Orange Women’s Basketball

Alvis Whitted: The 1993 Orange graduate is headed to the NFC Championship game. Whitted, the wide receivers coach for the Green Bay Packers, was on the sideline as Green Bay held on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28-23 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sunday night in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Whitted was a wide receiver and ran track & field for three seasons at Orange. He was a 4A State Champion in the 100 and 200 meters. Whitted was a member of the 1991 Orange team that went to the 2nd round of the 4A State Playoffs. At N.C. State, he played wide receiver/kick returner for Coach Mike O’Cain. Whitted is the last Orange Panther to play in a bowl game, where he suited up as a kick returner in the Wolfpack’s 28-24 win over Mississippi State at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Whitted is also the only Orange Panther to play in the Super Bowl. He played special teams for the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. Whitted started his coaching career at Orange under Dickie Schock. From there, he went on to Millsaps College, a Division III team in Jackson, Mississippi. He joined Rick Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA in 2011 before starting a seven-year stint as wide receivers coach at Colorado State. Whitted met Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur during a predraft workout at Colorado State with Michael Gallup, one of three All-Americans that Whitted coached in Fort Collins. Green Bay faces San Francisco for the NFC Championship next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.

Icez Barnett: Barnett, a freshman with the Division II Chowan women’s basketball team, returned to action on January 8 in a 73-67 loss to Mount Olive. Barnett played two minutes and grabbed one rebound. She didn’t play on Saturday as King defeated the Hawks 68-52 at the Helms Center in Murfreesboro. Chowan is 3-11, 3-7 in Conference Carolinas Thus far in her freshman season, Barnett has played ten games. In 80 minutes, she has scored six points and 17 rebounds.

Lauren Cates: The Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team returned to action with a 94-19 destruction of Fayetteville Technical Community College on January 8 in Raleigh. Cates had the best shooting game of her college career, going 6-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. She finished with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. On Saturday, Catawba Valley Community College defeated Wake Tech 80-57 to end a four-game winning streak. The Eagles are 9-4, 5-3 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Braden Homsey: The Division III Ferrum wrestling team advanced to the championship of the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA. Kutztown, ranked #16 in Division III, defeated the Panthers 19-13 in the final on Saturday afternoon. Homsey, wrestling at 197 pounds, defeated Anthony Emig 13-11.

In the semifinals, Ferrum upended Waynesburg 29-10. Homsey claimed a 9-6 decision over Dan Verhovsek. In the quarterfinals on Friday, Ferrum advanced past Alderson Broaddus 34-11. Homsey earned a major decision by beating Alex Eaton 15-3. This season, Homsey is 19-7 with one pin.

The Panthers are 5-2 this season.

Ferrum returns to action in the Builder Open next Saturday in Virginia Beach, VA.

With competition mounting in a deep Big 8 Conference, the Orange women’s basketball team had no time for upset bids in its opening game against Cedar Ridge.

Last January, the Red Wolves shocked the Lady Panthers 44-37 at Red Wolves Gymnasium, an early conference loss that set Orange back in its futile attempt to catch Hillside for the Big 8 Championship.

On Tuesday night, Orange junior Jala Rainey scored Orange’s first 13 points–then didn’t score again. It was just as well as she received plenty of help in the final 24 minutes.

Guard Samantha George had a career-high ten points to push the Lady Panthers past the Red Wolves 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell registered nine points and six rebounds as the Lady Panthers (8-3, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference) won its fourth straight.

Nadia Oswald led the Red Wolves with 13 points, her fourth game in double figures this season. Senior Tori Dalehite returned to the lineup for the Red Wolves after suffering an injury to her right foot in November.

Orange sophomore Mary Moss Wirt missed her seventh straight game with an injured right leg suffered against Carrboro on December 12. Wirt, who averaged 4.1 points per game as a freshman, figured to carry a heavier offensive load this season after the graduation of leading scorers Ices Barnett and Lauren Cates from last season’s 19-7 squad.

Without her, Orange has relied on sophomore point guard Aaliyah Harris for points. Coach B.J. Condron also wants Jordan-Cornell’s 5-foot-11 frame to step to the forefront with Wirt’s status in question.

“We’ve been emphasizing that,” said Orange Coach B.J. Condron. “We feel like she does a good job of getting open, but we don’t do a good job of seeing her. Sometimes we force it when it’s not there. She does a good job of finishing down low.”

Catherine Coyle and Oswald scored consecutive field goals in the opening minutes to give Cedar Ridge a 4-2 lead, but Rainey’s 3-pointer off a feed from Harris put Orange ahead for good. The Lady Panthers finished the first quarter on a 16-5 run and led by double digits from that point forward.

It was among the deepest Orange’s efforts of the season. Of the ten players who suited up, eight scored. Freshman Katelyn Van Mater also had a career-high eight points. Junior Cheyenne Mann had six points, one short of her career-mark set against Bartlett Yancey on December 27.

As Orange prepares for Northern Durham on Thursday night, Condron is set to play without Wirt for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of the way.

“I think slowly, they’re getting used to it,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “The rotation changes and you have to go deeper into our bench. People are getting more comfortable playing.”

Cedar Ridge (1-10, 0-3) will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night. Then they host Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

After Orange’s trip to Northern, the Lady Panthers will host a Chapel Hill team that defeated Northwood on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ win created a six-way tie for first place in the loss column. Northwood is 3-1, while East Chapel Hill, Southern Durham, Orange and Chapel Hill are 2-1, while Vance County is 1-1.

ORANGE 61, CEDAR RIDGE 34

CEDAR RIDGE–Catherine Coyle 2, Nadia Oswald 13, Jacori Walton 5, Takia Nichols 4, Tori Dalehite 4, Phoenix Smith 6.

ORANGE–Aaliyah Harris 7, Jala Rainey 13, Jarmil Wingate 3, Erin Jordan-Cornell 9, Samantha George 10, Katelyn Van Mater 8, Brenna Mehl 6, Cheyenne Mann 5.

3-POINTERS: CEDAR RIDGE (Oswald). ORANGE 3 (Harris, Rainey 2)

FOULED OUT—Coyle, Walton, Lloyd.

The Orange women’s basketball team claimed its fourth straight victory on Tuesday night. The Lady Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris had seven points and seven assists. Her classmate, Jarmil Wingate, added six rebounds as Orange improved to 8-3 on the season. It was Orange’s seven straight game without star shooting guard Mary Moss Wirt, who was injured against Carrboro on December 12. Despite the loss of its best outside shooter, the Lady Panthers finished fifth in the Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoops Tournament on December 26-28 in Mebane, winning its final two games against Riverside and Bartlett Yancey. The Lady Panthers will journey to Northern Durham to face the Lady Knights on Thursday night at 7:30 at Poe Gymtorium.

Grace Andrews has won a state softball championship playing in near-100 degree temperatures at N.C. State’s Dail Field. She’s won conference championships in basketball while enjoying macaroni and cheese as her favorite meal.

After Friday night, she can confidently say she has a hockey mentality.

Andrews chipped her front tooth during a scramble for a loose ball against Vance County at a point in the game when Orange was struggling. Her uniform was bloody, and while she briefly left the game, there was no consideration about calling it a night.

Not with the Lady Panthers already shorthanded at it is.

Without guard Mary Moss Wirt, the Lady Panthers finished with a 29-4 run in the final eight minutes to defeat Vance County 60-45 in Hillsborough on Friday night.

Orange sophomore guard Aaliyah Harris scored 20 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Harris also had a season-high eight assists, six steals and six rebounds. It was the third time this season that Harris had 20 points or more in a game.

The Lady Panthers trailed 41-31 going into the fourth quarter after Vance’s Yumyah Hargrove scored a lay-in off a chest pass from Nashiya Branch at the end of the third quarter. Branch led the Vipers (7-5, 1-1) with 17 points, but she didn’t score in the second half.

Orange (7-3) won its third straight game to even its Big 8 Conference mark to 1-1.

“Really happy with the all around scoring we had,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “Erin Jordan-Cornell battled all night. We finally found her more in the 4th. She scored all 9 of her points in the 4th quarter.”

Jordan-Cornell, a freshman, scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter. Andrews, Jarmil Wingate, and Jala Rainey also added nine points. Wingate had a career-high 14 rebounds.

Wirt, who injured her knee in the second quarter of the Carrboro game on December 12, missed her sixth straight game. Her absence has left an already young Orange team without a scorer who played in all 26 games as a freshman last season.

“She’s probably our best shooter, one of our better ball handlers and decision makers, and a leader on the court,” Condron said. “Right now she’s doing a great job being a leader off the court and other players are having to step up.”

Trailing 41-31, Orange opened the fourth quarter with 14 consecutive points. Harris assisted on the opening field goal by Jordan-Cornell, then Harris scored on back-to-back field goals off assists by Andrews, including a 3-pointer. Freshman Katelyn Van Mater took a pass from Harris and drained a six-footer to give Orange the lead for good. Wingate sank a critical 3-pointer from the corner off a relocation pass from Jordan-Cornell to increase Orange’s lead to 48-43.

It was a peculiar game offensively. Orange started the game on a 8-0 run off field goals from Andrews, Harris and Jala Rianey. After building a 16-6 lead, the Lady Panthers didn’t score a field goal in the second quarter, and went over ten minutes without a buckets overall. Vance reeled off a 22-5 run to take a 28-21 lead to the locker room. Branch hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the second quarter.

Orange will host Cedar Ridge on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. Tipoff will be at 6. It was be the second game of a triple header. The junior variety boys game tips off a 4:30.

Scott Satterfield: The Louisville Cardinals football team ended its season with a 38-28 victory over Mississippi State to win the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Monday. The Cardinals, who trailed 14-0 in the first quarter, scored 31 consecutive points to take its first bowl victory since 2015, when they defeated Texas A&M to win the Music City Bowl. Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield, a 1991 Orange graduate, finished his first season in Kentucky with an 8-5 record, one year after the Cardinals went 2-10. He was named the ACC Coach of the Year last month. Louisville was picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division this season. Instead, they finished second at 5-3. It was the seventh time in eight years that Louisville finished the year with eight wins. Several members of Satterfield’s family from Hillsborough attended the game in Nashville. After visiting Wake Forest and N.C. State this season, Louisville won’t play a regular season game in North Carolina next year.

Kate Burgess: The UNC rowing team started its season on November 2 in the Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, TV. Burgess, a freshman at UNC who was selected to the rowing squad last fall as a walk-on, was aboard the first novice boat, which earned the highest finish of the day for the Tar Heels. The novice boat finished 3rd behind Alabama and Eastern Michigan at 17:33.762. Joining Burgess aboard the novice boat was captain Claire Taylor, Emma Brockman, Jessica Judge, Hannah Davis, Tianna Van Cura, Nicole Van Lew, Jackie Wilhelm and Meagan Harrington. On December 2, longtime UNC rowing coach Sarah Haney, who chose Burgess to join the team, abruptly resigned. UNC will continue its season against Clemson and Duke in the Carolina Cup on March 7 in Clemson, S.C.

Braden Homsey: The Division III Ferrum wrestling team returned to action on December 30 at the 2019 Citrus Invitational at the Great Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Homsey finished 5th in the 197-pound division. Getting a bye through to the second round, Homsey started the tournament with a 3-1 win over Wyatt Richardson of Augsburg University. Homsey advanced to the semifinals with a 5-2 decision over Daniel Sblendorio of Williams College. Zeckary Lehman of Baldwin Wallace grinder out a 5-0 decision over Homsey in the championship round. In the consolation bracket, Brad Basham of Washington & Lee defeated Homsey 6-4. Homsey claimed 5th place via forfeit over Liberty’s Austin Amos. Ferrum finished fifth in the team standings with 103 points. Augsburg won the team championship with 192 points. Homsey, a sophomore, is 13-5 with one pin this season. Ferrum will return to action on Saturday in the Crytzer Memorial Tournament in Lexington, VA.

Kaylen Campbell: The Division III Trinity women’s basketball team had its nine-game winning streak come to an end on Thursday. Smith College defeated the Bantams 58-51 in Hartford, CT. Campbell, a redshirt sophomore, came off the bench and played eight minutes. She scored four points off 1-of-5 shooting from the field. She also had a rebound. On Monday, Trinity defeated Farleigh Dickerson University-Florham 60-36 in Madison, NJ. Campbell played 18 minutes. She finished with four points, two steals and one rebound. Trinity is 9-2. They will host Western New England on Saturday in Hartford.

Featuring Josh Jackson, Jimmy Rogers, Carson Bradsher, Caitlin Carden and Maddie Bartlett