It’s not even her top sport, but Alexis Stephens has made her presence felt on the basketball court this season.
Stephens scored a career-high for the Orange women’s basketball team in a 54-30 win over Person during its home opener last Wednesday. She scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the Lady Panthers claimed its tenth straight win over the Rockets.
Freshman Maura McMurtry added eleven points as the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 11-0 lead and never trailed in improving to 2-0.
The Rockets, coming off victories over J.F. Webb and Riverside to open the season, were led by Nayahana Marner with seven points.
In the season opener at Riverside, Stephens tied her career-high with eleven points in a 42-29 win in Durham. Stephens also had eleven points against the Burlington School last year.
Stephens is a goalkeeper for the Orange women’s soccer team. Earlier this year, she committed to play at Division II Shaw University.
Orange dropped 3 3-pointers in the opening 3:06. Junior Lily Wilson took a skip pass from McMurtry for the game’s opening basket. Stephens added a jumper from the top of the key, followed by another trey from Wilson. McMurtry took a pass from sophomore Kassidy Tolliver for another 3-pointer, extending Orange’s lead to 11-0 and forcing a Person timeout.
While Person succeeded in keeping the game rhythmless for the rest of the night, the closest they would get would be 19-12 after a laying by Ava Mandizha with 4:33 remaining in the first half. McMurtry responded with another 3-pointer and Orange would keep a double-digit lead for the rest of the night.
Orange sophomore forward Kassidy Tolliver registered 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Lady Panthers pushed its lead to 40-18 in the third quarter. Senior Natalie Roberson had eight points, with three blocks and two assists. Orange outrebounded the Rockets 52-41.
Men’s basketball: Person 54, Orange 48:
Senior Kyan Lunsford scored 20 points as Person defeated Orange for the fourth straight time at Panther Gymnasium.
The Panthers (0-4) never led and trailed 44-29 after a lay-in by Lunsford with 7:29 remaining. Person led 81-42 with one minute remaining, yet Orange made a remarkable comeback and narrowed the game to 51-48 after a 3-pointer from freshman Jakob Silinski with :39 remaining. Lunsford, J.J. Cash and Tanner Foushee all hit free throws in the final 30 seconds to ensure the Person win.
Orange center Jalen Crayton paced the home team with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Hector Garrido, who has been pressed into point guard duty following the transfer of Kai Wade to Green County, Kentucky, had nine points nine assists and seven rebounds.
Person jumped out to a 12-2 lead, holding the Panthers without a field goal in the opening 3:44. Logan Edwards, a senior in his first year playing varsity basketball, ended the drought with a 3-pointer to reduce Person’s ear to 12-5. After Garrido scored off a lay-in after a feed from Crayton, the Rockets concluded the opening stanza with a 8-2 run, ending with a 3-pointer from Foushee at the quarter buzzer.
Person shot 9-of-12 in the first quarter, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Rockets fired just four field goal attempts in the second quarter, yet still stretched its lead to 35-17 at halftime behind 7-of-8 shooting from the foul line.
Orange cut into the Rockets lead with an 10-0 spurt to open the second half, keyed by 3-pointers from J.T. Gray and Edwards. But the Panthers didn’t score a field goal in the final four minutes of the quarter. Cash scored off a lay-in off a pass from Darian Mangum to trigger seven straight Person points. A 3-pointer from Lunsford put the Rockets ahead 42-27.
Orange hit 8-of-11 shots from the field in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers will travel to Eastern Alamance on Friday night.
