Orange High School

When the odds are against you with your season on the line, the best you can do is go out swinging.

That’s what Cedar Ridge seniors Jonovan Wingate and Colton Taylor, in their final game, did against Orange on Monday night.

Facing an Orange team with an infusion of young talent that has taken it to the upper half of the Central Carolina Conference, Wingate injected hope for Cedar Ridge with two early 3-pointers and came away with a team-high 13 points on the night. Taylor added two more treys late.

Once again, it was the Panthers’ depth that carried it past its crosstown rival. This time, it was in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.

Panther freshman Coleman Cloer scored 23 points while another freshman, Kai Wade, added 17 to lift Orange over Cedar Ridge 83-61 at Panther Gymnasium. The Panthers (17-6) advance to face Person in the semifinals on Wednesday night in Roxboro at 6PM.

Cloer is already at 503 career points with his freshman season not even over yet. He’s had twelve 20-point games this season and has scored in double figures in 23 of 24 games.

Cedar Ridge ends the season 6-16.

It’s the first time in six years that Orange is assured of a state playoff birth while playing in a conference tournament. By his own admission, Panthers coach Derryl Britt, to coin a term used by Queen in the 1980s, wants it all and wants it now. Which is why he was unhappy with his team’s first half.

“We’ve been working on some things and we expected them to work better,” Britt said. “When you’ve beaten a team twice already, it can be hard to get guys up to play sometimes. Our veteran guys haven’t been through postseason play. So trying to get them to understand not to play while watching the scoreboard, just to play the best basketball we can play, is a work in progress.”

In his final game for Cedar Ridge, senior Colton Taylor scored eleven points. It was the end of a whirlwind four months for first-year Red Wolves head coach Mike Jones, a former East Chapel Hill assistant who was hired just

“Jonovan played as well as he’s played all year,” Jones said. “Johnny shot the ball real well tonight. I’m real proud of him and I’m proud of my guys.”

A quick 10-0 burst by Orange early in the second quarter put the game out of reach. It started with a 3-pointer from Cloer, followed by a steal from Xandrell Pennix. Wade notched another steal and drove to the basket for a lay-in while getting fouled by Corin Wingate to take Orange’s lead to 31-16 with 6:46 remaining in the first half. Cloer added another 3-pointer.

Cedar Ridge fought back with a hook shot from Harrison Perel, followed by a 3-pointer from Wingate. Taylor hit five free throws in the second quarter, but the Panthers ended the run with another 3-pointer from Cloer.

It’s the second straight year that Orange has advanced in the CCC Tournament. It was their first home win in a tournament since they defeated Triton in the third round of the 2017 3A State Tournament.

Now that Jones’ first season is over, he will have something that he didn’t have from the moment he was hired: time.

He was forced to hit the ground running in November with barely enough time to get a team established, not to mention losing transfer Neco Clark to Southern Durham. He expects to take a month off before he gathers his team back for offseason workouts.

Despite the record, Jones maintained his enthusiasm during his first year as a head coach.

“It was up-and-down,” Jones said. “It was my first year. We learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot. I’m gonna grow a lot from this year. I think all of my kids, we grew as people. We grew as basketball players and I grew as a coach. I think the mindset is changing. The culture is changing. We don’t go into basketball games expecting to lose anymore. We go up and we fight. That’s the mindset. We’re just trying to get bigger, stronger, faster for next year.”

ORANGE 83, CEDAR RIDGE 61

CEDAR RIDGE: Colton Taylor 11, Landon Dalehite 9, Hayden KIrk 6, Braeden Wilbourn 2, Jonovan Wingate 13, Corin Wingate 4, Harrison Perel 10, Elijah Jenkins 2, Evan Marty 2, Brian Valentine 2.

ORANGE: Xandrell Pennix 7, Kai Wade 17, Ryan Honeycutt 14, Kaleb Barnhardt 4, Coleman Cloer 23, Ryan Moss 3, Isaiah Seymour 7, Malachi Poole 2, Caleb Barreto 4.

3-Pointers: CEDAR RIDGE 6 (Taylor 2, J. Wingate 3, Perel) Orange 6 (Cloer 4, Pennix, Wade, Moss)

By her standards, it had been a quiet night for Nikayla Whitted.

Facing the stifling, unrelenting, perimeter-focused defense of Eastern Alamance, Whitted had only mustered four shots from the field in the final minute of Orange’s Central Carolina Conference quarterfinal matchup against the Eagles in Mebane on Monday night.

With time running out in a game tied 31-31, Whitted took a skip pass from freshman Addie Atkins and drove past Eastern Alamance guard Tashawna Garner. Whitted attempted a running one-hander down the lane and ran into the arms of the Eagles’ Makayla Thompson, who was called for her fourth foul with :19.5 left.

Whitted had not attempted a free throw all night, but it didn’t stop her from calmly sinking both tosses to put Orange ahed 33-31

On the Eagles’ next possession, Thompson took the ball from forward Aliya Trollinger and found teammate Nicole Hester with a diagonal pass on the low right block. Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell, trailing the play, got a piece of the ball from behind. It sailed over the rim and into the arms of Evelyn George.

A late, desperation 3-pointer by Garner missed at the buzzer, and Orange secured its second win over Eastern Alamance in three days.

The Lady Panthers (14-11) secured a spot in the semifinals, where they will travel to defending 3A State Champion Northwood on Wednesday night. The win also guaranteed Orange its third consecutive winning season.

Jordan-Cornell led the Lady Panthers with 18 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. In an obligatory rockfight against Eastern Alamance, the Lady Panthers 2-3 zone infused headaches throughout the game for the Eagles, who nearly won despite shooting 18% from the field, including 1-of-15 from 3-point range.

The Lady Panthers built a 15-7 halftime lead, the largest by either squad on the night, after they held the Lady Eagles (13-12) to one point in the second quarter, which featured Eastern Alamance missing all seven of its field goal attempts.

George assisted on each of Orange’s opening two field goals of the second quarter, starting with a lay-in by Jordan-Cornell. After George blocked a shot by Thompson, she fed Maura McMurtry for the Lady Panthers’ only 3-pointer of the game. Seniors Katelyn Van Mater and Jada Reed each added baskets to push the Lady Panthers lead to 15-6. Only Garner’s free throw with 3:29 remaining in the first half kept the Eagles from getting shut out.

Eastern Alamance went over 15:50 without a field goal, yet still erased its eight-point deficit in just three-and-a-half minutes to open the second half. Thompson triggered a 10-2 run with a lay-in off a pass from Trollinger. Marion Scott’s two free throws evened the game at 17-17 with 5:44 left in the third quarter.

Garner missed the final minutes of the third quarter after she picked up her third foul, which allowed its guard more passing latitude to Jordan-Cornell and George in the paint. Jordan-Cornell scored a second-chance basket after an offensive rebound from George to put the Lady Panthers ahead 21-19 with 3:42 remaining in the third. Jordan-Cornell scored again off another stickback basket, but Scott struck back with a 15-footer. George ended the third quarter with her only field goal to put Orange ahead 25-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Orange jumped out to a 29-23 after Jordan-Cornell scored on a lau-up with 5:50 left in the game. Trollinger responded with the Eagles’ only 3-pointer of the night, followed by a free throw from Hester.

With Orange ahead 31-27 with 1:35 remaining, Garner took an offensive rebound and scored on a coast-to-coast lay-in while getting fouled by Jordan-Cornell. Garner completed the three-point play. Eastern Alamance’s Jada Graves grabbed the rebound after a missed Orange 3-pointer and Garner was fouled by Reed on a drive to the basket on a borderline call under the basket. Garner hit the first free throws to tie the game 31-31, but missed the second. Trollinger got an offensive rebound in the backcourt. After Eastern coach Tim Krotish called timeout, Trollinger missed a shot from the foul line that would have given the Eagles its first lead since it was 6-5, and George grabbed the rebound.

Orange has now won back-to-back games against the Eagles. Before the Lady Panthers’ win over the Eagles last Friday in Hillsborough, Eastern Alamance had beaten Orange six straight times.

ORANGE 33, EASTERN ALAMANCE 31

ORA: 6       9       10      8–33

EA: 6          1          14   10–31

ORANGE: Evelyn George 2, Nikayla Whitted 4, Jada Reed 6, Erin Jordan-Cornell 16, Maura McMurtry 3, Katelyn Van Mater 2.

EASTERN ALAMANCE: Tashawna Garner 8, Aliya Trollinger 9, Marion Scott 4, Nicole Hester 4, Makayla Thompson 6.

3-pointers: Orange (McMurtry) Eastern Alamance (Garner)

FOULED OUT-none.

REBOUNDS: ORANGE 42 (Jordan-Cornell 14), Eastern Alamance 37 (Hester 8)

Where do you go from here?

Asking Katie Belle Sikes that question was the best way to get her to hesitate after she captured her first 3A State Championship in February 2022. At the time, it was something she didn’t have a precise answer for.

So much has changed since then.

She’s committed to swim at Georgia. She changed travel teams. She qualified for all eight individual events for the Central Regionals this winter, even though there were less dual meets for her Orange women’s swimming team.

Now, she’s accomplished something that most swimmers only dream of.

On Saturday, Sikes won three gold medals at the NCHSAA 3A State Swimming Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. Sikes repeated as champion in the 50 yard freestyle, setting a new state record (regardless of classification) of 22.17 seconds. The time was the 10th fastest ever recorded during a high school meet in American history. It also earned Sikes automatic All-American status.

For the first time, Sikes won the 100 meters state championship. She touched the wall at 49.45 seconds, another automatic All-American time. Sikes’ time was a 3A State Championship record. The state record is held by Teresa Ivan of Ardrey Kell at 49.25 seconds.

Sikes also made history when she swam the anchor league for the first Orange relay team to ever win a state championship. Riley White, Piper White, Ainsley Rasinske and Sikes captured 1st place in the women’s 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:41.04. In a tight race, Sikes swam the final leg in 22.65 seconds, two seconds faster than Northwest Cabarrus’ Caroline Rinker.

White, Rasinske, Sikes and White are the first relay team in Hillsborough history to win a state championship.

Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the 3A State Championships, another first-time award for any swimmer from Orange or Cedar Ridge High School.

Last year, Sikes felt more relief than joy after she captured her first state championship. The day, in and of itself, is long. There are preliminaries that start at 9AM, followed by a three-hour wait for finals to begin at 5PM. Last year in between sessions, Sikes got to go back to her grandparents house, Linda and Donald, and take a nap before she became the first Orange female swimmer to win a state championship.

Sikes attributes her better performance in the state championships to a new travel team, Eastern Carolina Aquatics, coached by Claudio Battaglini.

“It definitely helped a lot,” Sikes said. “From the times that I swam and how I broke the record, I owe a lot of that to him. He put a whole program out for me, just for high school and states, and it was really great. My old coach didn’t like high school swimming as much as Claudio does. Claudio is all-in. He knows this is a big meet for everyone and wants me to do much better. We train differently. We did more sprint work and I got to rest a little bit more.”

Sikes now has four state championships for her career. As a freshman in 2021, she finished second in the 50 yard freestyle to Olivia Rhodes of Charlotte Catholic, who edged Sikes by .37 of a second for the state title.

“I reached the goals I set for myself,” Sikes said. “I may have over exceeded a little bit. I definitely wasn’t expecting to set the best time not only for my high school career, but also for my club career. I’m really happy with how I swam.”

After one of the greatest athletic performances in county history, it’s easy to forget that Sikes is a junior. She still has one more year remaining at Orange and finding motivation won’t be hard.

“Honestly, it’s not that hard,” Sikes said. “I love my team and I love my sport. It might seem like I have done everything I can do this year, but I’m just going to go back at it again next year to see how much better I can get.”

The Orange women finished fourth in the team standings. Carrboro came away with the team state championship with 196 points. Orange had 154 points.

In addition to their 200 yard freestyle relay championship, White, Rasinske, White and Sikes finished second in the 200 yard medley relay. They finished behind Central Cabarrus, who beat out Orange by .15-of-a-second.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Piper White finished 10th at 25.78. Piper also came in 10th in the 100 yard freestyle.

Orange’s Riley White came in fifth in the 100 yard butterfly at 59.55 seconds. She finished 7th in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:01.57. Abby Cronin, a sophomore from Central Cabarrus, won the state title at 58.28 seconds.

Cedar Ridge’s Sophia Stinnett finished 6th in the 500 yard freestyle at 5:26.76. She finished  11th in the 200 yard freestyle at 2:02.35.

Another Red Wolves sophomore, Quinn McCrimmon, finished 13th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:24.19. Maya Lambert of Carrboro came away with the state championship at 2:04.16. Lambert also captured the state title in the 100 yard butterfly.

It was a special Senior Night for the Orange women’s basketball team. The Lady Panthers never trailed and defeated Eastern Alamance 44-39 in front of a large crowd at Panther Gymnasium. The Eagles had defeated the Lady Panthers six consecutive times, including twice in the state playoffs in 2019 and 2020. In her final game inside a gym she knows all too well, Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell scored 14 points to lead the Lady Panthers. Orange seniors Jada Reed and Nikayla Whitted each scored in the opening three minutes as the Lady Panthers roared out to an 8-0 lead. Reed had six points in her final game at Orange High. Whitted scored four. Forward Katelyn Van Mater, another senior, also scored four points. Van Mater is a three-sport athlete who, earlier this year, helped the Orange tennis team win its first-ever conference championship in school history. Van Mater’s tennis coach, Justin Webb, was in attendance on Friday night. It was a special way for the Orange seniors to play its final game on their home floor. Orange will prepare for another matchup against Eastern Alamance. This time, it will be in the opening round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament. It will be contested in Mebane on Monday night at 6PM. The winner will travel to Northwood for the semifinals on Wednesday.

OHS’ Jada Reed, Katelyn Van Mater, Erin Jordan-Cornell & Nikayla Whitted talk win on Senior Night

It was a special Senior Night for the Orange women’s basketball team. The Lady Panthers never trailed and defeated Eastern Alamance 44-39 in front of a large crowd at Panther Gymnasium. The Eagles had defeated the Lady Panthers six consecutive times, including twice in the state playoffs in 2019 and 2020.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior high jumper Issac Seymour. This Friday, Seymour will compete in the 3A State Indoor Track and Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem. Last winter, Seymour was a member of the Orange men’s basketball team, along with his brother Isaiah. This year, he focused on track and field. He has broken the state championship qualifying standard for the high jump of 5’8” four times. On December 10, Seymour set his personal best jump of 5’10” at the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear #2 meet at Dave Thaden Stadium. On January 10, Seymour won the meet at the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #2 on January 10 at Fred Brady Stadium in Mebane. Seymour cleared 5’8”. Last week in the final regular season meet of the indoor season, Seymour again cleared 5’8″. He finished third. Brayden Garrett of J.F. Webb came in first with a leap of 5’10”. Seymour will compete at the JDL Fast Track for the first time this Friday. He will be joined by other teammates who have qualified for the state indoor championships: Gabriel Schmid, Aedan Sampey, Katheryn Scully and Grace Pell.

Orange Panther of the Week: Issac Seymour

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior high jumper Issac Seymour. This Friday, Seymour will compete in the 3A State Indoor Track and Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem. Last winter, Seymour was a member of the Orange men’s basketball team, along with his brother Isaiah.

For the second year in a row, the Orange men’s swimming team has followed a Central Carolina Conference championship with a runner-up finish in the Central Regionals.

On Friday at the Greensboro AquatIc Center, the Panthers has two Silver Medals from Sophomore Luke Roman and two bronze medals from senior Evan Phillips to finish with 252 points. Carrboro claimed its second straight 3A Central Regional title with 376 points.

Roman, who captured three gold medals at the CCC Championships on January 25 at the Orange County Sportsplex, finished 2nd in the 200 yard freestyle. He set a new school record at 1:47.43. Carrboro junior Andrew Commins took the gold medal at 1:44.00. Orange’s Alex Andre finished fourth, also qualifying for the 3A State Championships, with a time of 1:51.54.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Roman had another school record at 4:52.23, good enough for second place. Commins took the gold medal at 4:41.69. Andre finished fourth, earning another spot in the state championships, at 5:05.20.

Roman also teamed with Phillips, Alexander Andre and Andrew Weeks to finished 2nd in the 200 yard medley relay. The quartet, with Roman swimming the anchor leg, finished at 1:46.96. They finished less than a second behind the Durham School of the Arts team of William Gray, Dreizin Ginsberg, Lucca Battaglini and Carson Sheehan, who finished at 1:46.07.

Roman, Phillips, Alexander and Weeks also qualified for the state championships in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They finished third with a time of 3:28.23. Carrrboro’s team of Commins, Matt Strada, Will Thompson and Sam McCallion finished first at 3:18.84.

Phillips, who also won three conference championships in Hillsborough, came in third in the 200 yard individual medley. He set a new personal best time of 2:07.25. William Sikes of Northwood captured the regional title at 2:01.23.

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Phillips finished third at 1:03.40, another personal best to advance to the state championships.

Orange senior Andrew Weeks qualified for the 100 yard backstroke. Weeks finished fourth after he touched the wall at 1:00.29. Carrrboro’s Will Thompson finished first at 50.23 seconds.

The State Championships will be held on Saturday at the Cary Aquatic Center.

Cedar Ridge’s junior Nikhil Agans, who won the CCC Championship in the 200 yard freestyle, earned the bronze medal in the same event at regionals. Agans touched the wall at 1:47.77, but a fraction of a second behind Roman. Agans also qualified for the state championships in the 100 yard free. Agans came in fourth at 49.92 seconds. Carrboro’s Thompson captured the regional title at 46.44 seconds.

Cedar Ridge finished 11th in the men’s team standings with 95 points.

The Panthers, who won the Central Carolina Conference championship for the second year in a row, had six male swimmers earn a spot on the podium at regionals. Last year there were five.

In 2022, Roman finished 2nd in the 200 yard freestyle.

This year, the Panthers were without diver Stanz Zitko, a diver who won four consecutive 3A/2A/1A Central Regional Championships during his stint at Orange. Zitko, who graduated last summer, finished 2nd in the State Championships last February.

Orange has only had one male swimmer win a state championship in school history. In 2018, Ben Scott won the 3A State title in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 45.95 seconds.

Earlier this winter, Cedar Ridge junior Zoey Moreno became the first female Red Wolves wrestler to win a tournament.

While she didn’t quite reach the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Women’s Invitational Tournament last weekend, she didn’t leave empty handed.

Moreno won her bracket at the Women’s Wrestling Showcase, held at the RISE Sports Complex in Bermuda Run, last Friday. Competing at 120 pounds, Moreno was the only competitor from Hillsborough in the event.

Moreno defeated Anella Fabriziani of Willow Spring 7-4 in the opening match. It took Moreno 1:04 to score the opening takedown. Fabriziani came back with a reversal and two back points to take a 4-3 lead at the end of the first period. Moreno notched four points in the final period to earn the win.

In the second match, Moreno defeated Amyna Denton of Hayesville via pinfall in 49 seconds. In the finale, Moreno pinned Annaleigh Tinoco of North Henderson in 44 seconds.

On January 26, Moreno competed against eleven other wrestlers in the 120-pound division of the Mideast Regional at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville. Moreno defeated Jenna Phelps of Triton via pinfall in 1:09 of the opening round. Joce Carter of Hoke County, who went on to finish runner-up in the tournament, defeated Moreno in the 2nd round.

In the consolation round, Moreno pinned Ariana Anampa of Green Hope in 2:53. Jack Britt’s Samantha Dedeaux defeated Moreno in the consolation semifinals, which determined who would advance to the state tournament.

Moreno concludes her season with a 12-5 record.

In December, Moreno won the Green Hope Girls Grapple in Cary. Moreno defeated Ana Lytle of Wakefield for first place via pinfall in 33 seconds to win the championship.

Indoor Track: 

The Orange Indoor Track & Field team will have five competitors in the 3A/2A/1A NCHSAA Indoor Track and Field State Championships at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem on Friday.

Junior Aedan Sampey cleared 11-feet, 6-inches in the pole vault during the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear at Fred Brady Stadium in Mebane on January 31. The minimum qualifying standard is 10-feet. Previously, Sampey qualified for the state championships when he cleared 11-feet at the Eastern Alamance Polar Bear #2 on January 10.

Orange senior Issac Seymour will be going to the State Championships in the high jump. On December 10 at Dave Thaden Stadium, Seymour cleared 5-feet, 10-inches to finish in second place at the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear #2 meet. The minimum high jump standard is 5-feet, 8-inches. At the Eastern Alamance on January 10, Seymour won the high jump with another top leap of 5’8′, two inches better than Bron Rogers of Walter Williams.

Last week in the final regular season meet of the indoor season, Seymour again cleared 5’8″. He finished third. Brayden Garrett of J.F. Webb came in first with a leap of 5’10”.

Seymour also won the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear #4 meet on January 21. He cleared 5’10” for a new personal best.

The Orange men’s 4×400 meter relay team qualified for the State Championships at the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear on January 21. They won a meet, comprised of seven team, with a time of 3:42.16, beating the Wakefield squad by .23-of-a-second.

Also on January 31, Orange junior Katheryn Scully qualified for the high jump. She won the event with a leap of 5-feet. The qualifying standard for high jump in the state championships is 4’10”.

At the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear on January 21, Orange’s Grace Pell had a jump of 4’10”, earning her a spot in Winston-Salem. Pell qualified for regionals for the Orange women’s cross country team last November.

Orange junior Gabriel Schmid, who won the 3A State Cross Country Championship last fall, qualified for the state championships in the 3,200 meters during the first meet of the season on November 19 at the New Balance Dash for Doobie 3,200 in Pfafftown.