistent as the Lady Panthers have reached the 3A State Playoff each of the last four years.

Very quickly during her senior year at Orange, George has had the landmark moments in her career add up. Last Friday, she registered her 20th career double-double in Orange’s 58-41 win at Williams, the Lady Panthers first victory in Burlington since 2018.

On Tuesday night, George became the first Lady Panther to score 1,000 career points in six years. True to form for one of the most consistent finishers in school history, George surpassed the milestone off a lay-in assisted by Maura McMurtry.

George is the first Orange player to score 1,000 points since Lauren Cates, a three-point ace who graduated in 2019. Cates was a member of Orange’s last conference championship team in 2016-2017.

George finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals as Orange (7-6 overall, 2-2 in the Central Conference) defeated Cedar Ridge 47-22 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. After Cedar Ridge freshman Elliott Wisenfeld scored on a lay-in assisted by Kassidy Tolliver, Orange went on a 12-2 run. The Lady Panthers limited the Red Wolves to three field goals in the first half.

Orange senior Kyla Mehl had a career-high five points during the early spurt that put the game away. Natalie Robertson and Marshea Byrd had field goals to close out the first quarter as Orange shot 5-of-8 from the field in the opening eight minutes.

George opened the second quarter by sinking a jumper, then created a steal off full-court pressure and scored off a lay-in.

Cedar Ridge, who swept the regular season series from Orange last year, was led by Wisenfeld with six points. The Lady Panthers defense sunk its claws into the Red Wolves defensively. Cedar Ridge shot just 13% from the field.

Senior Shannon Murphy added eight points for Orange, while senior center Marshea Byrd added six points and seven rebounds.

BURLINGTON–There’s no place like home for the holidays.

Unfortunately, it’s a place that Orange basketball won’t be seeing for awhile.

On December 23, the Panthers played the Ivanhoe Knights out of Australia at Northeast Guilford High School. It started a string of ten consecutive games away from Panther Gymnasium.

In the midst of the coldest winter in several years, there’s also the problem of illness and fatigue.

Sure enough, the Orang men’s basketball team was sick and tired as they entered Burlington last Friday night. Coach Derryl Britt didn’t make the trip because he was under the weather. Assistant coach Lemont Jones, who lives six minutes away from Williams High in Graham, learned at about 1 o’clock on Friday afternoon that he would serve as acting head coach.

While Orange’s shooting was as cold as the winter early, the Panthers overcame foul trouble to post its fifth straight win over Williams 66-60. Junior point guard Kai Wade led the Panthers with 20 points as Orange improved to 10-4 overall, its best start ever in Britt’s seven-year tenure.

Orange didn’t trail after the midway point of the first quarter, but never built a lead larger than eight points until the final minute of regulation.

Jaeden Smith paces Williams (5-6, 0-1 in the Central Conference) with 21 points.

With Orange leading 29-24 at halftime, Panther senior Michael Clark opened the second half with a stickback bucket to give the Panthers its largest lead of the game. Whenever Orange pushed its lead out to seven points, the Bulldogs found a way to draw closer. Williams’ Cavion Stokes drained his only field goal of the game beyond the arc narrowed the Panthers’ lead to 38-34. Orange senior Freddy Sneed, who finished with 14 points, scored on an acrobatic lay-in. Just moments after checking into the game for the first time, the Bulldogs’ Kyrian Fuller scored off a lay-in while getting fouled by Jalen Crayton. Fuller’s free throw reduced Orange’s lead to 38-37 with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Orange junior Ethan Ellis came up with back-to-back 3-pointers from the same spot in the left corner to extend the Panther advantage to 44-37.

Elliot, who scored eleven of his 15 points in the second half, started the fourth quarter with a dribble drive lay-in to cut the Panther lead to 44-42. Orange center Hector Garrido got two offensive rebounds on a possession that wound up with Xandrell Pennix scoring his first three-pointer of the game. After Elliot scored on another lay-in, Pennix immediately drained another shot from downtown. Wade knocked down seven free throws in the final minute to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Smith scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half.

Women’s Basketball: Orange 58, Water Williams 41: On the night she claimed her 20th career double-double, Orange senior Evelyn George may have come the closest anyone has in women’s basketball history to a triple-double.

George finished with 18 points, ten rebounds and seven assists as Orange rolled past Williams in Burlington to win its first Central Conference game. Senior center Marshea Byrd added eleven points and four rebounds as the Lady Panthers won in Burlington for the first time since December 6, 2018.

Despite finishing seventh in the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoops Invitational, the Lady Panthers made its presence felt. They extended Southeast Alamance to double overtime on December 27 before falling 74-72. Orange senior Shannon Murphy scored a career-high 18 points against the Stallions. Maura McMurtry added 21 points to lead Orange against the Stallions,

After losing to Green Hope in the consolation round, Orange easily put away Northeast Guilford 60-28 in the seventh place game. George finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Byrd came away with five points and ten rebounds. McMurtry finished with 14 points off 4-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.

With the win over Williams, Orange is now 6-6 overall.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior point guard Kai Wade. The Panthers opened the season with a win over Voyager Academy on November 15. Wade set a career-high with 31 points in a 75-64 Orange victory. After Coleman Cloer and Mason Robinson each left Orange after their sophomore seasons last June, a greater scoring load fell on Wade’s shoulders. He has responded by being the team’s leading scorer, averaging 14.7 points per game after 13 games. Wade led Orange with 18 points in Orange’s 60-50 win over Williams on Friday night. It was the Panthers third straight win over Williams at Spike Gymnasium. Wade has been a winner in basketball dating back to his days at Gravelly Hill Middle School, where he was a starter on the Grizzlies 2020 Orange Person Athletic Conference championship team. He formed a bond with teammates Freddy Sneed, Xandrell Pennix, Cloer and Robinson from the time he started as a freshman at Orange. Last year, he was the starter for Orange’s 2024 Central Conference Tournament championship team, the first time since 2016 that the Panthers won a postseason conference tournament. Wade also helped the Panthers to the 2024 Central Conference regular season title, the first time since 2017 that the Panthers won a regular season crown. Wade will continue his junior season at Cedar Ridge on Tuesday night.

Orange Panther of the Week: Kai Wade

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior point guard Kai Wade. The Panthers opened the season with a win over Voyager Academy on November 15. Wade set a career-high with 31 points in a 75-64 Orange victory.

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CREEDMOOR: There are some things in this world you can’t explain.

Like how a team can lose three consecutive games separated by 727 days inside a random gymnasium, 28 miles from hits home, each time because of game-winning shots at the buzzer.

The Orange men’s basketball team got a sour reminder of why the South Granville Holiday Invitational is viewed as Black Christmas around Panther circles on Friday night in the opening round of the Navy Bracket tournament at Viking Gymnasium. East Wake’s Jamal Tayborn drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Warriors, who came into the game 1-6, past Orange 57-54.

Orange junior Kai Wade, who has started in each of the Panthers’ painful losses at South Granville, had tied the game on a layup with :7.6 seconds remaining. In desperation, the Warriors, out of timeouts, found Byers along the left sideline to drain a 21-footer just as (or, as some Orange coaches felt, after) the buzzer sounded.

Orange (8-3) didn’t have star forward Freddy Sneed, who was sick. His absence made the night as pleasurable as a root canal for Orange, whose largest lead was four points. The Panthers’ usual spark defensively to create points off steals was lacking. On top of that, a rangy, tall Warriors team forced Orange into a season-high 20 turnovers.

In 2022, Orange reached the semifinals of the South Granville Holiday Invitational and led South Granville 64-58 with 1:33 remaining. The Vikings used its press to storm back and win at the buzzer off a layup by K.J. Green to beat Orange 67-65. The following day in the third place game, Sanderson’s Tommy Lyon sank a one-handed runner as time expired to beat Orange 55-54, ruining a late Panther comeback, led by 29 points from freshman Coleman Cloer.

Orange freshman Xandrell Pennix led Orange with 20 points.

East Wake’s Donovan Majette led the Warriors with 20 points, including 17 in the first half. The Warriors made its living behind the arc in the first half, scoring six consecutive field goals  to keep it close at halftime. Orange senior Michael Clark scored 12 points in the first half. Pennix scored the final six points of the first half to push the Panthers to a 36-32 halftime lead.

Orange led going into the fourth quarter by four points, but the Warriors got three field goals from Jacob Byers, who finished with ten points, including a stickback basket that gave East Wake a 50-44 lead, the largest of the game by either side.

The Panthers will face Wakfield in the consolation round on Monday morning at 11. East Wake will face Jordan in the semifinals.

Women’s basketball: Southeast Alamance 74, Orange 72 (2OT): 

In possibly its most inspired performance of the year, the Orange women took the 2nd-seed in the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoopla Tournament to the edge of elimination on Friday night in Haw River. The Stallions (7-1) defeated Orange behind Clara LaChapelle with 20 points.

Orange received a career-high 18 points from senior Shannon Murphy off 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Lady Panthers point guard Maura McMurtry shot 6-of-7 from 3-point range and led all scorers with 21 points. Senior forward Evelyn George finished with her sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. She also finished with five blocks.

Shaniya Paylor added 19 points for Southeast Alamance, who advanced to the tournament championship game with a win over Eastern Alamance on Saturday.

The Orange women will face Northeast Guilford in the 7th pace game on Monday morning at 9:30.

Men’s Basketball: Apex 81, Cedar Ridge 55: 

A good start for the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team wasn’t enough against a deep Apex squad in the opening round of the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoopla men’s tournament on Friday night. The Red Wolves scored the opening four points, but the Cougars went on a 15-2 run to take control of the game.

The Red Wolves were without center Jack Kelsey. Reserve Rowan Wise, in his first varsity game for Cedar Ridge, scored nine points.

The Cougars put three players, all reserves, in double-figures. Zaelyn White came off the bench to score 16 points while Stephen Beatty added 15. Jacob Lubker scored 14 points.

Braeden Wilbourn led Cedar Ridge with 17 points. The Red Wolves will face Carrboro in the 7th place game on Monday morning. The Red Wolves opened the season with a victory over the Jaguars.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior centerback Dallas Johnson. Last fall, Johnson was a valuable presence as Orange completed its most successful season in the 37-year history of the program. Orange won 16 games, a school record, and finished second behind only eventual 3A State Champion Western Alamance. The Panthers defeated Swansboro 1-0 to win the first home state playoff match in team history on November 9. Earlier this month, Johnson was named to the 3A All-State team by the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association as a defensive player. He is just the third Orange player to ever earn All-State honors. This season, Johnson helped the Panthers to eight clean sheet victories as the Panthers finished 16-6. He scored his only goal of the season in a 5-1 win over Person on October 16. Johnson keyed an Orange defense that was stingy all season in front of sophomore goalkeeper Hector Garrido, who was in his first year playing organized soccer. Though Orange’s season ended in early November at Southern Nash, Johnson hasn’t stopped competing. He recently started indoor track & field season under Orange coach Brian Schneidewind. He competed in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters and finished 3rd in the opening polar bear meet of the season at Southeast Alamance High in Haw River on December 18.

Orange Panther of the Week: Dallas Johnson

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior centerback Dallas Johnson. Last fall, Johnson was a valuable presence as Orange completed its most successful season in the 37-year history of the program. Orange won 16 games, a school record, and finished second behind only eventual 3A State Champion Western Alamance.

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