This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is basketball forward Machai Holt. On Saturday, Holt scored a career-high 33 points as Orange defeated Western Guilford 88-80 in the 5th place game of the Eastern Guilford Christmas Holiday Basketball Tournament in Gibsonville. Holt has been in double figures in seven of Orange’s nine games this season. He scored 22 points against Williams in Burlington on December 6. Orange is 6-4 as they head into 2019. They start the new year against Southern Lee on Wednesday in Sanford.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is Rory Legg-Bell. This fall, the Cedar Ridge men’s cross country team qualified for the 3A state championships. At the 3A Mideast Regionals, Cedar Ridge finished fifth. Senior Rory Legg-Bell, who suffered from hip and knee injuries early in the season, finished 9th and was named All-Region. For the second year in a row, Legg-Bell was named All-Big 8 Conference. At the 3A state championships in Kernersville on November 4, Legg-Bell finished 60th in his final race for the Red Wolves. This winter, Legg-Bell is a member of the Cedar Ridge men’s swimming team for the first time.

A combination of experience and youth served the Orange women’s basketball team very well two years ago.

In 2016-17, Coach B.J. Condron mixed seven seniors with four sophomores to produce a 26-2 season, the most successful season in modern team history.

Those sophomores from two years ago are now seniors, and they’re leading a team that’s regularly playing four freshmen, two of them starting. The experience gap may be unusual, but they’re getting results.

In their most impressive victory of the season, senior Icez Barnett scored 15 points and grabbed ten rebounds to lead Orange past Franklinton 55-48 on Friday night in the semifinals of the Granville Central Holiday Tournament.

The Lady Panthers will face Ravenscroft in Saturday’s night championship game. The Ravens (9-4) cruised past Vance Charter 52-33 in the nightcap.

Orange erased a 31-24 halftime deficit to end Franklinton’s eight-game winning streak.

Katherine Wilkins led the Rams (7-3) with 17 points, while Meaghan Dohnert had eleven. The Rams opened the game on a 7-2 run before Orange rattled off seven consecutive points. The game was tied 11-11 going into the second quarter.

Orange opened the second half on a 7-0 run, with Barnett factoring in on all the baskets. Lauren Cates, who finished with ten points and three steals, swiped the opening pass of the 2nd half and fed Barnett for the opening field goal. Cates hit a 3-pointer after senior center Kate Burgess grabbed an offensive rebound. Freshman Aaliyah Harris tied the game at 31-31 on a lay-in on a 2-on-1 break, courtesy of an assist from Cates.

As has been the case for much of the year, Barnett produced while also racking up fouls. She played most of the fourth quarter with four fouls.

Harris, who has been pressed into starting duty after an ankle injury to senior Grace Dively on December 14 against Lee County, finished with 12 points.

The Orange defense, which allowed 20 points in the 2nd quarter to the Rams, held Franklinton to 17 in the entire second half. The Lady Panthers forced 25 turnovers and came up with 16 steals, including five from freshman Jarmil Wingate.

There were seven lead changes in the third quarter, but Harris’ stickback basket with :23 remaining in the 3rd quarter started an 8-0 Orange run that put them in the lead for the rest of the game.

Barnett stated the 2nd half with a steal off full-court pressure and scored on a coast-to-coast layup. After Cates fed Wingate for a lay-in, Orange pushed its lead to 45-39 with 6:25 remaining. Franklinton’s Rebekah Smith, who registered six points and eleven rebounds, scored after grabbing her own rebound to cut the Lady Panther lead to 50-48 with 2:48 left. Franklinton had a chance to tie with 1:27 remaining, but Smith missed a short jumper. Grace Andrews grabbed the rebound and, after an Orange timeout, scored her only points off a ten-foot jumper set up by Barnett, which put the game away.

If Orange can defeat Ravenscroft for the tournament championship, it will serve as a good omen. The last time Orange won a holiday tournament, it came in the 2016 Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoops tournament in Mebane. The Lady Panthers went on to win the Big 8 regular season and tournament championships.

Grace Andrews played a career-high 16 minutes in Orange’s 55-48 victory over Franklinton on Friday night in the semifinals of the Granville Central Holiday Tournament. Andrews scored a critical field goal with 1:24 remaining to put Orange ahead 52-48 off an assist from Icez Barnett. Orange coach B.J. Condron says Andrews has put in some extra effort in practice to see more game time. Andrews is also the starting 2nd baseman for the Orange softball team. As a freshman, she recorded the last out when Orange won the 3A state championship over Piedmont. The Lady Panthers, who are now 7-2, will face Ravenscroft in the championship game on Saturday night at 8:00.

In the opening round of the Granville Central Holiday Tournament in Stem, the Orange women’s basketball team defeated Vance County 66-61 on Thursday. Lauren Cates led the Lady Panthers in scoring against the Vipers. On Friday night, Cates scored ten points as Orange held off Franklinton 55-48 to advance to Saturday night’s championship game. Cates has reached double figures in six consecutive games. Orange will face Ravenscroft for the championship on Saturday night at 8:00, a game that can be heard here on Hillsboroughsports.com