For the fourth time in five years, the Orange women’s basketball team has made the state playoffs.

Instead of driving three hours to face an opponent they know by name only, the Lady Panthers will take a short hop up Highway 70 on Tuesday night to play in a familiar gym against a team they know very well.

Orange will face Mid-State Conference Champion Eastern Alamance in Mebane on Tuesday night. The Eagles finished the regular season tied with Northern Guilford for 1st place in the Mid-State 2A/3A Conference at 12-2. That tie was broken when the Eagles defeated the Nighthawks 46-43 in the Mid-State Tournament Championship game on Saturday night.

Eastern Alamance, coached by Tim Krotish, finished its conference tournament 22-4.

“We are really excited about being able to continue playing,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “It’s great that we don’t have to travel too far. We have our work cut out for us in a really good Eastern Alamance team, but we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Orange was the sixth and final team from the Big 8 Conference to make the 3A State Playoffs. They received a #29 seed, while the Eagles are seeded fourth.

The winner will face the winner of White Oak vs. Swansboro on Thursday.

This marks the second year in a row that Orange and Eastern Alamance will tangle in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs. Last year, Eastern used a trapping defense to frustrate the Lady Panthers and pull off a 57-52 upset in Hillsborough. It marked the end of an era for Orange, as seniors Icez Barnett, Lauren Cates, Grace Dively and Kate Burgess all played their final games in a Panther uniform.

It was especially emotional for Barnett, who started her career at Eastern Alamance before transferring to Orange for her sophomore year.

Orange almost annually visits Eastern Alamance for its Holiday Hoops Tournament. In December, the Lady Panthers played three games inside Eagle Gymnasium.

The Burlington School defeated Orange in the opening round 57-46. The Lady Panthers, who had lost sophomore guard Mary Moss Wirt to an injured knee two weeks earlier against Carrboro, rebounded to beat Bartlett Yancey and Riverside and finished in fifth place.

Orange (11-12) is coming off a 51-36 loss to Chapel Hill in the opening round of the ill-fated Big 8 Women’s Basketball Tournament last Tuesday. The Tigers never got to play its semifinal game against Southern Durham after the tournament was canceled because of snow Thursday.

Trailing 24-23 at halftime, the Lady Panthers traded the lead with Chapel Hill throughout the third quarter before the Tigers’ defense took over. Orange was held to four points in the final quarter, all scored by sophomore guard Samantha George.

Without the four senior starters from last year, Condron knew he would have a young team when practice started in November. He had no idea how young they would eventually be when Wirt went down with a season-ending injury on December 12. Wirt was Orange’s top returning scorer from last season and their top 3-point threat.

Sophomore forward Jarmil Wingate, senior Grace Andrews and freshman center Erin Jordan-Cornell have also missed games this year. Against Cedar Ridge on January 30, Orange even played without four starters (Jordan-Cornell, Wirt, Wingate and George) but still pulled out a 52-40 win on the Red Wolves’ senior night.

Sophomore Aaliyah Harris, one of only two players to appear in all of Orange’s 23 games, leads the Lady Panthers with 12 points per game.

The Lady Panthers are the third team from Orange to reach the state playoffs this year. The volleyball and wrestling teams both fell in the opening rounds of their respective tournaments.

Kessel Summers gave Orange it’s only wins of the weekend at the 3A State Wrestling Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Summers, a junior who qualified for the 3A State Championships for the second year in a row, finished 2-2 on the weekend at 126 pounds. After the tournament was delayed on Thursday because of snow, Summers pinned Havelock’s Nate Lucio in 5:52 in the opening round on Friday afternoon. It was the second time this season that Summers defeated Lucio. In the Havelock Duals on January 12, Summers defeated Lucio 14-5.

In the quarterfinals, Enka’s Corbin Dion scored a 20-5 technical fall on Summers. Dion, who ended the year 57-5, wound up with the state championship. In the semifinals, Dion rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to defeat Southern Guilford’s Stephen Cotton 10-7. In the final, Dion faced Marion’s Tommy Capul, who he defeated to win the Western Regional Championship last weekend. Dion earned a 6-2 decision.

In the consolation round, Summers pinned Northside-Jacksonville’s Josh Myers in 2:20. Central Cabarrus’ Noah Kiser eliminated Summers on a 9-6 decision.

Summers ended the year 42-14. He will start next season with 97 career victories. In 2019, Summers, competing at 113 pounds, went 39-14 with 17 pins.

In a year where Orange had many incredible streaks come to an end, this weekend brought about another. It was the first time since 1988 that the Panthers didn’t have a wrestler place in the state championship.

Last year, Levi Anderson reached the state championship match at 145 pounds, losing 3-0 in the final.

Orange returned only four starters from last year’s squad, leading to its run of 16 consecutive conference championship being broken by Chapel Hill. It was Chapel Hill’s first win over Orange since 1989, and they did it on the Panthers’ senior night on January 30.

Union Pines eliminated the Panthers in the opening round of the 3A State Dual Team Championships.

“We came up a little short of our goals this year,” said Orange coach Spenser Poteat. “I think we have to refocus back to our original thought process. Not focus on winning, but on our individual relationships with each other. A Strong bond between our coaches and wrestlers make success everywhere else easy. Its about influence…heart, love, kindness, and lots of hard work and sacrifice.”

Xavier Tinnen and Brendon Worsham reached the state championships for the first time. Worsham, a sophomore who reached the Mideast Regional Finals at 182 pounds, lost to Justin Beltran of St. Stephens in the opening round 12-2. In the consolation round, Milan Summers of Greensboro Dudley defeated Worsham 7-4. Worsham ended the year 31-17.

Parkwood’s Marcus Williams, the Midwest Regional Champion, pinned Tinnen at 1:29 of the opening round of the 195-pound championships. Andre Britt of St. Stephens pinned Tinnen in 1:40 of the consolation round.

Tinnen, a junior who finished third in December’s Jim King/Orange Invitational at 195 pounds, ended the year 22-12.

“Brendan and Xavier both fought hard and wrestle to the best of their ability this weekend,” Poteat said. “Kessel had been to States before and his goal fell a little short as well. I look forward to the off season and getting ready for the rising seniors of next year.”

Orange ended the year 24-4 overall, 6-1 in the Big 8 Conference.

The potential for snow on Thursday has led the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to postpone the opening round of the State Wrestling Championships.

The Big 8 men’s and women’s basketball tournament, which started on Tuesday, will now have to finish by Saturday–if it finishes at all.

In a statement released by the NCHSAA on its website on Wednesday night, the association postponed the first day of the 2020 individual wrestling state tournament due to the possibility of a wintry mix in the Triad. The tournament, scheduled to begin on Thursday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum, is still slated to conclude on Saturday night.

“The NCHSAA Staff is working on a schedule that will still allow the tournament to be completed on Saturday night,” the statement read. “More details and an updated schedule will be released Thursday through the NCHSAA Website and other communication avenues.”

Orange High had three wrestlers scheduled to start competing on Thursday. Brendon Worsham, who finished 2nd in the Mideast Regionals last weekend at Cape Fear High, will take on Justin Bellran of St. Stephens, who came in 3rd in the West Region.

At 126 pounds, Orange’s Kessel Summers will square off with Havelock’s Nate Lucio in the opening round. That will be a rematch from earlier this year. On January 11 in the Havelock Duals, Summers scored a major decision over Lucio 14-5. Summers finished 3rd in the Mideast Regionals.

Xavier Tinnen, seeded 4th, will face Midwest Regional champion Amir Joseph of Parkwood in the opening round. Tinnen, who is 22-8, qualified for the state championship for the first time last weekend after a fourth place finish.

The respective Big 8 basketball tournaments were supposed to resume on Thursday with doubleheaders at Northwood High in Pittsboro and Southern Durham High. Both Chatham County and Durham Public Schools announced on Wednesday night that schools would be closed on Thursday, leading to the postponement of the four scheduled games.

At Southern Durham, third-seeded Chapel Hill will face second-seeded Southern Durham in the women’s game at 6, followed by the men’s game between third-seeded Vance County vs. 2nd-seeded Southern Durham.

The Northwood women’s team is slated to face 5th-seeded East Chapel Hill in the other semifinal at 6 in Pittsboro. At 7:30, the top-seeded Northwood men’s team will host 5th-seeded Chapel Hill.

The postponement means the semifinals are now scheduled for Friday night, and the championship games on Saturday at the higher-seed’s gymnasium. However, the tournament must be completed by Saturday. Another cancellation on Friday likely means the tournament won’t be completed.

If that’s the case, Northwood will be the #1 seed from the Big 8 Conference in both the men’s and women’s tournaments since they won the regular season championship in both races. Southern Durham finished runner-up in both races and would get the #2 seed (normally, the tournament winner would get the #2 seed if it isn’t one of the top two teams).

On Thursday morning, the NCHSAA announced that seeding for the state playoffs would be delayed until Sunday morning.

All four Hillsborough teams were eliminated in the opening rounds of the Big 8 Tournaments on Tuesday. The only local squad with a chance to earn a state playoff spot is the Orange women’s team, who finished 6th in the Big 8 Conference and has a MaxPreps ranking of #59. HighSchoolOT, run by Nick Stevens, has repeatedly had Orange as among the last five teams in the state playoffs in recent projections. If the Lady Panthers make the field of 64, it would be their fourth trip to the state playoffs in the last five years.

Photo by HailState.com

Mia Davidson: The Mississippi State softball team won the Bulldog Kickoff Classic at Nusz Park in Starkville, MS last weekend. Davidson hit three home runs over five games during the weekend, which ended with a 4-0 victory over Tennessee State on Sunday. Tulsa handed Mississippi State its first loss of the season on Friday. In a 2-1 loss, Davidson scored the Bulldogs only run with a homer to centerfield in the 5h inning. Later that night, Mississippi State defeated North Alabama 6-0. On Saturday, Mississippi State shutout Tennessee State 3-0, then rolled past North Alabama 9-1. Against the Lions, Davidson went 3-for-4 with two home runs. She finished with four RBIs and scored three times. It was the fifth time in her career that Davidson had a multiple home run game. The previous time was against Memphis on April 10, 2019. Davidson had a four RBI game for the sixth time in her career. Davidson has had a hit in seven of Mississippi State’s ten games this year. At 9-1, new Mississippi State head coach Samantha Ricketts is off to the best 10-game start of any coach in school history. Through ten games, Mia is hitting .290 with four home runs and six RBIs. She is 2nd on the team with 23 total bases.

Montana Davidson: In Mississippi State’s loss to Tulsa, Montana went 2-for-3 with two singles. The following day in a 6-0 win over North Alabama, Davidson scored a run in the sixth inning off a single by Christian Quinn. Montana, who played shortstop at Orange, has started all ten games this season for the Bulldogs. She is hitting .231 with two RBIs. Mississippi State starts play Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Spring, CA on Thursday. They open with Oregon State on Thursday. The Bulldogs also play BYU, Oregon, UC Riverside and San Diego State during the three-day event.

Brad Debo: The N.C. State baseball team started its season with a sweep of James Madison last weekend. Debo, who is now a senior, went 1-for-3 as a designated hitter in the Wolfpack’s 4-0 win over the Dukes. Overall, Debo went 2-for-9 for the weekend. N.C. State is 4-0 after Tuesday’s win over Longwood.

Bowen Collins: The Lenoir-Rhyne men’s lacrosse team, ranked #17 in the country, defeated Westminster 17-8 Moretz Stadium in Hickory on Friday. Collins, a senior from Hillsborough, scored a man-advantage goal for the Bears in the 2nd quarter, his fourth of the year. Lenoir-Rhyne will face #6 Belmont Abbey in Hickory on Friday night.

Zach Wright: The Division II Mars Hill men’s lacrosse team defeated Lees-McRae 20-13 at Meares Stadium on February 11. Wright had two shots and scooped up two ground balls for the Lions. On February 15, Lindenwood defeated Mars Hill 23-6. Wright assisted on a goal scored by Devin Napol in the fourth quarter. Mars Hill is 1-2.

Jonathan Hall: Now in his senior year as a runner at Wofford, Hall competed in the VMI Indoor Classic in Lexington, VA last weekend. He reached the semifinals of the 60 meter hurdles and finished 8th with a time of 8.74 seconds. In the Carolina Challenge at the South Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex on January 31, Hall finished 21st in the 60 meter hurdles. In 2018-19, Hall made the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.

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Fenean feugiat purus vitae sollicitudin laoreet. Duis fringilla ligula vel velit lacinia

When Cory Lea joined the UNC football program as a walk-on in 1990, it was hardly a fashionable time to be a Tar Heel.

UNC had consecutive 1-10 seasons under Mack Brown, who arrived from Tulane to replace Dick Crum in 1988. Their struggles were so profound, they were daily fodder for morning radio show comedy bits.

The common joke around Durham and Raleigh (and even a few good natured UNC fans) became:

Q: “Why does Billy Graham want to hold a revival meeting inside Kenan Stadium?”

A: “Because every Saturday, Carolina fans keep screaming ‘Jesus Christ!'”

Three years after the Tar Heels’ last 1-10 season, they won the Peach Bowl over Mississippi State in the Georgia Dome. The following year, they played Alabama in the Gator Bowl. Lea was on the sidelines for both games.

Though he rarely played for the Tar Heels, Lea had no idea at the time that his looming career in education and coaching would mirror UNC’s rise to gridiron prosperity in the 1990s.

Lea was formally introduced to Cedar Ridge parents, students and staff inside the school’s Media Center on Monday night. The ceremony included introductions from new Cedar Ridge principal Dr. Carlos Ramirez and Athletic Director Andy Simmons.

“We scored a big win by having Cory join our staff,” Ramirez said. “He will begin building our program into, what I hope, will be perennial winners. I would like to see and support our Cedar Ridge program begin building athlete-scholar starting in elementary school. And that’s going to take a community effort. We have big plans down the road to make that happen.”

“We’re looking to establish solid relationships in the community with everybody,” Lea said. “I want us to be a culture in a school that wins at everything. To me, that is probably the most important thing that you can do as a school community. If you win at everything, then that permeates into everything. It permeates into your community.”

Lea arrives from Riverside, where he led the Pirates to its second conference championship in school history in 2018. Last season, Riverside finished 8-4 and reached the state playoffs for the second straight year.

When Lea took over at Northern Vance in 2015, the Vikings had won four games in the previous four years. In Lea’s first season, they finished 5-6, ending the year with a victory over Cedar Ridge in Hillsborough.

If Lea had his way, his arrival in Hillsborough would have happened years ago. He applied for the vacant Red Wolves head coaching job in 2016 when former Burlington Cummings head coach Steve Johnson resigned before he ever coached a game in Hillsborough because of a thoracic aortic aneurysm. Scott Loosemore, who eventually wound up with the permanent job for two seasons, served as interim coach in 2015.

“I’m destination driven,” Lea said. “Either I get a promotion or every once in awhile, there’s some place I really want to go. That list is very short. This is a place where I want to go. This is where I want to be. When the job came open again, I talked to Antonio King (Cedar Ridge’s coach in 2018) and I talked to Coach (Torrian) Hinton (who served as interim coach in 2019). They told me ‘Yeah, that’s a place you want to be.’ So here I am.”

After a year as offensive coordinator at Granville Central under head coach Don Colgan, Lea’s first head coaching job was at Bartlett Yancey in 2012. He went 2-9 in each of his two seasons. It was there where he learned about trying to do more with less.

“I’m not one of these guys that has to have a $5,000 piece of equipment,” Lea said. “We can remember showing up to practice and it was just me and Coach Antwain Cook. (his defensive coordinator). It teaches you how to be an effective coach and get things done.”

Lea has maintained a residence in Durham throughout his teaching career, so he came to Riverside as offensive coordinator to be closer to home. Lea left for Northern Vance a year later.

His success in Henderson led to a call back from Riverside officials when Howell left in 2016.

“I didn’t even have to apply for that job,” Lea said. “They called me. That says a lot about how my staff is able to build relationships and how we built things in the community.”

Lea also wasted no time in drawing the battle lines with Orange, which has ruled the roost in Orange County football since the departure of Joe Kilby as Cedar Ridge coach nine years ago.

Cedar Ridge hasn’t beaten Orange since 2011, when they won a 49-43 shootout. Since then, the Panthers have won seven consecutive matchups by a combined score of 309-43.

“There are two objectives that we have: to walk in the door and win games. And to beat that team across town,” Lea said. “Period.”

A crosstown rivalry was a big part of Lea’s job at Riverside. Last September, the Pirates beat neighboring Northern Durham for the first time since 2013.

“When we were at Riverside, we had the same pains that ya’ll had,” Lea said. “When we walked in the door there (at Riverside), we had never beaten Orange, ever. For the last two years, they (Orange) now know what it’s like to lose (to Riverside). I’m going to bust my behind to get those things done here.”

At his previous two stops, Lea has proved he can do more than compete with the Panthers. In 2016, Northern Vance battled Orange in a defensive struggle that the Panthers prevailed in, 14-0, in the final ever game between the two teams.

Riverside won the last two matchups against Orange, including September’s 28-26 victory at Linny Wrenn Stadium in Durham. They also beat the Panthers 22-6 on Orange’s senior night in November 2018.

Lea isn’t just rebuilding a team as he starts with Cedar Ridge. He’s building a program. The Red Wolves didn’t field a varsity team two years ago, which led to an ugly summer of 2018 between unhappy parents and county administrators, resulting in numerous transfers and coaching departures that devastated the entire athletic program.

While all that is in the rear view mirror, Cedar Ridge has won only three varsity football games in three years. They haven’t had a junior varsity and varsity team in the same season since 2017.

The most common word that came up with Lea on Monday night was relationships. He plans to utilize that in Hillsborough for his latest challenge.

“I’m going to go to Gravelly Hill (Middle School) stuff,” Lea said. “I’m going to go to Stanback (Middle School) stuff. They may look at me sideways, but I may show up at a Stanford game. I think the first thing you have to do is make them comfortable with you personally. It is our intention to have a football camp this summer and I want to make it free because we just want kids out there.”

Lea will have his assistants accompany him to Hillsborough. Defensive coordinator Antwain Cook, who succeeded Lea at Northern Vance as head coach, will be the defensive coordinator. Zack Russell (offensive line), Caleb Russell (quarterbacks), John Seagroves (associate head coach), and Don McDowell (wide receivers coach) will also be on Lea’s staff.