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This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior basketball guard Aaliyah Harris. On December 7, Harris scored a season-high 18 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out seven assists as the Lady Panthers defeated Carrboro 68-36. That continued a string of eight straight games with double figure points, a streak that is still active. Against Riverside on December 10, Harris scored 13 points in a 62-16 victory over Riverside. Last week, Harris announced her commitment to play college basketball at Randolph-Macon College. So far this week, Harris has been impressive as Orange has won both of its games in the Eastern Guilford Holiday Showcase. On Monday afternoon, Harris scored 17 points as the Lady Panthers defeated Reidsville 74-50. On Tuesday night, Harris led all scorers with 22 points as the Lady Panthers defeated Eastern Guilford 71-45. Harris been a regular rotation player for Orange since her freshman year. This morning (Wednesday), Orange will face Northeast Guilford to conclude the Eastern Guilford Holiday Showcase. Orange coach B.J. Condron will go for his 100th career victory.

CREEDMOOR–There were moments of desperation that turned into outright panic, a 7-point lead nearly blown in the final minute and two occasions were Orange somehow found itself on defense with the game on the line.

Yet it was still gloriously better than Orange’s last journey to South Granville in 2019.

And, unlike that horrendous previous trip, Orange came away victorious, even if the path to victory was filled with every unexpected bump, bounce, flip and stumble one could imagine along the way.

The Panthers defeated Rolesville 73-70 in the opening game of the Navy Bracket of the South Granville Holiday Invitational at South Granville High School on Monday afternoon. Orange advances to the semifinals to face Cary on Wednesday at 4. The Imps defeated J.F. Webb 66-53 on Monday night.

With two low-post players out of the lineup, Orange coach Darryl Britt called up junior Amare Morgan from the junior varsity squad over Christmas week. Morgan started his first varsity game and had 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Senior Jerec Thompson, who missed three games last week while in quarantine, led all scorers with 33 points, including some crucial free throws late.

It was the third time in five games that Thompson had scored 30 points or more for Orange (3-7).

Orange won for the first time in the South Granville Holiday Invitational. In 2019, the Panthers came into the tournament 7-1 with consecutive wins over East Chapel Hill and defending 3A State Champion Walter Williams. Yet Orange limped away from Creedmoor with losses to Sanderson, Franklinton and Green Hope.

It was the first time in Coach Derryl Britt’s four-year stint that the Panthers won the opening game of any tournament. In 2018, the Panthers finished fifth in the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational, but dropped the opener to Northeast Guilford in Gibsonville.

Orange led 69-62 with 1:36 remaining after Thompson rebounded his own miss and stuck it back in from point blank range. Shortly afterwards, Rolesville guard Jayden Michael was fouled by Thompson, which was followed by a technical foul on an Orange guard. Michael hit only one of the subsequent four foul shots.

On the ensuing Rams possession, Michael found himself again at the foul line after a foul against Orange’s Kaleb Barnhardt. Michael, which had two free throws rim out on his previous trip, had another limp out before sinking another to cut Orange’s lead to 69-64.

After a Thompson miss, Isaac Tatum hit a running one-hander, then poked the ball away from Orange’s J.J. Thompson, slid 15-feet across the slick Columbia blue floor on a humid December afternoon, somehow avoided a travel and called timeout. With a chance to tie with 48 seconds remaining, Rolesville’s Lucas Seubert missed a 3-pointer, which was rebounded by Jerec Thompson. After Barnhardt missed a lay-in, Jerec Thompson was fouled and sank two free throws.

With Orange leading 71-66, Michael hit a three-pointer, then poked the ball away from Thompson for a held-ball, which gave it right back to the Rams. With a chance to tie, Thompson poked the ball out of Michael’s hand, dove on the ball and called timeout.

Orange freshman Freddie Sneed hit a free throw with 2.9 seconds remaining, and a desperation heave from midcoast by Tatum missed the goal.

Michael led the Rams (3-7) with 15 points, Seubert added 14.

In the first quarter, Rolesville led 15-9 after two free throws with 49 seconds remaining by Chadwright Wright. Then Orange reeled off 18 consecutive points, started with two free throws from Morgan, followed by a Thompson 3-pointer off an assist from Darius Corbett that beat the quarter buzzer to cut the Rams’ lead to 15-14.

Corbett went coast-to-coast on a lay-in to open the second quarter to put Orange ahead 16-15, a lead they would remarkably not lose for the rest of the game. Thompson added another 3-pointer off a shot fake, then buried another, followed by a 3-pointer from Ryan Moss to increase the Orange advantage to 25-15. Joshua Jackson scored off a lay-in on transition.

The Rams quickly narrowed its deficit to single digits behind a 3-pointer from Lucas Seubert and two field goals from Chadwick Wright, reducing Orange’s lead to 34-31 at the break.

ORANGE 73, ROLESVILLE 70

ROLESVILLE: Jayden Michael 15, Lucas Seubert 14, Michael Downing 4, Jordan Saddler 6, Ibukun Adewumi 6, Isaac Tatum 11, Chadwick Wright 9, Tyler King 3, Logan Huff 2.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 33, J.J. Thompson 4, Darius Corbett 7, Isaiah Seymour 2, Amare Morgan 15, Ryan Moss 7, Joshua Jackson 4, Freddie Sneed 1.

GIBSONVILLE–Playing the first game after Christmas in a holiday invitational can be a challenge.

Even the most seasoned squads can sometimes experience a holiday hangover after all the Christmas shopping, family get-togethers, days off and countless meals have faded over time and it comes time to play some basketball.

For Orange, that wasn’t the case in the opening round of the Eastern Guilford Basketball Showcase in Gibsonville on Monday. The Lady Panthers faced Reidsville in the first of six games on the Monday slate. While things grew tight in the second half, there was no holiday hangover to be found for Orange.

Instead, they greeted the early wakeup call with open arms. The players got up early for a shoot around in the auxiliary gymnasium at Eastern Guilford High School. This came a week after a pre-Christmas workout at the Cedar Grove Ruritan Club in order to keep their legs fresh.

“To be honest with you, I kinda liked it,” Orange women’s coach B.J. Condron said of playing the 11AM game. “We worked out for about an hour to get the rust off. The facilities here are so nice here, it was good to get here early. When you play the first game, there’s definitely a concern. We were kind of the first team to wake up.”

Senior guard Aaliyah Harris, who committed to Randolph-Macon College last week, scored 22 points as Orange (7-3) defeated Reidsville 71-45.

Orange led 42-26 with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter, but the Rams’ Kieva Perkins sparked a 14-2 run with a banked-in 3-pointer. Reidville’s Gracious Wise completed a 3-point play to cut Orange’s lead to 44-40 with 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Rams had a chance to cut Orange’s lead down to a single-basket, but were called for a 3-second violation. Subsequently, Jada Reed found Orange’s Samantha George on a diagonal pass, which led to a foul. George sank both free throws, followed by a steal and lay-in by Harris. From that point forward, the Lady Panthers finished the game on a 25-5 run.

Kieva Perkins led the Rams (2-2) with 21 points. Wise added 12 points, but the Rams scored only five points in the fourth quarter.

Perkins sank a running one-hander to cut Orange’s lead to 50-42, but the Rams didn’t score a field goal in the final 5:58. Orange freshman Evelyn George, who finished with ten points, sank a key 15-foot jumper on the next possession that jump started a run and put the game away. It was the fourth time this year that George has finished in double figures.

“Evelyn is putting herself in a position to get more time,” Condron said. “She’s one of our hardest workers and she’s shown that in practice time-and-time again and it’s really starting to pay off.”

The game also marked the return of All-Conference center Erin Jordan-Cornell, who last played against East Chapel Hill on November 30. Jordan-Cornell suffered a leg injury against the Wildcats, which caused her to miss seven games.

Against Reidsville, Jordan-Cornell started but found herself in foul trouble all day. She was limited to seven points and four rebounds.

“I think she did a good job,” Condron said. “Just getting her back in the grove of things, it was good to get her back out there.”

After the two teams finished the first quarter tied 16-16, the Lady Panthers held Reidsville to two field goals in the second quarter. Harris scored eight of her 22 points in the second frame, including two breakaway layups that pushed Orange’s lead briefly into double-digits.

This year, the Eastern Guilford Basketball Showcase isn’t a tournament, but simply three games between nonconfernece opponents across three days. The Lady Panthers, who finished 2nd in the Granville Central Holiday Tournament in 2019, will face Eastern Guilford on Tuesday night at 7:30. Orange will wrap up the event against Northeast Guilford on Wednesday morning at 11AM.

ORANGE 71, REIDSVILLE 45

ORANGE–Samantha George 13, Aaliyah Harris 22, Jada Reed 4, Jarmil Wingate 12, Erin Jordan-Cornell 7, Samantha George 10, Aisha Caron 3.

REIDSVILLE–Heaven Perkins 4, Kieva Perkins 21, Gracious Wise 12, Len Miller 2, Mariah Wilson 4, Morgan Hooper 2.

It was certainly a much more joyful ride home for the Orange men’s basketball team on Monday than the last time they played in the South Granville Holiday Invitational Tournament. A big reason why was because of junior Amare Morgan and senior Jerec Thompson. Orange defeated Rolesville 73-70 in the opening round of the Navy Bracket. Morgan, who earned a call up from the junior varsity team, scored 15 points in his first varsity game. In fact, he started at forward and nailed three 3-pointers. Thompson led all scorers with 33 points,, including 4 3-pointers. With Orange leading 72-70, the Rams had a chance to tie with 15 seconds remaining. But Thompson stripped the ball out of a Rolesville guard’s hands and led to Orange’s Freddy Sneed scoring the game’s final point with 2.7 seconds remaining. It was the third time in five games that Thompson has scored 30-or-more points in a game this season. Orange advances to the Navy Bracket semifinals, where they will face Cary on Wednesday afternoon at 4 at South Granville High School.

Playing in a holiday tournament for the first time since 2019, the Orange women’s basketball team pulled away from Reidsville 71-45 in the opening game of the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational in Gibsonville on Monday afternoon. The George sisters played a big role in Orange outscoring the Lady Rams 23-5 in the final quarter. Senior Samantha George scored 13 points, including seven in the second quarter. Samantha’s younger sister, Evelyn George, had a key bucket late in the third quarter after Reidsville reduced the Lady Panthers’ 15-point lead down to four. Evelyn scored ten points, her fourth game in double-figures this season. When they aren’t teammates in Orange uniforms, Samantha and Evelyn often face each other in 1-on-1 games in their backyards. Orange has won five of its last six games and is 7-3 on the season. This year, the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational is comprised of seven teams, so it isn’t a tournament. Orange will face Eastern Guilford on Tuesday night at 7 PM, then wrap up the tournament against Northeast Guilford on Wednesday morning at 11.