Orange High School

The Orange men’s basketball team brought the block party to Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Facing Walter Williams, the Panthers had 13 blocks and 21 offensive rebounds against the Bulldogs. Orange came away with a 66-59 victory which guaranteed the Panthers’ first winning season since 2016-2017. Junior center Ryan Honeycutt had eight points, ten rebounds and three blocks against the Bulldogs. The Panthers never trailed in the game. Junior guard Malachi Poole came in and scored four points as the Panthers kept its lead above eight points for almost the entirety of the second half. Orange has now guaranteed itself a home game in the opening round of the Central Carolina Conference tournament next month, the first time that’s happened since 2017. Orange also took another step towards the 3A State Playoffs. The Panthers will host crosstown rival Cedar Ridge on Friday night at Panther Gymnasium. Tipoff will be at 7 o’clock. In the first game between the two teams on January 3, Orange trailed by five points early in the fourth quarter before they stormed back to win 57-47 at Red Wolves Arena.

Orange’s Ryan Honeycutt & Malachi Poole discuss men’s basketball win over Williams

The Orange men’s basketball team brought the block party to Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Facing Walter Williams, the Panthers had 13 blocks and 21 offensive rebounds against the Bulldogs. Orange came away with a 66-59 victory which guaranteed the Panthers’ first winning season since 2016-2017.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore basketball forward Evelyn George. On January 6, George recorded her second double-double of the season as the Lady Panthers defeated Person 60-23 in Roxboro. George finished with 20 points and ten rebounds. On January 3, George had 13 points and eight rebounds as Orange defeated Cedar Ridge 56-32 at Panther Gymnasium. Last season, George played regularly as a freshman alongside her older sister Samantha George, who is now at Duke University. This season, George has eight games where she scored in double-figures. She had her first double-double of the season in the semifinals of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational when she registered 14 points and 12 rebounds as Orange defeated Walter Williams 53-47. The next day, Orange would win the tournament championship when they defeated Northeast Guilford 46-25. George scored eleven points against the Rams. George was named to the All-Tournament team. Orange appears poised to make the 3A State Playoffs for the third time in four years. The Lady Panthers will travel to Cedar Ridge on Friday nights George looks to continue a strong season.

Orange Panther of the Week: Evelyn George

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore basketball forward Evelyn George. On January 6, George recorded her second double-double of the season as the Lady Panthers defeated Person 60-23 in Roxboro. George finished with 20 points and ten rebounds.

Another new aspect for Orange basketball in 2023 is they can beat a team with defense.

They have almost of rim protectors in freshmen Mason Robinson and Coleman Cloer, along with junior Ryan Honeycutt and sophomore guard Freddy Sneed. Against Williams on Tuesday night, the Panthers swat team went to work and all but ensured the team’s first winning season since 2015-16.

Cloer scored 18 points while guard Kai Wade added 14 as the Panthers defeated Walter Williams 66-59 at Panthers Gymnasium. As fate would have it, 66-59 was the exact same score from the first meeting between the two teams on December 16 in Burlington, also won by Orange.

The Panthers are now 13-6 overall, 6-2 in the Central Carolina Conference, tied with Person for second place. More importantly, Orange now leads Williams by two games in the conference standings, plus they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the season series from the Bulldogs. It all but ensures that the Panthers will host a game in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament next month.

Robinson scored the first field goal off a pass from Honeycutt. Williams’ Milton Turner, who finished with 16 points, responded with a hook shot off the glass, which was the game’s only tie at 2-2.

The Panthers scored eight in a row, punctuated by a 4-point play from Orange’s Xandrell Pennix, who drained a 3-pointer while being fouled by Greyson McCadden to extend the Panthers lead to 10-2. The Bulldogs had chanced to draw closer early, but missed its first six free throws.

Late in the first quarter, Orange’s Caleb Barretto hit two 3-pointers to increase the Panthers’ lead to 18-9. Turner scored on a drive to the basket and was fouled by Darius Corbett to trim Orange’s lead to 18-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Williams got seven points from Turner in the first quarter to reduce Orange’s lead to Cloer took an airball and went coast-to-coast for a right-handed lay-in with 5:32 remaining in the first half. On the next possession, freshman Mason Robinson blocked a shot by Cam’ron Jones, which led to Cloer scoring from 22-feet to put the Panthers ahead 26-15, which forced Williams coach Tommy Cole to call a timeout.

Robinson blocked two more shots on Williams’ next possession, which led to Williams’ Larry Blount being called for traveling when he went up-and-down after Cloer got in his face on a shot attempt. Malachi Poole’s 10-footer off an offensive rebound by Wade, plus two free throws by Honeycutt stretched the Panther advantage to 32-17.

The Panthers will host crosstown rival Cedar Ridge on Friday night at Panthers Gymnasium.

Women’s Basketball: Walter Williams 50, Orange 34

Walter Williams’ Kamryn Russell had the big shots from downtown as the Bulldogs pulled away from Orange in the third matchup of the season between the two teams.

Russell and Briahna Scott each scored 15 points to lead all scorers as Williams gained revenge on the Panthers. Last month, Orange defeated Williams in the semifinals of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational, a tournament the Panthers would eventually win.

On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs dictated the pace of play and held Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell to six points, tying her season-low. Senior Katelyn Van Mater led the Lady Panthers with eight points.

Jordan-Cornell picked up two fouls in the opening four minutes, which sent the Panthers streaming upstream for most of the night. With Orange trailing 18-14 in the final seconds of the first half, Russell drained a 3-pointer to send the Bulldogs to the locker room with a 21-14 lead.

The Bulldogs hit seven 3-pointers, with Russell scoring two in the fourth quarter that put the game away. Williams (15-4, 6-2 in the Central Carolina Conference) remains in second place in the CCC.

Orange (10-10, 3-5) travels to Cedar Ridge on Friday night.

Men’s Basketball: ORANGE 66, WALTER WILLIAMS 59

WALTER WILLIAMS–Jaelean Brown 6, Ty Lagana 5, Milton Turner 16, Cam’ron Jones 18, Greysen Mccadden 12, Jordan Harless 2.

ORANGE–Xandrell Pennix 9, Kai Wade 16, Coleman Cloer 19, Mason Robinson 2, Ryan Honeycutt 8, Isaiah Seymour 4, Caleb Barretto 6, Malachi Poole 4.

3-pointers: Williams 3 (Brown, Lagana, McCadden); Orange 6 (Pennix 2, Wade, Cloer, Barretto 2).

Fouled out-none

Women’s Basketball: WALTER WILLIAMS 50, ORANGE 34 

WALTER WILLIAMS–Kamryn Russell 15, Jainasia Bailey 9, Briahna Scott 15, Jordyn Taylor 8, Reagan Averett 3.

ORANGE–Jada Reed 6, Addie Atkins 3, Evelyn George 4, Nikayla Whitted 7, Erin Jordan-Cornell 6, Katelyn Van Mater 8.

3-Pointers: WALTER WILLIAMS 6 (Russell 3, Bailey, Scott, Averett) ORANGE 3 (Reed, Atkins, Whitted)

Fouled out-none.

Elijah Acosta has preserved through a senior season where he batted illness and injury to win a conference championship. Last Saturday in the 220-pound championship mach of the Central Carolina Conference tournament, Acosta wrestled Northwood’s Jake Dunning for the sixth time in two years. Acosta’s grip proved to be a strong one as he defeated Dunning 3-0 to take the title, his first individual championship this year. Acosta got an escape point in the second period. Late in the frame, Acosta made a rush at Dunning and scored a takedown with three seconds remaining. Dunning couldn’t get an escape point in the third period. Last year, Acosta qualified for the 3A State Championships and finished 3rd in the Mideast Regionals. This Saturday, Acosta and the rest of the Panthers will start action in the 3A State Dual Tournament. The 32-team field for the tournament will be released Thursday. Orange was the Central Carolina Conference regular season champion and will be the #1 seed in the 3A State Dual Tournament from the CCC.

Orange’s Elijah Acosta discusses winning the Central Carolina Conference 220-pound championship

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There’s a long checklist of goals for several Orange swimmers as the postseason meets get underway this week.

Junior Katie Belle Sikes managed to check another off in her unrivaled Orange career in the Lady Panthers’ final dual meet of the regular season at the Orange County Sportsplex last Thursday night. Sikes became the first Orange female swimmer to qualify for all eight individual events for the Central Regional championships. In a dual meet against Cedar Ridge and Walter Williams, Sikes won the 200 yard freestyle. She touched the wall at 1:56.81.

Sikes, who recently committed to swim at the University of Georgia, can swim in only two individual events in regionals, which will be held February 3 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Sikes has already claimed two regional championships and a state championship in the 50-yard freestyle in her career.

The Orange women defeated Cedar Ridge 99-66 and also defeated Walter Williams 110-24. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Walter Williams 110-26.

The men’s swimming meet was headlined by Cedar RIdge junior Nikhil Agans setting the school record in the 100 yard backstroke. Agains punched his ticket to Greensboro by winning the event at 59.25, over three seconds ahead of the previous record which had stood for three years. Earlier in the night, Agans qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing first with a time of 51.17 seconds.

Orange senior Even Phillips qualified for regionals in two more events. Phillips won the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:05.07, finishing ahead of teammate Nick Baczara. Phillips also won the 200 yard individual medley at 2:11.18. Baczara also qualified for regionals in the individual medley with a time of 2:18.67, good enough for second place on the night.

Earlier this season, Phillips qualified for regionals in the 50 yard freestyle, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard backstroke.

Orange Sophomore Luke Roman finished the regular season with a victory in the 100 yard butterfly at 58.51 seconds. Roman also won the 50 yard freestyle with 24.28, just shy of automatically qualifying for regionals. He has already qualified for regionals in the 500 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 200 yard individual medley, the 100 yard butterfly, and the 200 yard freestyle.

Orange’s Alex Andre won the 200 yard freestyle at 1:57.51. Andre has qualified for regionals in four other events.

Andrew Weeks automatically qualified for the 100 yard backstroke at 1:02.24, finishing second to Agans. Weeks has also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard individual medley.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Roman, Andre, Phillips and Weeks won at 1:40.11. They’re also set for regionals.

In the women’s meet, Cedar Ridge sophomore Quinn McCrimmon won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:54.00. Orange freshman Piper White finished second and also automatically qualified for regionals at 5:57.47.

Piper White also qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle. White, a freshman, finished first at 58.68 seconds.

Orange junior Riley White earned a spot in regionals by winning the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:22.00. Cedar Ridge sophomore Sophia Stinnett finished second at 2:28.75. while McCrimmon finished 3rd. Both Stinnett and McCrimmon automatically qualified for regionals.

Riley White has qualified for regionals in the 100 yard butterfly, 100 yard freestyle, 500 yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke. Piper White has qualified for the 200 yard freestyle, the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke.

Stinnett, who was All-Central Carolina Conference last year as a freshman, captured the 50-yard freestyle at 26.64 seconds.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sikes, Riley White, Piper White, and Ainsley Rasinske won the 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:51.35. Cedar Ridge’s team of Stinnett, McCrimmon, Abbygale Pearce and Hala Zafar finished second and punched its ticket to Greensboro at 1:58.22.

The Central Carolina Swimming Championships will be held at the Orange County Sportsplex on Wednesday night at 6:30. Orange is the defending conference champions in men’s swimming.

If Friday night had a 90s retro theme inside Orange High Gymnasium, an apt musical selection would have been songs from Boys II Men.

On December 20, the Orange men’s basketball team pulled away from Southern Alamance and won 80-63. By the time the Panthers returned home on Friday night, a month had passed.

Through heartbreak and narrow victories, the Panthers have grown up a lot. And the proof was in living color on Friday night.

The Panthers tore through Western Alamance 84-36 to start the second half of the Central Carolina Conference slate. Orange stomped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 1:34 and led by double-figures nearly for the balance of the game.

In Elon, the Panthers gradually pulled away from the Warriors to win 57-45, but it was still a contest the entire 32 minutes. On Friday in Hillsborough, it was a first-round knockout as opposed to an unanimous decision with the 1-2 punch of freshman Coleman Cloer and sophomore Xandrell Pennix landing the haymakers.

Cloer drained a three-pointer on Orange’s opening possession, followed by a jumper from Kai Wade. Pennix sank a three-pointer from 21-feet after an illegal screen call against the Warriors and the rout was on.

Cloer, a freshman who has scored in double-figures in 18 of Orange’s 19 games, led all scorers with 19 points. Pennix finished with 15.

Orange had a season-high 16 3-pointers. It was the most points scored in a conference game for Orange since Derryl Britt became the head coach in 2018. It was Orange’s most lopsided conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill 82-32 on December 17, 2019. Among the highlights was Cloer draining a 35-footer, with a defender right in front of him, from the midcoast logo along with Thomas Loch sinking a 3-pointer from the corner as the first quarter expired.

Kris Barnwell led the Warriors with 15 points. He was the only Western Alamance player in double figures.

Orange started this season with an abundance of youth and hopes to simply make the state playoffs for the first time in six years. Now, they’re 13-6, 5-2 in the Central Carolina Conference, tied with Person for second place. With six games remaining in the regular season and a postseason birth all but sewed up, Britt said afterwards the focus on the remainder of the season will be on mental strength for the playoffs.

“We talked about flipping the switch, going to another level, landing in another gear,” Britt said. “We did what we said we wanted to do. Now we have to maintain it. It can’t be for one game.”

Defensively, Orange didn’t led up in the second half. The Warriors got only four points in the third quarter. Pennix drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter, the last of which started a running clock with the Panthers got its lead over 40 points. Pennix has been in double-figures in eight of Orange’s last ten games.

On Tuesday night, the Panthers will host Walter Williams in another big game. Orange upended the Bulldogs 66-59 on December 16. The Bulldogs are one game behind Orange for third place in the CCC and are coming off a 31-point home loss to Northwood. If Orange wins, they will control the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bulldogs with four conference games remaining.

Orange hasn’t hosted a game in a conference tournament since 2016.

“None of my guys have been to the playoffs,” Britt said. “My goal is to start to prepare for that now. They’re going to see a different level of intensity, a different level of physicality. We started preparing for that over the past week-and-a-half. The first time around the conference, we finished 4-2. Now, we have to validate that. We have to confirm that. We can’t have a letdown.”

There were plenty of ways the Orange women’s basketball team’s game against Western Alamance could have gone on Friday night.

The way it went was the most surprising to just about everyone in attendance, including Orange coach B.J. Condron.

When the Lady Panthers faced Western Alamance in Elon on December 13, Orange never led and lost 58-39 at Coach Erma Adams Court.

On Friday night, Orange (10-9, 3-4 in the Central Carolina Conference) trailed for all of 30 seconds the whole night, pushed its lead to as much as 23 points, and dominated the Warriors 71-54 at Panthers Gymnasium in Hillsborough. Orange’s front-line tandem of senior Erin Jordan-Cornell and sophomore Evelyn George each finished with double-doubles. Jordan-Cornell came away with 17 points and 14 rebounds. George had 15 points and 15 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

Two weeks ago, Western Alamance was the #1 team among RPI in the 3A East Region. Even after a loss to Northwood last week, the Warriors still came into Friday night ranked #5, the highest of any team in the Central Carolina Conference.

Whatever led to Orange’s best win of the season, it wasn’t over preparation. The Lady Panthers hadn’t played in ten days. It’s previous performance was a flat effort against Eastern Alamance where the Eagles won 49-37 in Mebane. This week was filled with exams, which limited practice to just one hour on three separate days.

“In some ways, I was surprised,” Condron said. “This was exam week. Coming off a tough loss, we had a lot of time to think about to think about it. I wasn’t sure how our players were going to react to that. I think that Eastern Alamance game helped refocus us.”

The Warriors (14-4, 4-3) perimeter-oriented offense, led by guard Allie Sykes, Emma Johnson and Bri Pulliam, hit ten 3-pointers in the first matchup against Orange last month. On Friday night, they finished with just five.

Western Alamance’s Allie Sykes gave the Warriors its only lead of the game with a scoop shot ten seconds after the jump ball. Orange responded moments later when freshman Attie Atkins drained a 3-pointer in transition off a pass from George, and the Lady Panthers didn’t trail again. Jada Reed added another 3-pointer to spark an 13-4 Orange run, which included a pair of lay-ins by Jordan-Cornell and a 3-pointer by Nikayla Whitted.

Orange led 15-4 at the end of the first quarter. Orange had a 20-2 run that blew the game open in the second quarter and pushed its lead to as many as 23. Sykes got the Warriors’ only field goal of the frame, a 3-pointer. George and Jordan-Cornell led several transition opportunities that pushed Orange’s lead to 33-13 at halftime.

Tina Bowers, who led Western Alamance with 19 points, scored 18 in the second half. She was more aggressive after intermission winding up with 15 foul shots. Western Alamance made a charge, but the closest they could get was cutting Orange’s lead to 57-45 after a free throw by Amelia Weaver with 5:12 remaining in the fourth quarter.

As Orange did for much of the night, the Lady Panthers got a key basket off an offensive rebound. This time, Jordan-Cornell took a miss by Atkins and scored on a stickback. Atkins followed with a free throw with 4:35 remaining.

Western Alamance’s Cayden White scored on her own 2nd chance field goal, but Jada Reed knocked down a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound by George to put things out of any conceivable danger.

Orange has now won five of its last six games as they prepare to face Walter Williams on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. It will be the third matchup between the Lady Panthers and the Bulldogs in five weeks.

On December 16, the Lady Panthers played without Jordan-Cornell in Burlington but still fought all the way to the end. Williams had enough bodies to prevail 50-45.

12 days later, Jordan-Cornell was back for a rematch in the semifinals of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational in Gibsonville. Jordan-Cornell and George each scored 14 points as Orange rode out a 50-45 win over Williams. The Lady Panthers eventually carried home the tournament championship.

ORANGE 71, WESTERN ALAMANCE 54

WESTERN ALAMANCE  6    7    18    23–54

ORANGE                          15   18   17    21–71

WESTERN ALAMANCE–Emma Johnson 10, Bri Pulliam 4, Allie Sykes 14, Tina Bowers 19, Cayden White 2, Mia Napier 2, Amelia Weaver 3.

ORANGE–Jada Reed 12, Addie Atkins 14, Evelyn George 15, Erin Jordan-Cornell 17, Nikayla Whitted 8, Maura McMurtry 1, Marshea Byrd 2, Katelyn Van Mater 2.

3-point goals: Western Alamance 5 (Johnson, Pulliam, Sykes 2, Bowers) Orange 6 (Reed 3, Atkins 2, Whitted)

Playing its first home game in a month, the Orange men’s basketball team had a dominant showing against Western Alamance on Friday night. The Panthers stomped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 1:34 and routed the Warriors 84-36. It was Orange’s most lopsided conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill 82-32 on December 17, 2019. Orange sophomore guard Xandrell Pennix scored 15 points off five 3-pointers. Kai Wade added nine points. Orange’s 3-point machine had its most prolific game of the season. The Panthers drained a season-high 16 3-pointers. Orange has won 13 games, its best total since the 2016-17 squad. Coleman Cloer led all scorers with 19 points. Orange’s goal at the beginning of this season was to make the 3A State Playoffs for the first time in six years. The Panthers are currently ranked #17 in the 3A East RPI Index, putting them in range to host a state playoff game. Orange is currently tied with Person for second place in the Central Carolina Conference with a 5-2 record. The Panthers will have a showdown against Walter Williams on Tuesday night in Hillsborough, continuing a four-game homestead. Tipoff will be ten minutes after the women’s game, which starts at 6PM.

Orange’s Xandrell Pennix, Kai Wade & Freddy Sneed discuss win over Western Alamance

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In what may have been the biggest upset of the Central Carolina Conference this women’s basketball season, Orange led by as many as 23 points and rolled past Western Alamance 71-54 on Friday night in Hillsborough. Senior Erin Jordan-Cornell scored 17 points for the Lady Panthers, who defeated a Western Alamance team that was ranked #1 in the 3A East Region just two weeks ago. The Warriors rolled past the Panthers 58-39 on December 13. Orange countered Western Alamance’s 3-point attack with some big shots from downtown of their own. Freshman Addie Atkins had a season-high 14 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the third quarter that shut down a Warriors threat after they had whittled the Panthers’ lead down to 12 points. Orange led by as many as 23. Atkins had been a regular starter for Orange alongside seniors Jordan-Cornell, Nikayla Whitted and Jada Reed. The Panthers have won six of its last seven games, including victories over Walter Williams and Western Alamance. On Tuesday, Orange will face Williams again, their third matchup against the Bulldogs in five weeks. They will meet again on Tuesday night in Hillsborough with tipoff at 6PM.

Orange’ Erin Jordan-Cornell & Addie Atkins discuss women’s basketball upset of Western Alamance

In what may have been the biggest upset of the Central Carolina Conference this women’s basketball season, Orange led by as many as 23 points and rolled past Western Alamance 71-54 on Friday night in Hillsborough.