For the first time since 2015, the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team defeated Orange inside Panther Gym on Tuesday night. The Red Wolves fought back from 13 points down to defeat the Panthers 66-55. Mekai Collins, who played at Orange last season, led the Red Wolves with 29 points, including 20 in the second half. Collins added nine rebounds and five assists as the Red Wolves outscored the Panthers 27-10 in the fourth quarter. For Collins, it was especially sweet after he started at Cedar Ridge his first two seasons. Collins shot 10-of-17 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-pint range. The victory ended Cedar Ridge’s 24-game Big 8 Conference losing streak. It was its first win over a Big 8 opponent since January 26, 2018, when they defeated Orange 55-38 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

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.

Since reaching the 3A state quarterfinals in 2017, very little has gone according to plan for the Orange men’s basketball program.

After Connor Crabtree, possibly the best player in school history, graduated following Orange’s 23-7 season, the Panthers started rebuilding.

When most teams enter that phase, the formula is the same. They take their lumps early and hope the dues they pay then will be rewarded years down the line.

Before Christmas, that appeared to be how this season was shaping up. Orange was 7-1, it’s best start in 14 years. They dominated established programs like Granville Central and Walter Williams, then blew out East Chapel Hill in its Big 8 Conference opener by 50.

Just when it appeared Orange was ready to step back into the spotlight again, they had a disappointing eighth-place finish in the Navy Bracket of the South Granville Holiday Tournament last week. It was the polar opposite of what many Orange players, coaches and fans expected.

Coach Derryl Britt planned to regroup with a good week of practice to prepare for a road trip to Vance County, who also had a lackluster tournament in Creedmoor.

Instead, the Panthers have lost its most influential player and, as a result, didn’t look competitive on Friday night.

Britt confirmed that senior forward Machai Holt is no longer on the team due to disciplinary reasons. Holt’s ubiquitous presence on the floor is certainly no secret to Britt or anyone else with a fraction of a basketball IQ that’s seen Orange play.

Holt created shots off the dribble with his slashing ability, setting up open looks for teammates Joey McMullin, Jerec Thompson and Jason Franklin. He was the team’s best finisher. At 6-foot-2, he was Orange’s best rebounder and defensive player.

Perhaps most precious of all, Holt had built a familiarity with his fellow upperclassmen, who had all played together since 5th grade at Pathways Elementary School.

With school not in session this week in Hillsborough, many of the Orange players didn’t know about Holt’s departure until hours before tipoff on Friday. It showed on the floor. Orange looked befuddled and disorganized as Vance County led 28-3 at the end of the first quarter. Jared Wood, a reserve guard, scored Orange’s only points in the opening ten minutes.

The Vipers went on to win 74-57, playing mainly reserves in the final ten minutes after leading by as many as 33 points.

McMullin, Orange’s leading scorer, went without a point in the first half.

Franklin, still nursing a bad back, missed his second straight game. With center Hunter Birch out, Orange suited up only eight players.

“We can’t stop because we don’t have a player or two with us,” Britt said. “We were prepared to play this game. Unfortunately with the issues, I think the guys were faced with reality that he wasn’t with us.”

McMullin scored 21 points, all in the second half, to lead Orange. Jerec Thompson finished with 18. Kendrell Brooks scored eleven, including eight in the first half where he carried most of the offensive load.

Afterward, Britt reflected on how much Holt’s departure will hurt his team.

“It impacts the offense. It impacts the defense,” Britt said. “It effects how we play in transition. It effects everything. Machai was a big part of the team. He did a lot of things for us. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us. We have to adjust.”

No one is ready to throw in the towel on anything regarding this season, especially with crosstown rival Cedar Ridge next on the schedule Tuesday, which starts a string of three games in four days.

“We played good basketball in the spring and summer without Machai and some other players,” Britt said. “We have to get back to playing good basketball, and we can. We came out in the second half and outplayed Vance County. But when you put yourself in a 25-point hole, that’s hard to dig out of. We can’t afford to give away these games because these are conference games.”

Vance County (9-3, 1-1 in the Big 8) was led by Ta’Quon Lyons with 14 points. Phadol Jones came off the bench to score 12, while center Thomas Townes added eleven.

Orange (7-5, 1-1) will host Cedar Ridge on Tuesday at Panther Gymnasium. It will be a tripleheader with the junior varsity boys tipping off at 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.

Five Orange High football players were named to the All-Big 8 Conference football team, including three seniors.

Linebacker/wide receiver Joe Kiger, defensive end James McAdoo and defensive lineman Khaleb Smith were named All-Big 8.

Also making the team was junior wingback/linebacker Elliott Woods and sophomore running back Omarion Lewis. For each of the five players, it was their first appearance on the All-Big 8 team.

Joe Kiger: Named the team MVP by the Orange coaching staff during the team banquet in November, Kiger led the team with 258 receiving yards. He was tied for 2nd on the team with 15 receptions. Kiger had five receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown in Orange’s win over Cedar Ridge on November 2. He was third on the team with 46 tackles.

James McAdoo: The senior defensive end missed the first two games of the season after suffering an injury against Person during a scrimmage on August 17. When McAdoo returned to action against Walter Williams, he made an immediate impact with a team-high eight tackles, including three for a loss. Against Riverside on September 20, McAdoo had six tackles for loss. He led the team with 21 tackles for loss and ten sacks.

Khaleb Smith: A defensive end who occasionally played wingback on offense, Smith was second on the team with 20 tackles for loss. Had an interception against Williams that helped Orange come back from a 13-0 deficit to defeat the Bulldogs. Smith made eleven tackles in the victory over the Bulldogs. Had eleven tackles against South Granville on September 6. Made two sacks in Orange’s overtime win over Northwood on October 25.

Elliott Woods: Led Orange with 18 receptions for 242 yards. He scored three touchdowns in the season-ending win over Chapel Hill on November 2. Also led the team with 87 tackles. He had 18 tackles against South Granville, the most by any Orange player in any game this season. Made 16 tackles against Northern Durham on October 11. Had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Omarion Lewis: The only sophomore on the team for Orange, Lewis originally wasn’t supposed to play on the varsity team this year. He was inserted into the South Granville game in the 2nd half with Orange trailing 14-0, then ran for 119 yards in the second half against the Vikings. Finished the year with 753 yard rushing and eleven touchdowns. He ran for a career-high 170 yards against Cedar Ridge. Also had eight receptions for 77 yards.

In addition Orange had two players named honorable mention: senior quarterback Wyatt Jones and center Brody Andrews.

Jones finished his second season as starting quarterback. He threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns in his final game against Chapel Hill. This season, Jones threw for 1,164 yards and 12 touchdowns. Currently, Jones is preparing for his final year of lacrosse. In November, Jones became the first Orange player to sign with a Division I lacrosse program when he committed to Mercer. He made the All-Big 8 team for football his junior year.

Andrews started at center for all of Orange’s games this year. After transferring from Cedar Ridge after his sophomore year, Andrews remained a mainstay along the offensive line throughout the past two seasons and helped the Panthers in short-yardage situations in wins against Northwood, Williams and Chapel Hill this season.

Orange went 5-6 in 2019, winning its last three games.

The first thing to know is that it was ungodly hot inside Orange’s gymnasium.

The heat index on September 12 was 101 degrees. In retrospect, that shouldn’t be a surprise because it was an intense summer that lingered long afterwards to dispel any notion of a fall chill in the air for relief. Three weeks later, Cedar Ridge would face Chapel Hill on October 3–with highs of 100, nine degrees ahead of the previous record.

Even on a standard September day, the first Cedar Ridge-Orange game of the year would have felt like a pressure cooker. The respective student bodies from both schools would make sure of that.

The students walked into Orange’s gym fully understanding what was on the line. This was the biggest Orange-Cedar Ridge game in years, not just because of the cross-country rivalry.

These were two state playoff teams.

Cedar Ridge was 7-1, its best start in recorded history. This was also its third match in four days, having opened the week with a loss to Jordan in Durham. Cedar Ridge was already trying to surpass its win total from 2018, when they finished 7-15.

After Orange dropped its opening three matches, they rebounded with a six-game winning streak, including victories over Person, South Granville, and Vance County in its Big 8 Conference opener.

There was something extra on the line for Cedar Ridge. Orange had beaten them five straight times, dating back to 2016 when Jordan Lloyd led the Lady Panthers to a 3-1 win with eight kills and 25 digs.

The funny thing was the person most responsible for ending Cedar Ridge’s losing streak to Orange was Lloyd’s younger sister.

In Cedar Ridge’s 3-2 win over Orange, Cameron Lloyd had 18 kills, 12 digs and five assists. As was the case throughout the year, Cedar Ridge’s freshmen were paramount to victory. Lloyd’s classmate, Julie Altieri, had 28 assists, seven kills, eight assists, and nine digs.

Cedar Ridge won on scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 15-25 and 15-7.

In the fifth set, it was freshman Cameron Lloyd who fired the biggest shots, serving four consecutive aces as the Red Wolves bounced ahead 7-2. Lloyd had surpassed 100 kills for the season earlier in the week in the Jordan loss.

Altieri’s ace on match point led to a spirited celebration for the Red Wolves to culminate an exhausting evening for players and fans, alike.

The opening set had eight ties and four lead changes. The second set had 13 ties and four lead changes.

In the first frame, Cedar Ridge scored the final four points with Lloyd serving. She delivered an ace to tie the set 23-23. Senior Emma Downing gave Cedar Ridge the lead with an unassisted kill. The Red Wolves took the opening set when a service return by Orange went wide.

Orange evened the match in the second. A successful block by Erin Jordan-Cornell gave the Lady Panthers a 22-18 lead. Jordan-Cornell finished the set with five kills. Cedar Ridge lost junior setter Layne Foster in the 2nd set because of a left quadricep injury.

Orange appeared set to take the 3rd set, leading 20-15 after a kill by senior Emma Clements off an assist from Ella Van Time. Cedar Ridge finished the frame with a 10-3 run, which included Altieri serving up three straight aces. She also slammed home set point.

Orange sophomore Lottie Scully had 16 kills, 18 blocks, and 20 assists. Avery Miller finished with 13 kills, ten blocks, and 17 digs.

If any Orange basketball fan greeted December 26 just as eagerly as they would Christmas morning, you really couldn’t blame them.

It was the first day of the South Granville Holiday Tournament and Orange was 7-1. The previous week, the Panthers blew out East Chapel Hill by 50 points in the Big 8 Conference opener. The next night, Orange had a convincing win over Williams, the defending 3A Eastern Regional champions.

Playing in the eight-team Navy Bracket, it wasn’t hard to see Orange burning the midnight oil on Saturday night going for the tournament championship Who needed to watch another lopsided Oklahoma loss in the College Football Playoff when Orange could win its first holiday tournament title since 2016?

Instead, Orange woke up Saturday morning with the roosters, paired against Green Hope in the seventh-place game.

Ironically, of Orange’s three games last week, that was the hardest matchup. The Falcons’ front line of 6-7 forward Broderick Ellis, 6-8 center Tre Morgan and 6-4 swingman Reese Evans posed the same range and height issues that plague the smaller Orange team, and the Falcons pulled away to win 68-58 after trailing the majority of the game.

So what happened? Part of it was Orange’s shooting was as cold as Christmas morning. Well, not this year’s Christmas morning, but you get the idea.

Against Green Hope’s superior height, the Panthers shot 5-of-35 from 3-point range.

It all started with the 1st round game against Sanderson. On Thursday, the day after Christmas, Orange looked like they were back at home still waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney. Sanderson busted out to a 6-0 lead and was never seriously challenged in a 72-48 victory. It was Orange’s first wire-to-wire loss of the year.

The Panthers shot only 33% from the field, including 4-of-30 from 3-point range. Senior Joey McMullin, who came into the tournament averaging 20.5 points per game, was held to two points, his lowest total since his freshman year. Orange had four 3-pointers and 24 points at halftime, both season-lows.

Throughout the three days, Panther Coach Derryl Britt saw some disturbing similarities from last year’s 10-15 season, and he was right back at work on Monday morning trying to make sure what happened in Creedmoor is left behind there.

But he also doesn’t want his team to forget it.

“We need to remember this,” Britt said. “I’ve seen some things the last couple of days that kinda reminded me of last season. We’ve got some things we need to fix and we will. We’ll adjust those things and right the ship. We’re gonna get right for conference play.”

The most befuddling loss of all came against Franklinton, a team not nearly as physically imposing as other squads the Panthers have faced. The Rams, who entered the game on a six-game losing streak, defeated Orange 64-58. With the Panthers leading 54-46 going into the fourth quarter, the Rams outscored Orange 20-6 in the final frame to earn only its third win of the season and its first in 21 days.

McMullin led Orange with 16 points against the Rams. Once again, the Panthers struggled from the field, shooting 31%. They were 10-of-39 from 3-point range, its best percentage of the tournament.

Afterward, Britt sounded more concerned about the internal dynamics than Xs-and-Os.

“There are some internal things we need to address,” Britt said. “We will do that just to get back to where we were. We’ve sort of lost our way these last three games and these losses need to mean something to these guys. They don’t mean as much as it should.”

On Friday, Orange (7-4) will resume its season with a long road trip to Vance County. The Vipers had its own disappointing tournament in South Granville, finishing 7th in the Columbia Bracket. The Vipers dropped its opener to Knightdale 65-60, then lost to Cary 60-43 on Friday. They rebounded to defeat Ravencroft on the final day with a lay-up in the final seconds.