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No last second foul. No clutch free throws. No drama.

Unlike last week’s season finale against Eastern Alamance, the Orange women’s basketball team put up a dominant performance against the Eagles. It has led the Lady Panthers to its first conference tournament championship game since 2017.

Junior Addie Atkins scored a season-high 16 points, shooting 3-of-7 from 3-point range, to help Orange in a wire-to-wire 54-36 win over Eastern Alamance in the Central Conference Tournament semifinals on the Coach Evans Court at Western Alamance High School.

Orange (17-8) will face top-seeded Western Alamance for the Central Conference championship in Elon on either Friday or Saturday. The Warriors crushed Walter Williams 77-22 in the other semifinal. The Warriors, who won the Central Conference regular season championship for the second straight year, have won 25 consecutive games against conference opponents.

Orange was the last Central Conference team to defeat the Warriors on January 3, 2024.

Atkins came up one point shy of her career-high of 17 points, set against Garner on December 12, 2023. Orange senior Evelyn George added 16 points and seven rebounds.

Aliya Trollinger paced Eastern Alamance (13-12) with 19 points. She was the only Eagle in double-figures.

The Lady Panthers have won six in a row, tying its longest winning streak under first-year head coach Josh Underwood.

“I think we picked up our defensive intensity the way we should have early on,” said Underwood, an Orange graduate who previously served as an assistant at Eastern Alamance. “We set a precedent for how good we could be early on against Cedar Ridge. Hopefully that will carry forward as we move on into the conference tournament final and the state playoffs.

Orange’s defense wore down the Eagles, who shot just 26% from the field. Orange built a lead up to 54-32 as they held the Eagles to just three points in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter.

Shannon Murphy, a senior who drained two free throws with one second remaining to beat Eastern Alamance 64-63 on her senior night last Friday, opened the game with a 3-pointer. Eastern’s Ayanna Garner came back with a 3-pointer, notching the game’s only tie. Atkins scored five consecutive points to put the Panthers ahead for the rest of the game, including a 3-pointer assisted by point guard Maura McMurtry and a lay-in assisted by Murphy.

“Addison has had some great practices,” Underwood said. “She’s really knocked down some shots for us. Tonight, she put everything together on a night where we needed someone else to step up. She stepped up.”

George and sophomore Lily Wilson added consecutive field goals to push the Panther advantage to 13-5, but the Eagles inched back. Trollinger and J’Mya Stump keyed six consecutive Eastern points to cut the Panther lead to 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Atkins opened the second quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, including one on the wing assisted by Murphy. Senior center Marshea Byrd, who finished with seven points and ten rebounds, extended the Panther run with a lay-in while getting fouled by Ayanna Garner. George scored on a lay-in off a steal to push the Panther lead to 24-13.

The Panther lead would grow to 27-13 after another lay-in by George. Atkins and Wilson added the final two field goals of the first half as the Panthers went into the locker room ahead 32-19.

The last postseason tournament championship for the Orange women’s basketball team came in 2017, when they defeated Northwood 58-34 to take the Big Eight Championship. Kaylen Campbell, currently the Orange women’s junior varsity head coach and a varsity assistant, led the Panthers with 21 points against the Chargers.

In the tournament championship game, Orange will be the decided underdog against a Western Alamance team that has defeated Orange four straight times, including last year’s tournament semifinals. The Warriors would go on to take the postseason championship.

“They have one of the best back courts in the state,” Underwood said. “They’re a tough team. I feel like we played them tough at their place. It was a game of 3-pointers the last time in Elon. We made two. They made eleven. I feel like our defense is much better now. We’re a much different team than we were at that time.”

Photo by Ben McCormick of the Courier-Times 

As the handshake line formed, several celebratory Person players taunted the Orange student section by waving goodbye.

It was reminiscent, and probably inspired by, Damian Lillard when he scored 50 points, including a 3-pointer to eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder from the 2019 playoffs.

But in the situation that played out on Tuesday night, Person was waving goodbye not just to their Hillsborough rivals for this year, but probably for the next four years as a conference rival.

If not longer.

If so, the Rockets got the last laugh.

Person’s Tyler Wilson scored on a stickback bucket as time expired to lift Person over Orange 55-53 in the Central Conference Tournament semifinals. The Rockets (24-2) will face Eastern Alamance for the Central Conference Tournament championship at Orange High either Friday or Saturday night.

It was the third time this year that a matchup between Orange and Person was decided by two points or less. The Panthers defeated the Rockets 67-65 in Roxboro on January 9. Two weeks ago, Person’s Tae Winstead scored off an offensive rebound with 1:51 remaining to put the Rockets ahead in a 53-52 win in Hillsborough.

There was another wild finish on Tuesday night. Xandrell Pennix drained a 3-pointer contested by Wilson to tie the game at 53-53 with :7.1 remaining. Pennix, who scored his 1,000th point in Monday’s quarterfinal win over Southern Alamance led the Panthers with 21 points.

On the final play of regulation, Person forward Lance Clarke found Quante Bowman, who drove the left baseline. Bowman put up a floater that banged off the rim. Winstead had a catch-and-shoot from point-blank range, but it missed. Wilson got his first offensive rebound of the game and got the ball of his fingertips and through the net just as the final second rolled off the clock.

Clarke led the Rockets with 28 points and seven rebounds.

In the game two weeks ago, Person outrebounded Orange 53-41, including 21 offensive rebounds. Orange played a more deliberate style and limited Person’s advantage on the boards to 40-35. The Panthers actually got more offensive rebounds 12-11. As it does so often between Person and Orange, the second half was nip-and-tuck. There were eight lead changes in the second half.

Clarke scored off a pass from Kyan Lunsford with 2:19 remaining to put the Rockets ahead 48-46. Orange reserve guard Kamaal Smith, who scored a career-high 12 points, sank two free throws. On the subsequent inbounds pass, Freddy Sneed poked it away at midcourt. Panther point guard Kai Wade threw to Sneed for a lay-in to put Orange ahead 50-48, but Sneed immediately went down with a cramp injury to his right leg.

The Rockets threw the ball away on its next possession. Leading 50-48 with the ball and 1:08 remaining, the Panthers coughed it off 75 feet from their basket when Lunsford poked the ball away, leading to Sneed being called for his fourth foul.

On the next play, Lunsford grabbed an offensive rebound and found Clarke, who drove over Smith, scored on a bank shot and drew Sneed’s fifth foul in the process. Clarke’s free throw put Person ahead 51-50. Orange turned the ball over again and Winstead drained two free throws with 38 seconds remaining.

Person started the game with five consecutive points, but Orange scored eleven in a row, holding the Rockets scoreless for 6:17. Wade scored seven of his ten points in the first quarter as the Panthers led 11-7 at the end of the first eight minutes.

Orange built a 23-17 lead in the first half after Pennix scored on a lay-in off a pass from Sneed. Person scored seven straight points to take its only lead of the second quarter, ending with a lay-in by Clarke off a sharp pass from Wilson. Wade drained a pull-up jumper to put the Panthers ahead 25-24 at the half.

Orange (18-8) will wait for the 3A State Playoff brackets to be released on Sunday. They’re hopeful of earning an opening round home state playoff game. Currently, the Panthers have the #12 RPI in the East Region.

Person had to win in order to keep its hopes alive for taking one of the top eleven seeds for the state tournament. Currently, the Rockets’ RPI is #4 in the latest 3A East Region rankings. If Eastern Alamance wins the tournament championship, the highest seed in the state playoffs that Person could receive would be #12.

The relationship between Xandrell Pennix and Derryl Britt is more than just player and coach.

It’s personal.

Pennix scored his 1,000th point in the Orange men’s basketball team’s win over Southern Alamance in the Central Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Panther Gymnasium on Monday night. Pennix eclipsed the plateau with a 15-foot jumper along the right wing, where it touched nothing but nylon. As the game was momentarily stopped, Pennix exchanged chest bumps with teammates Freddy Sneed and Kai Wade.

Pennix and Sneed were called up from the junior varsity team in 2021, a period of transition for Orange basketball. Two years later, they would help take Orange to the top of the Central Conference.

In a postgame chat, when he is asked how much Pennix helped him establish his footprint within the Orange program, Britt gets a distant look in his eyes.

It takes him a full 15 seconds to find the right words.

Because Pennix reminds Britt of the son he lost in 2008.

Just five days after reporting to boot camp at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, Derryl Lamont Britt Jr. died of an aneurysm at the age of 20.

“I’ve been a coach since I was 16 years old,” Britt said. “Of all the players I’ve ever had in my coaching career, Xandrell reminds me of my son the most. He’s quiet. He listens. He’s tenacious on defense. He can put the ball in the bucket with the best of them.”

Orange public address announcer David Gaddy introduces Pennix as the Silent Assassin. When Pennix does talk, his teammates know it’s something urgent.

Britt hails from the Commonwealth of Virginia, where Allen Iverson is an icon.

“That smaller frame guy who plays really, really tough was my son,” Britt said. “Xandrell plays that way and he’s not from there. He’s not afraid of any moment.”

Last season when Wade and Coleman Cloer were out with injuries, Britt was left searching for a point guard against Forsyth Country Day and East Chapel Hill. Pennix approached him and asked for the assignment, knowing he would face one ball hawk after another.

“He’s fearless and tough as nails,” Britt said.

Pennix finished with a season-high 21 points as the Panthers advanced to the conference tournament semifinals to face Person on Tuesday night. Orange will host the Rockets at 7:30 at Panther Gymnasium.

Pennix opened aggressively as the Patriots stood toe-to-toe with the Panthers early. Southern Alamance center Riley Warren scored eight points in the opening quarter. It appeared that Orange’s defense was still in recovery mode after a difficult loss to Eastern Alamance to finish the regular season on Friday. Early in the second quarter, the Patriots tied the score at 18-18 following a 3-pointer from Bo Day.

Pennix drained two 3-pointers in the second quarter as Orange pulled away. Wade and Hector Garrido added 3-poiners as the Panthers pushed its advantage to 42-21 at halftime. Pennix’s 1000th point was the first basket of the second half. Wade finished with 14 points.

The game marked the varsity debuts of Logan Edwards and L.J. Graves, who were called up from the junior varsity team for the postseason.

For the third year in a row, Orange and Person will square off in the Central Conference Tournament. Each matchup between the Rockets and the Panthers has been memorable this season.

On January 9th, Person led 28-9 early in the second quarter. The Panthers roared back to win in Roxboro despite Wade fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Two weeks ago, Person held off Orange 53-52 in Hillsborough. The Rockets are 23-2. Both of its losses came within five days last month, to Orange and Eastern Alamance.

Person defeated Cedar Ridge 63-54 in Roxboro on Monday night.

The Orange-Person game will be one of two games at Orange High on Tuesday night. In the opening game of the Central Conference semifinals, top-seeded Eastern Alamance will face Walter Williams. The Bulldogs edged Western Alamance 51-49 on Monday night in Burlington. The Eagles, the top-seed in the tournament, received a bye into the semifinals.

hamlin37 is on Mixlr

hamlin37 is on Mixlr

Scott Metcalf has had to spend more on printing banners in recent years.

Inside the Cedar Ridge wrestling room, there’s a big sign listing the career win leaders in school history. Between 2001-and-2021, four Cedar Ridge wrestlers won 100 career matches.

That number has doubled over the past four years. And one more could join the group next weekend.

“This senior class is a special class,” Metcalf said.

Just to the right of that banner is a list of state qualifiers, which will also need to be refreshed.

On Saturday, Ryan Rakouskas won the 150-pound Mideast Regional championship at Cedar Ridge High School. Rakouskas, who qualified for the state championships for the second time in his career, made quick work of Royce Ezpinoza of Triton, needing just 22 seconds to score the pin in the championship match. It was Rakouskas’ final match in his own gymnasium.

Rakouskas, who was the #4 seed, became the first Cedar Ridge wrestler to win a regional championship since Fernando Martinez won at 113-pounds in 2022 at Union Pines High School. As fate would have it, Rakouskas surpassed Martinez on the school career wins list when he upset top-seeded Kolby Gryder of Eastern Guilford in the semifinals on Saturday. Rakouskas delivered a legal slam in the second period to take a 7-5 lead. Gryder was injured and couldn’t continue after being checked by medical staff.

Rakouskas now has 145 career wins, fifth in school history.

“I’m very surprised,” Rakouskas said. “I wasn’t expecting to make states, honestly. I had a tough weight class. I thought I had a 50-50 shot, but I wasn’t expecting to win it at all. So I was pleasantly surprised.”

On Friday, Rakouksas opened by scoring a technical fall over Issac Cisneros of Harnett Central 22-1. In the quarterfinals, Rakouskas pinned Ben Rich of Western Harnett, who has a record of 45-8, in 2:58.

It continues a year of milestones for Rakouskas. In November, he won his 100th career match. Last month, he scored his 100th career pin.

“Ryan is one of those kids who really likes throws,” Metcalf said. “When you can throw somebody, you have a chance to win against anyone you face on the mat. He’s been a joy to coach.”

It was also a day that Cedar Ridge senior Pierce Prescod had waited three years for. He finally qualified for the state championships at 120 pounds in a situation that was downright eerie.

Two years ago, when the regionals were also held at Cedar Ridge, Prescod was disqualified in the consolation semifinals when his opponent couldn’t continue after what was ruled an illegal slam. Prescod, who won 44 matches as a sophomore, fell one win shy of the state championships.

In the consolation semifinals on Saturday, on the exact same mat where he was disqualified two years ago, Prescod slammed Connor Dean of Westover at the end of the first period.

Dean stayed down. Images of 2023 flashed through Prescod’s mind as he waited and waited to see if Dean could continue. The officials ruled it was a legal slam since Prescod had his knee down on the mat upon initiating the throw. Dean couldn’t finish. Prescod, who was leading 6-1 at the time, would advance to the consolation final, ensuring his first trip to the state championships.

“I was worried,” Prescod said. “I waited about two minutes and I wasn’t sure if the slam was legal. I was pacing and thinking ‘This can’t be happening.’ Then coach (Metcalf) came over and told me we were good. I was relieved.”

For added measure, Prescod dominated Chris Schroth of Union Pines, winning a tech fall 20-4 to finish in third place.

Last year at regionals, another wrestler from Union Pines denied Prescod’s opportunity to go to the state championships. In the consolation semifinals, Keaton Crawford defeated Prescod 11-9 in a sudden death round. Prescod won 45 matches in his junior year, but again fell one win short of Greensboro.

Prescod now has 160 career wins, third all-time in school history. He is one victory shy of tying Kaden Tatro, who graduated last summer, for second place. The all-time school record is held by Chandler Collins, who amassed 166 wins from 2003-2007.

Cedar Ridge junior Favio Jaramillo Esparza will go to the state championships at 113 pounds for the first time. Esparza pinned Union Pines Caiden McDermott to reach the semifinals. Esparza pinned Joshua Sasser of Harnett Central in 43 seconds to reach the 3rd place match. Esparza, who won the Eagle Invitational in Mebane in December, earned his 97th career win.

Orange will not have a representative in the state championships. Senior Jayden Medley reached the consolation semifinals. Union Pines’ Dantrell Williams defeated Medley 5-1. Medley ends the season 31-10.

Panthers freshman Jordan Barbee also reached the consolation semifinals. Greensboro Dudley’s Devin Cotton defeated Barbee via tech fall.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior swimmer Luke Roman. Last week, Roman cemented his place as the greatest male swimmer in school history when he was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer of the 2025 3A State Championships. Roman won two individual state championships. He also swam the anchor leg to win the 400 yard freestyle relay with Alexander Andre, Noah Jones and Ayden Twiddy. They became the first men’s relay swim team to win a state championship in Orange High history. For the second year in a row, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle state championship, finishing with a time of 4:40.20. Roman also won the state championship in the 200 yard freestyle for the first time in his career, finishing at 1:41.55. Before he started at Orange, only one male swimmer had ever won a state championship. In his career, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle in the Central Conference championships four consecutive years. He was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer in the Central Conference in 2024 and 2025. Orange has won the Central Conference Championship every year that Roman has completed. As he moves on to graduation, Roman’s place in Orange athletic history has been established and he will be the standard all future male swimmers in Hillsborough are compared with.