Month: December 2022

For the past three years, the measuring stick of men’s basketball across Orange, Chatham and Alamance Counties has been the Northwood Chargers.

They’ve won two of the last three Big 8/Central Carolina Conference championships, 22 consecutive conference games and played for the 3A State Championship in 2021.

Orange is off to its best start in four years, despite often starting four players who have never played at the varsity level before this season. Off to a 6-2 start and coming off a road win at Western Alamance on Tuesday night, the Panthers saw Wednesday’s game against Northwood as a litmus test to see how far a young but skillful team was from challenging a state championship contender.

The answer is there’s still plenty of work to do.

The Chargers reeled off 13 straight points in the first quarter and shot 8-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half to beat the Panthers 72-47 at Panther Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The Chargers (7-1, 2-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) have beaten Orange nine straight times. The Panthers last win over the Chargers came on February 1, 2017.

Jake Leighton led Northwood with 17 points. Drake Powell, who committed to play at UNC over the summer, added ten points and nine rebounds as the Chargers won for the second time in two nights.

Sophomore Xandrell Pennix paced Orange (6-3, 1-1) with eleven points. Ryan Honeycutt, a junior center in his first season on the varsity, added ten points.

“I come away from this game feeling doggone good about my ball club,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “We led these guys get away on a run in the second quarter where they knocked down several 3-pointers. They knocked down quality shots. We contested them, so kudos to them. We knew they were a good team coming in.”

Orange actually started with six straight points to open the game, including stickback buckets in the paint from Honeycutt and senior Isaiah Seymour despite the massive presence of Northwood’s 6-11 center Kenan Parrish and 6-foot-9 forward Max Frazier.

That’s when the Chargers’ downtown machine got going. Powell canned the first of eleven 3-pointers with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter, then drained another to give the Chargers an 8-6 lead. Leighton added a field goal off an assist from Frazier, followed by Parrish showing off a soft touch from outside with a 3-pointer from straightaway.

The Chargers shot 10-of-12 from the field in the second quarter to push its lead to 47-24 at halftime, outscoring the Panthers 27-14 to keep their advantage in double-digits the rest of the way.

Britt remained positive afterwards despite the loss. The Panthers have a short turnaround before a Friday game against Walter Williams in Burlington, where Orange has lost its last three trips.

“We never get too high off of wins and we never get too low off losses,” Britt said. “We take them for what they are. We have another tough game on Friday. Our intent is to make Williams executive as well as Northwood executed tonight.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: NORTHWOOD 60, ORANGE 27 

Northwood, the defending 3A State Champions, rolled past Orange for its fourth straight win in the opening game of the doubleheader on Wednesday night.

Freshman Alyia Roberts and senior Gianna McManaman teamed up for a three-point attack that sent Orange reeling early. Roberts had a career-high 18 points off the bench. McManaman added 16 points as the Chargers (4-3, 2-0) won its 37th consecutive conference game. The Chargers, who have won three consecutive conference championships, defeated the Lady Panthers for the eighth straight time.

The Lady Panthers (4-5, 0-2) were led by sophomore Evelyn George, who had seven points. McManaman drained a three-pointer at the end of the first quarter to put the Chargers ahead 15-8 and Northwood wasn’t challenged again.

Kenan Thompson: As his football career at Campbell has officially ended, former Orange High linebacker Kenan Thompson has been nominated for a series of end-of-year honors. Thompson is a finalist for the Doris Robinson Award, presented to an athlete in the Football Championship Subdivision who excels on the football field, in the classroom and in the community. It is named in honor of the wife of legendary Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson. Thompson was also named to the Big South Conference All-Academic Team and the 2022 Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators. Currently, Thompson is pursuing his MBA. He is currently a graduate student at Campbell. In his final game with the Camels, Thompson had a tackle as Campbell defeated Delaware State 34-7 at Alumni Stadium in Dover, DL. Thompson ended the season with 25 tackles. He played in all eleven games for Campbell.

Payton Wilson: Wilson will play his final game for the #25 N.C. State Wolfpack in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on December 30 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The Wolfpack will face Maryland. It will be the first matchup between the Wolfpack and the Terrapins since Maryland left the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. Wilson made his final regular season game with N.C. State one to remember. On November 25, the Wolfpack stunned North Carolina 30-27 in double overtime at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. Wilson led N.C. State with eleven tackles and one tackle for loss. Wilson also had two quarterback hits. Despite being down to its fourth-string quarterback at season’s end, N.C. State finished the regular season 8-4.

Trenton Gill: Gill continues his rookie season with the Chicago Bears of the NFL. On December 4, the Green Bay Packers held off the Bears 28-19 at Solider Field in Chicago. Gill had only one punt for 39 yards. On November 27, the New York Jets defeated Chicago 31-10 at MetLift Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Gill had five punts for an average of 48.8 yards. His longest punt was 61 yards. On November 20, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Bears 27-24 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Gill had four punts for an average of 40 yards per punt. One of them was downed inside the 20-yard line. His longest was 44 yards. Chicago is 3-10 and have lost six in a row.

Lottie Scully: Scully was named the American East Setter of the Week for the Binghamton volleyball team for the week of November 15. Scully, a freshman, had 33 assists, nine digs and two blocks in the Bearcats win over Bryant University. The win sewed up the Bearcats’ first-ever American East regular season championship. New Hampshire defeated Binghamton 3-0 in the American East Tournament championship game on scores of 30-28, 25-23 and 25-16. Scully missed that game, as well as the contest against St. John’s in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Scully was named second-team All-American East Conference. Scully had 788 assists, a team-high. She also had 187 digs.

Emerson Talley: The season of the Division II Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against #3 Columbus State. The Cougars defeated the Bears 1-0 at Walden Soccer Complex in Columbus, GA. Talley came off the bench to play 29 minutes, but the Bears couldn’t repeat its 2021 success, when they reached the Final Four for the first time in school history. This season, Talley played in 14 games. She didn’t score in 332 minutes of action. The Bears ended the year 12-4-3, 9-0-2 in the South Atlantic Conference.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is sophomore men’s basketball guard Xandrell Pennix. This season, Pennix is the second-leading scorer for an Orange team that has started 7-2, its best start under head coach Derryl Britt. On November 18, Pennix scored 14 points in a victory over East Chapel Hill. On November 29, Pennix scored a career-high 19 points in a 67-66 victory at Franklinton. In his freshman season, Pennix was called up to the varsity after Orange’s stint in the South Granville Holiday Tournament. He made a strong first impression by scoring 13 points against Walter Williams This season, Pennix has scored in double figures in seven of Orange’s nine games. That includes 14 points in Orange’s win at Riverside on December 2 in Durham, the Panthers first win over the Pirates since 2014. Pennix has been a regular starting guard for an Orange team that is looking to make the state playoffs for the first time in six years. Though he’s a sophomore, Pennix actually provides a veteran presence since his fellow starters are spending their first season at the varsity level. That includes Pennix’s cousin, freshman point guard Kai Wade.

ELON–In previous years, it was a game that Orange would lose.

On the road in its Central Carolina Conference opener, the Panthers saw an 11-point lead trimmed down to two late in the third quarter against Western Alamance. The Panthers’ leading scorer, Coleman Cloer, just picked up his fourth foul.

The whistles and bounces were going against them but this Orange team is too skilled, and perhaps too young, to care. Probably because they know if one player drops off, another will fill the void.

Once again on Tuesday night, that person was Xandrell Pennix.

After being quiet for much of the night, Pennix scored eleven points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:07 remaining to break a 36-36 tie, which was followed by another 3-pointer by freshman Kai Wade. The Panthers would go on to defeat Western Alamance 57-45 at Coach Erma Adams Court.

Orange (7-2, 1-0 in the Central Carolina Conference) captured its first conference opener since 2018, when they defeated East Chapel Hill.

In his first conference game, Wade led Orange with 19 points. Cloer, another freshman, finished with 15 points. It’s the ninth time in nine games that Cloer has finished in double-digits.

Western Alamance (1-5, 0-1) was led by senior Brooks Allred, who scored 14 points.

Since the start of this season, Orange’s goal has been to reach the state playoffs for the first time since 2017. Every team’s state playoff hopes depends on what happens in conference play, which may have been why the Panthers opened the game tight.

In the opening quarter, Wade scored nine of the Panthers eleven points. The Panthers closed out the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 27-18 lead to the locker room.

Senior Darius Corbett drew from his experience as a centerback in soccer to steal the inbounds pass that opened the second half and score on a lay-in to give the Panthers 29-18 lead, its largest advantage of the game.

The Warriors fought back with a three-point play from center Nick McGhee, who finished with nine points. Allred canned a three-pointer to bring the Warriors within five points. Senior guard Kris Barnwell drained back-to-back field goals to whittle the Panthers’ lead down to one point, and the Warriors had three separate chances to take the lead late in the third quarter but failed.

Orange has already won four road games this season. Last year, the Panthers won three road games, including a win at Western Alamance in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament quarterback.

Women’s basketball: Western Alamance 58, Orange 33:

A barrage of 3-pointers from guards Allie Sykes and Bri Pulliam lifted Western Alamance past Orange in the women’s game to open the doubleheader on Tuesday night.

Pulliam scored 17 points for the Warriors (5-1, 1-0), while Sykes added 16. After a tough start, Orange held the Warriors without a field goal in the opening 4:32 of the second quarter. The Panthers whittled an early nine-point deficit down to a bucket, but the Warriors closed out the second quarter with eleven straight points to essentially put the game away.

Senior Nikayla Whitted knocked down two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Senior center Erin Jordan-Cornell was the only Lady Panthers in double figures with ten points. Whitted finished with nine.

Tina Bowers, who came into the game about three minutes into the first quarter, scored 13 points off the bench.

It’s the start of a difficult schedule for Orange to begin the CCC slate. On Wednesday night, the Panthers face the defending 3A State Champions, Northwood, in Hillsborough. On Friday, Orange will travel to Burlington to face Walter Williams, who finished second in the CCC last season.

The Orange women will travel to Southern Durham next Tuesday.

For the first time since 2019, the Orange men’s basketball team has won its conference opener. The Panthers defeated Western Alamance 57-45 on Tuesday night at Coach Evans Court in Elon. On a night where the Panthers started slow offensively, freshman Kai Evans carried Orange early, scoring nine of the Panthers’ eleven points in the first quarter. The Warriors erased an 11-point lead and tied the game in the fourth quarter, but Xandrell Pinnix drained a key 3-pointer off a missed free throw. Wade followed minutes later with another 3-pointer, both crucial baskets after the Panthers’ leading scorer, Coleman Cloer, picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter. Cloer added 15 points, his ninth straight game in double figures. Wade finished with a game-high 19 points. Orange has already won more road games this season (four) than they did all of last season. It’s a hectic week for the Panthers. They play three Central Carolina Conference games in a span of four days. On Wednesday night, they face the defending CCC Conference champions, Northwood, led by Drake Powell, who has committed to play at North Carolina. The game will be in Hillsborough. Orange will travel to Walter Williams on Friday night.

It wasn’t simply a win for the Cedar Ridge women’s basketball team in Roxboro on Friday night. It was the end of a losing streak that spanned nearly four years. The Red Wolves defeated Person 50-27 at Rockets Gymnasium. It ended a 39-game conference losing streak for the Red Wolves. Junior Amiyah Ware, in his second game in a Cedar Ridge uniform, led Cedar Ridge with 18 points. James Rose Watson, also in her first year for the Red Wolves added 17 points as the Red Wolves ended a 19-game overall losing streak. It was Cedar Ridge’s first conference win since they defeated East Chapel Hill on February 8, 2019. It was a great birthday present for Cedar Ridge senior guard Grace Young, who turned 18 last Friday. She added seven points for Cedar Ridge. Ware, a transfer from the Burlington School, had to sit out the first six games of the year after she suffered a torn ACL last spring. It was a signature moment for seniors Cameron and Cierra Copeland, two players who were out paying two years ago in the pandemic when the Red Wolves often only suited up five players. Red Wolves head coach Megan Skouby has now built the Cedar Ridge program to a varsity squad with 15 players, along with a junior varsity team. Cedar Ridge will host the defending 3A State Champions, Northwood, on Friday night in Hillsborough.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior wrestler Kaden Tatro. This season, Kaden has started 22-0 with 16 pins. In the Red Wolf Invitational, Tatro won the 182-pound championship of the Red Wolf Invitational on November 19 at Cedar Ridge Gymnasium. Last season, Tatro qualified for the 3A State Championships at 170 pounds after he finished in fourth place at the 3A Mideast Regionals. As a freshman, Tatro missed qualifying for the state championships by one match at 160 pounds. He finished his freshman year 19-6, which was a heavily pared down season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If he had a standard-length freshman season, Tatro would likely surpass 100 wins this year. Last week, he won all four of his matches in the Red Wolf Duals via pinfall. He also won dual matches against defending Central Carolina Conference champion Orange and Chapel Hill. Tatro also won all of his matches during the Duals on November 3 in Raleigh. Cedar Ridge will continue its season on Wednesday when they face Eastern Alamance, Greensboro Dudley and Sanderson in a quad match at Cedar Ridge High. Kaden’s goal this year is to reach the state championships in February and place in his weight class.

Leading up to its first round of Central Carolina Conference games, the Orange women’s basketball team had a successful week in two nonconference games. On December 6, the Lady Panthers held on to defeat Carrboro 41-36 at Jaguars Gymnasium. Senior guard Nikayla Whitted led the Lady Panthers with 14 points, while senior center Erin Jordan-Cornell added seven points. Sophomore Addie Atkins, in just her sixth varsity game, canned a crucial 3-pointer to put Orange ahead for good with less than three minutes remaining in the game. Orange returned home on Friday night to defeat Durham School of the Arts 72-34 in Hillsborough. Jordan-Cornell had the first double-double of the season for the Lady Panthers with 22 points and ten rebounds. Sophomore Evelyn George added ten points. Fellow senior Jada Reed added eight points for Orange against the Bulldogs. Earlier this year, Reed scored 12 points in the Lady Panthers’ season-opening win over East Chapel Hill. The Lady Panthers will start CCC play tonight with a road trip to Western Alamance. Tipoff will be at 5:30 and you can hear the game on Hillsboroughsports.com.