Photo by Jacques Morin
It was an unusual circumstance for Kassidy Tolliver.
For the first time on Tuesday night, the sophomore forward played against her best friend and former teammate. Dating back to her days at Gravelly Hill Middle School in Efland, Tolliver has been a teammate with Cedar Ridge guard Kennedi Fearrington. Last year, Tolliver and Fearrington were freshmen teammates at Cedar Ridge.
After transferring to Orange over the summer, Tolliver had to mentally prepare herself for nights like Tuesday, when she opposed Fearrington for the first time.
Whether it was fate, karma or just being mentally prepared, Tolliver had her best game as a Lady Panther as Orange defeated the Red Wolves for the fourth straight time.
Tolliver recorded a season-high 16 points while Maura McMurtry scored 17 as Orange defeated the Red Wolves 65-36 at Panther Gymnasium. The Lady Panthers outrebounded the Red Wolves 47-33, with Orange guard Lily Wilson finishing with eight points and seven boards.
Fearrington, who scored a career-high 22 points in an overtime win over East Chapel Hill last Friday, led Cedar Ridge with 12 points. The Red Wolves were hampered after starting guard Ava Smith suffered an injured right foot sprinting back on defense late in the first quarter and didn’t return. She left the court on crutches.
“It was definitely unusual,” Tolliver said. “She’s still my best friend, but we’re not teammates anymore.”
Cedar Ridge, playing its second game in two nights, fell to 2-7.
McMurtry set the tone early with a 3-pointer on Orange’s opening possession, starting an 19-0 run to open the game. The Red Wolves wouldn’t score until Fearrington hit two free throws with 2:48 remaining in the first quarter. Leena Frej scored on a lay-in at the first quarter buzzer for the first Cedar Ridge field goal. By that point, the Lady Panthers had scored a season-high 26 points in the opening quarter off 10-of-13 shooting from the field. McMurtry and Wilson each hit two 3-pointers.
After Orange senior Kyla Mehl made two free throws to push Orange’s lead to 34-9 with 3:14 remaining in the first half, the Red Wolves scored 15 unanswered points. Hailey McLeod drained a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half, which ended with Fearrington going coast-to-coast for a lay-in.
Elliott Weisenfeld opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut Orange’s lead to 34-22, but McMurtry immediately responded with a 3-pointer off an assist from Natalie Roberson. That triggered a 13-0 Orange spurt where McMurtry scored off another pass from Roberson, along with Tolliver racking up back-to-back field goals.
Following Weisenfeld’s 3-pointer, Cedar Ridge was held scoreless for 2:33 until McLeod sank another shot from long range. Freshman Ryleigh Taylor scored off an assist from Weisenfeld to cut the Panther lead to 47-27, but that was as close as the Red Wolves would get.
Orange was coming off a disappointing loss to Eastern Alamance on Friday night. The Eagles dominated the Lady Panthers 68-28 at Tal Jobe Gymnasium in Mebane. Makayla Scott led the Eagles with 18 points, while Rihanna Gregory added 16.
Tolliver was the only Lady Panther to finish in double figures with ten points.
On Friday, Eastern Alamance dedicated its home court to longtime women’s head coach Tim Krotish. Now the head coach at Division III Averett University in Danville, VA, Krotish coached the Eastern Alamance women’s from 1993-2023. He retired from teaching history at Eastern Alamance, where he went to school, two years ago. Krotish served as assistant athletic director and was an assistant football coach on John Kirby’s staff as the Eagles established itself as the premier team in Alamance County.
Orange will return home to face Southeastern Alamance, the defending 2A State Champions, on Thursday night in Hillsborough. The Stallions and the Lady Panthers played a thrilling double overtime game last December in the opening round of the Southeastern Alamance Holiday Hoops Invitational in Haw River.
