Winter sports preview

winter sports previewwinter sports previewC1 THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2012

PFAR

CUS P

FARQ

UHAR

DT |

COUR

IER-TI

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Th

is is

the

cap

tio

n in

9.5

Hel

veti

ca N

eue

Bo

ld h

ere

to g

o w

ith

this

ph

oto

.

See A

LIFF

, Pag

e 12

‘We c

ame to

play

for a

ll the

ma

rbles.

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d the

y—an

d the

y walk

ed aw

ay w

ith al

l of

our m

arbles

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om K

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RTS

TAKE

S

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NGE C

OUNT

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AY [

BY KE

LLY SN

OWCO

URIER

-TIME

S SPO

RTS E

DITOR

kelly

snow

@rox

boro-

couri

er.co

m

A pi

ece

of p

aper

tap

ed t

o th

e w

all

outs

ide

of

the

Per

son

H

igh

Sch

ool

boys

’ ba

sket

ball

te

am c

oach

es’ o

ffice

des

crib

es

the

path

that

lies

ah

ead

for

the

Roc

kets

this

sea

son

. Th

e pa

per

deta

ils

the

goal

s of

all

99

4-A

bas

ketb

all

team

s th

is s

easo

n —

con

fere

nce

tit

les,

pla

yoff

ber

ths,

an

d ev

en t

he

ult

imat

e go

al o

f a

stat

e ch

ampi

-on

ship

. For

th

e 20

12-1

3 R

ocke

ts, t

hos

e go

als

are

mor

e th

an j

ust

wor

ds o

n a

pag

e. T

hat

’s t

he

vi-

sion

.

“Th

is t

eam

has

as

hig

h o

f ex

pect

atio

ns

as a

ny t

eam

I’v

e be

en a

par

t of

sin

ce I

cam

e h

ere

(as

an a

ssis

tan

t) i

n 1

996,

” P

erso

n h

ead

coac

h C

har

les

Dac

us

said

.T

he

Roc

kets

ret

urn

thre

e st

arte

rs fr

om la

st y

ear’

s 22

-6 te

am

and

nin

e pl

ayer

s ov

eral

l. P

erso

n a

dvan

ced

to t

he

thir

d ro

un

d of

the

4-A

sta

te p

layo

ffs

and

is th

e re

ign

ing

PAC

-6 r

egu

lar

sea-

son

ch

ampi

on —

bu

t don

’t c

all t

hem

the

defe

ndi

ng

cham

ps“W

e’re

not

def

endi

ng

anyt

hin

g. T

hat

’s o

ver

wit

h,”

Dac

us

said

. “T

her

e’s

no

such

th

ing

as d

efen

din

g it

bec

ause

we’

re a

di

ffer

ent

team

an

d th

e te

ams

in t

he

con

fere

nce

are

dif

fere

nt.

W

e’ve

got

to

go b

ack

and

do i

t ag

ain

. Obv

iou

sly,

we

wan

t to

go

dee

per

in t

he

play

offs

, an

d a

stat

e ch

ampi

onsh

ip h

as b

een

ta

lked

abo

ut.

Ou

r m

ain

goa

l is

to w

in. H

opef

ull

y, b

y th

e ti

me

we

get

to t

he

stat

e pl

ayof

fs,

we’

ll g

o on

e st

ep a

t a

tim

e an

d m

ake

a go

od r

un

at i

t.”

Th

e R

ocke

ts r

etu

rn o

ne

of t

he

best

pla

yers

in

th

e st

ate

in

6-fo

ot-6

forw

ard

Tyr

one

Ou

tlaw

. Th

e se

nio

r av

erag

ed a

gau

dy

23 p

oin

ts a

nd

15 r

ebou

nds

last

sea

son

to le

ad P

erso

n to

a c

on-

fere

nce

titl

e an

d ea

rn P

AC

-6 P

laye

r of

the

Year

hon

ors.

Ou

tlaw

was

als

o n

amed

all

-sta

te b

y th

e A

ssoc

iate

d P

ress

an

d w

as a

n A

ll-D

istr

ict 6

sel

ecti

on. H

e re

cen

tly

sign

ed h

is N

a-ti

onal

Let

ter

of In

ten

t to

play

col

legi

atel

y at

the

Un

iver

sity

of

Nor

th C

arol

ina

at G

reen

sbor

o.O

utl

aw p

laye

d in

th

e of

fsea

son

on

th

e sa

me

trav

el t

eam

w

ith

hig

hly

-tou

ted

sen

iors

Isa

iah

Hic

ks (

Web

b H

S, s

ign

ed

See V

ISIO

N, P

age C

3

T

Y

R

O

N

E

O

U

T

L

A

W

J

R

F

L

I

G

H

T

4

4

“Peo

ple

ask

me

if I c

ould

fly,

I sa

id ‘y

eah.

..for

a li

ttle

whi

le.’”

Mic

hael

Jord

an

C2 THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2012

BY KE

LLY SN

OWCO

URIER

-TIME

S SPO

RTS E

DITOR

kelly

snow

@rox

boro-

couri

er.co

m

Per

son

Hig

h S

choo

l ba

sket

ball

pla

yer

Tyr

one

Ou

tlaw

Jr.

has

hea

rd a

ll t

he

stor

ies

abou

t th

e fo

rmer

Roc

ket p

hen

om th

at h

e sh

ares

a n

ame

wit

h.

“My

mom

tol

d m

e th

at p

eopl

e u

sed

to c

ome

from

oth

er c

itie

s ju

st s

ee t

hat

Ou

tlaw

kid

th

at

peop

le w

ere

talk

ing

abou

t,”

Ou

tlaw

Jr.

said

. “Sh

e to

ld m

e th

at if

I do

goo

d, p

eopl

e w

ill d

o th

e sa

me

for

me.

”A

nd

they

cer

tain

ly h

ave.

Ou

tlaw

Jr.,

th

e so

n o

f fo

rmer

Roc

ket

grea

t T

yron

e O

utl

aw S

r., h

as

mad

e a

nam

e fo

r h

imse

lf in

his

thre

e ye

ars

at P

erso

n. O

utl

aw J

r., li

ke h

is fa

ther

, was

PA

C-6

Pla

yer

of th

e Ye

ar a

s a

jun

ior,

an A

ll-S

tate

per

form

er, a

nd

wil

l be

lead

ing

Per

son

into

the

Hig

hSc

hoo

lOT.

com

Hol

iday

Inv

itat

ion

al. T

he

elde

r O

utl

aw w

as o

n s

ome

of t

he

best

Roc

ket

team

s in

sch

ool h

is-

tory

, in

clu

din

g ba

ck-t

o-ba

ck c

onfe

ren

ce c

ham

pion

ship

s in

the

mid

-90s

. Ou

tlaw

Sr.

was

a k

ey fi

gure

in

som

e of

th

e m

ost

icon

ic s

port

s m

omen

ts i

n s

choo

l his

tory

, in

clu

din

g a

len

gth

-of-t

he-

cou

rt t

ip-

in o

n a

pas

s fr

om a

not

her

sta

ndo

ut,

poi

nt

guar

d Ja

mie

Bar

net

te, a

s ti

me

expi

red

to s

hoc

k Jo

rdan

an

d fu

ture

NB

A p

laye

r C

ourt

ney

Ale

xan

der.

Bot

h O

utl

aws

hav

e el

ectr

ified

pac

ked

hou

ses

at h

ome

and

on th

e ro

ad, a

nd

wer

e th

e ta

lk

of th

e sm

all t

own

of

Rox

boro

. Ju

nio

r is

n’t fi

nis

hed

.Fo

r th

e yo

un

ger

Ou

tlaw

, sh

arin

g a

nam

e w

ith

on

e of

th

e be

st p

laye

rs i

n P

erso

n H

igh

Sc

hoo

l his

tory

an

d fo

rgin

g h

is o

wn

pat

h is

a p

osit

ive.

“It’s

a b

ig n

ame

to l

ive

up

to, b

ut

I li

ke i

t,”

Ou

tlaw

Jr.

said

. “It

sta

rted

off

as

pres

sure

, bu

t I’

m u

sed

to i

t n

ow. I

use

d to

th

ink

that

I h

ad t

o li

ve u

p th

at n

ame

or e

xcee

d it

, bu

t th

at

pres

sure

kep

t me

on m

y to

es a

nd

hel

ped

me

get b

ette

r. (O

utl

aw S

r.) s

ays

that

from

wh

at e

v-er

ybod

y te

lls

him

, I’m

to th

e po

int t

hat

he

thin

ks I’

m b

ette

r th

an h

im a

nd

that

I’ll

go

fart

her

. T

hat

’s w

hat

I’ve

str

ived

for

from

the

begi

nn

ing.

”O

utl

aw J

r. h

as b

een

on

the

vars

ity

team

sin

ce h

is fr

esh

man

yea

r an

d h

as h

eard

the

com

-pa

riso

ns

thro

ugh

out h

is c

aree

r. C

uri

osit

y m

ay h

ave

brou

ght p

eopl

e ou

t to

see

him

pla

y as

a

fres

hm

an, b

ut n

ow h

is e

ver-

expa

ndi

ng

gam

e h

elps

pac

k R

ocke

t Gym

on

gam

e n

igh

ts.

“Peo

ple

rem

embe

r h

is d

ad,”

Per

son

hea

d co

ach

Ch

arle

s D

acu

s sa

id. “

Peo

ple

stil

l rem

em-

ber

him

an

d w

hen

peo

ple

star

ted

hea

rin

g ab

out t

he

son

, peo

ple

wan

ted

to s

ee h

im. O

nce

he

star

ted

play

ing

her

e an

d h

ad s

ome

succ

ess,

th

at i

ncr

ease

d th

e n

ovel

ty o

f h

im a

nd

peop

le

from

all

ove

r th

e pl

ace

wer

e as

kin

g ab

out h

im.”

Makin

g a na

me fo

r him

self

See O

UTL

AW, P

age C

3

SCHEDULE 11.20 RCS 7:30pm

COURIER TIMES THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT

11.23 BY 7:30pm11.24 Rockingham County/ Northern Vance

11.27 Orange 7pm11.30 Halifax (Va.) 7pm12.7 Webb 7:30pm12.11 Halifax (Va.) 7pm12.14 Webb 7pm12.18 NORTHERN 7pm12.21 SOUTHERN 7pm

HIGHSCHOOLOT.COM HOLIDAY INVITATIONAL

(Raleigh Broughton HS)12.26 Broughton 4pm12.27-29 TBD

1.4 HILLSIDE 7pm1.8 Chapel Hill 7pm1.11 JORDAN 7pm1.18 RIVERSIDE 7pm1.22 E.CHAPEL HILL 7pm1.25 NORTHERN 7pm1.29 SOUTHERN 7pm2.1 HILLSIDE 7pm2.8 JORDAN 7pm (coming home)2.12 RIVERSIDE 7pm2.15 E. CHAPEL HILL 7pm

PAC-6 TOURNAMENT2.19 OPENING ROUND2.20-2.22 TBD

BOLD denotes home gamesCAPS denote PAC-6 games

Brandon & Jeremy

3X5

Hester WD2X4

PERSON HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ BASKETBALLSATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2012 WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC C3

KELLY SNOW | COURIER TIMES | THIS PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE PURCHASED AT COURIER-TIMES.SMUGMUG.COM

Members of the Person High School varsity boys’ basketball team include: front row (left-to-right) LeRon Cash, Jeremy Smith, Derrick Bass, Jeffrey Hamlette, Joseph Downey. Middle row: Rashi Richmond, David Lamb, Nick Bailey, Marquis Torain, Jashawn King-Barnette, Trey Tapp. Back row: assistant coach Prentice Hargrove, assistant coach Dwayne Johnson, Jerry Smith, Logan Coats, Tyrone Outlaw Jr., Devin Scoggins, assistant coach Mark Allen, head coach Charles Dacus.

with UNC), Anton Gill (Har-grave Academy, signed with Louisville) and Issac Copeland and is expected to be even better this season.

“He’s always been able to shoot, but he’s worked hard on his dribble penetration and at-tacking the basket a little bet-ter,” Dacus said. “One of the best things about him is that he has absolutely developed into a real leader as far as being able to communicate to his teammates what they need to do to play on this team. He’s become an unbe-lievable leader on this team.”

Outlaw will be joined by se-niors Jerry Smith, Devin Scog-gins, Logan Coats and Jashawn King-Barnette. Smith and Coats started as forwards last season, with different styles. Smith was an outstanding rebounder and defensive stopper, while Coats emerged as a threat from be-yond the 3-point line. Coats has returned for his senior season with a much more explosive and aggressive style.

“Logan’s increased his stock more than anybody on the team,” Dacus said. “There’s colleges interested in him. He worked really hard in the offsea-son to develop his game and he’s

absorbed things that we were telling him. He’s playing very confidently right now, especially on the offensive end and is work-ing hard to get better defensive-ly, which is something that was a missing link for him last year. He’s going to have to have a big year for us to be successful, and he knows that and is embracing that role.”

Scoggins was a key big-man off the bench and has improved his post game in the offseason. Dacus returns three starters, but will have to fill the void left by the graduation of his All-Con-ference backcourt Terrick Scog-gins and Maurelle Stephens. Ju-nior Marquis Torain is expected to earn a starting spot in the backcourt after being the first guard off the bench for much of last year. King-Barnette saw time last season, but has been hampered in preseason after breaking his thumb late in the football season. His status for the season opener next Tuesday against Roxboro Community School is unknown. Trey Tapp, David Lamb, Nick Bailey and others will be asked to contrib-ute in the backcourt this season.

“Anytime you graduate two all-conference guards that were starters and big in the program for three years, it hurts,” Dacus

said. “We’ve got to find guys that have not just the basketball qual-ities, but the leadership and the ability to think outside the box when things aren’t going right. We’ve been able to groom some guys into that during the sum-mer and the offseason and hope-fully they’ve been able to learn something from (Stephens and Scoggins).”

The Rockets open the season with five consecutive non-con-ference games, including games in The Courier-Times Thanksgiv-ing Tournament, before heading to Webb Dec. 7 for the first of two huge showdowns featuring two of the best players in the state in Hicks and Outlaw.

The Warriors visit Rocket Gym a week later.

Person opens the conference slate with games against North-ern Durham and Southern Dur-ham before competing in the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday In-vitational in Raleigh Dec. 26-29.

The Rockets open the tour-nament against host Raleigh Broughton and are guaranteed three games in the prestigious tournament.

It will be Person’s first trip to the HighSchoolOT.com Invita-tional since the 1994-95 season, when Tyrone Outlaw Sr. was an All-State player for the Rockets.

VISION: Titles the goal for 2012-2013 RocketsFROM PAGE C1

Those people that were ask-ing about Outlaw Jr. included dozens of college coaches from all over the country. At one time, the 6-foot-6 senior was being courted by more than 70 differ-ent colleges.

“He really embraced the inter-est,” Dacus said. “His phone was ringing, my phone was ringing, and you can’t not answer it. At one point, I think he was start-ing to feel some pressure and that’s normal when you’ve got all the college coaches wanting you and you’ve got to pick. He didn’t really express it, but you could tell that he was starting to

feel it. He made up his mind and got it over with so he could focus on our season.”

Outlaw Jr. verbally commit-ted to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Sep-tember and made it official on the first day of the early signing period. Outlaw Jr, the Student Council Vice President and Na-tional Honors Society member, is looking forward to finishing his prep career with loads of success.

“The main thing for me is to enjoy it all, work hard and not go overboard and enjoy the benefits that come from my hard work,” Outlaw said. “Things are great for me, I just have to stay hum-ble.”

OUTLAW: Making his own pathFROM PAGE C1

11.20 RCS 6pm

COURIER TIMES THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT

11.23 BY 4pm11.24 Rockingham County/ Northern Vance

11.27 Orange 7:30pm11.30 Halifax (Va.) 7:30pm12.7 Webb 7pm12.11 Halifax (Va.) 7pm12.14 Webb 7:30pm12.18 NORTHERN 5:30pm12.21 SOUTHERN 5:30pm

HALIFAX CHRISTMAS CLASSIC

South Boston, Va12.27-28 TBD

1.4 HILLSIDE 5:30pm1.8 Chapel Hill 7:30pm1.11 JORDAN 5:30pm1.18 RIVERSIDE 5:30pm1.22 ECH 5:30pm1.25 NORTHERN 5:30pm1.29 SOUTHERN 5:30pm2.1 HILLSIDE 5:30pm2.8 JORDAN 5:30pm (coming home)2.12 RIVERSIDE 5:30pm2.15 ECH 5:30pm

PAC-6 TOURNAMENT2.19 OPENING ROUND2.20-2.22 TBD

BOLD denotes home gamesCAPS denote PAC-6 games

SCHEDULE


PERSON HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL


Members of the Person High School varsity girls’ basketball team include: front row (left-to-right) Brianna McLamb, Hannah Riley, Taylor Williams, Marissa Hungate, Jasmine McCain. Back row: assistant coach Will Stinnett, Autumn Smith, Jada McGhee, Anita Ragland, Christina Harris, Jessica Lassiter, Janeesha Graves, Tiana Hatchett

BY KELLY SNOWCOURIER-TIMES SPORTS [email protected]

The goal for the Person High School girls’ basketball team are relatively simple heading into the 2012-13 season — keep get-ting better.

The Rockets managed just one PAC-6 win last season and struggled through the final weeks after a promising start to the campaign that included a tournament championship.

“We want to improve on what we did from last year, especial-ly in the conference,” Person coach Ray Reaves said. “We want to make a move up in the standings. Everyone says they

want to win conference, but real-istically, is that possible for us? Right now, maybe not, but we feel like we’ve got people in plac-es to make strides towards that.”

Person brings back four vet-eran players, including All-Con-ference performer Christina Harris.

The 6-foot-2 center led the Rockets in scoring, rebounding and free throw percentage and is expected to build upon her strong sophomore season.

“Christina’s going to be a vital part of this team, no doubt about it,” Reaves said. “She’s a leader not only by what she does during the game, but how she handles herself in practice.”

The Rockets bring back ex-perience in the backcourt with juniors Jasmine McCain, Tiana Hatchett and Hannah Riley — the Rockets’ lone senior.

That trio will be the team’s primary ball handlers and will help the younger Rockets grow up as they step up to the varsity

level.The remaining members of

the team are new to the varsity team including freshmen Jes-sica Lassiter, Autumn Smith and Jada McGhee.

“It bodes well for the future, but right now we are still young when you look outside of (Har-ris, Riley, McCain, Hatchett),” Reaves said. “I like what (the freshmen) have done, but they’re young and have a long way to go but they work hard and give us what we ask. That, along with their athletic ability and coach-able mentality, is why we kept them with us.”

The Rockets open the season Tuesday when they host Rox-boro Community School and begin play in The Courier-Times Thanksgiving Tournament Friday when they face Bartlett Yancey.

Person opens the season with nine non-conference matchups before beginning PAC-6 play Dec. 18 at home against Northern

Durham. The Rockets knocked off the Ladies in the first meet-ing between the teams for their lone conference victory last sea-son.

Person will travel to Southern Durham Dec. 21 before begin-ning its defense of the Halifax Christmas Classic champion-ship Dec. 27. They won a pair of games in last year’s tournament, including a 49-44 victory against Gretna (Va.) in the title game. The victory earned Reaves the tournament championship on the floor he coached the Halifax County (Va.) High School team for several years.

“We’d love to win our Thanks-giving tournament and go back to the Halifax Tournament and get a second one,” Reaves said. “For this program, that would be huge.”

After the Christmas tourna-ment, Person will close the sea-son with 10 conference games and an early January non-con-ference tilt with Chapel Hill.

PHS looks to move up in PAC-6

11.17 South Granville (scrim)

12.5 NORTHERN DURHAM 5pm

12.8 Bull Durham Classic

12.12 SOUTHERN DURHAM 6pm

12.19 HILLSIDE 6pm

1.5 Rocket Invitational

1.23 JORDAN 6pm

1.26 Louisburg Duals

1.30 RIVERSIDE 6pm

(senior night)

2.6 ECH 6pm

BOLD denotes home matches CAPS denote PAC-6 matches

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2012 WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC C5

PERSON HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING


Members of the Person High School wrestling team include: front row (left-to-right) Sherrell Torain, Josh Hagood, Roberto Castillo, Dalton Boone, Ignacio Vierra. Middle row: Luis Aldaz, Darius Pettiford, Francisco Jimenez, Brendon Cash, Blake Jones, Hector Estrada, Jose Rios. Back row: Chase Gentry, Matt Allen, Matthew Mayer, Romonnie Dotson, James Hutson, Jose Ceja, Francisco Aldaz, Kenny Jay. Not pictured: Danny Miranda, Bobby Vaughn, head coach Mark Litchfield Jr., assistant coaches Mark Litchfield Sr., Brad Bailey, Andrew Haga.


The Person High School wres-tling team concluded last season with two wrestlers on the mats at the Greensboro Coliseum.

This season, Person coach Mark Litchfield Jr. wants more.

He expects a whole host of wrestlers to join returners Chase Gentry and Francisco Jimenez at the state individual finals. Both competitors earned trips to Greensboro by having outstanding regular seasons and qualifying through the Mideast Regionals.

“We’re expecting no less for (Gentry and Jimenez) to make it back,” Litchfield said. “They finished top-12 in the state last year. I would love for all of our starters to make it to states. It’s not out of the question for all of them to do that.”

The Rockets had a strong 2011-12 season but were unable to fill all the weight classes for every match. Losing those points to forfeits played a huge role in Per-son not qualifying for the team state playoffs. This year, Litch-field expects to have each weight class filled for every match.

“There may be a guy lighter, because we have two or three on one weight class or another, but we could always bump a guy up if needed to fill out the classes,” Litchfield said. “It would help out a lot. Some teams might not have every class filled, and usu-ally those classes would be new guys, not necessarily a returner, but those are six points that we don’t have to give up.”

The Rockets return a large group of starters, led by state qualifiers Gentry and Jimenez. Other returning starters in-clude, Darius Pettiford, Luis Al-daz, Kenny Jay, James Hutson and Matt Allen. Sherrill Torain and Matt Mayer were reserves last season but will be expected to be key contributors this year.

“I feel really good about all of

our returning starters and the guys that we had here last year,” Litchfield said. “We finally have a guy coming in to fill 106, be-tween 160 and 195 there’s still some questions, but we’ve got some guys to fill in the spots.”

Litchfield is optimistic that his team can make a little noise in the PAC-6 and be a threat to earn one of the conference’s postseason spots.

“I think it’s possibly but it all depends on the conference,” Li-tchfield said. “We may have an outstanding record, but if you’re not top two in the conference, it makes it difficult. We wrestle in a tough conference, but we defi-nitely think we’ll be in the mix.”

The Rockets open up their regular season Dec. 5 with its conference opener against Northern Durham.

They will compete in the Bull Durham Classic Saturday, Dec. 8 before traveling to South-ern Durham for their first road match of the season.

The highlight of Person’s regular season will come Jan. 5 when it hosts the Rocket Invita-tional.

Many teams from around the area will travel to Roxboro to compete in the day-long tourna-ment.

Sights set on states for PHS matmen


Person wrestlers Chase Gentry (top) and Francisco Jimenez re-turn to the team after qualifying for the state individual finals last season.

PERSON JV BOYS’ BASKETBALL

11.27 Orange 5:30pm

11.30 Halifax (Va.) 5:30pm

12.7 Webb 6pm

12.11 Halifax (Va.) 6pm

12.14 Webb 5:30pm

12.17 NORTHERN DURHAM 6:30pm

12.20 SOUTHERN DURHAM 6:30pm

12.29 Eastern Alamance TBD

12.31 TBD

1.1 TBD

1.3 HILLSIDE 6:30pm

1.8 Chapel Hill 5:30pm

1.10 JORDAN 6:30pm

1.17 RIVERSIDE 6:30pm

1.21 EAST CHAPEL HILL 6:30pm

1.24 NORTHERN DURHAM 6:30pm

1.28 SOUTHERN DURHAM 6:30pm

1.31 HILLSIDE 6:30pm

2.7 JORDAN 6:30pm

2.11 RIVERSIDE 6:30pm

2.14 EAST CHAPEL HILL 6:30pm

BOLD denotes home games CAPS denote PAC-6 games

SCHEDULES

PERSON JV GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

11.27 Orange 6pm

11.30 Halifax (Va.) 6pm

12.4 Chapel Hill 5:30pm

12.7 Webb 5:30pm

12.11 Halifax (Va.) 5:30pm

12.14 Webb 6pm



1.3 HILLSIDE 5pm

1.8 Chapel Hill 6pm

1.10 JORDAN 5pm

1.17 RIVERSIDE 5pm

1.21 EAST CHAPEL HILL 5pm



1.31 HILLSIDE 5pm

2.7 JORDAN 5pm

2.11 RIVERSIDE 5pm

2.14 EAST CHAPEL HILL 5pm

BOLD denotes home games CAPS denote PAC-6 games

RCS JV BOYS BASKETBALL

11.19 GRANVILLE CENTRAL 4:30pm

12.3 NORTHWOOD 4:30pm

12.8 RIVER MILL ACADEMY 4pm


1.2 SOUTH GRANVILLE 4:30pm

1.9 VOYAGER 4:30pm

1.12 FRANKLIN ACADEMY 5:30pm

1.16 CARRBORO 4:30pm

1.22 CEDAR RIDGE 4:30pm

1.23 Guilford Day School 4:30pm


1.30 DSA 4:30pm

2.1 Guilford Day School 7pm

2.12 VOYAGER 4:30pm

2.13 RIVER MILL ACADEMY 4:30pm

BOLD denotes home games CAPS denote Carolina-12 games


Members of the Roxboro Community School JV boys’ basketball team include: front row (left-to-right) Austin Drumwright, Daniel Oak-ley, Austin Franks, Daniel Taylor. Middle row: Noah Whitfield, Collin Winstead, Aaron Frisbie, Josh Pleasants, Dylan Harris. Back row: Brandon Pleasants, David Oakley, Brandon Jones, Michael Holbrook



Members of the Person High School boys’ JV basketball team include: front row (left-to-right) A.J. Cash, Xavier Bryant, DaQuan Hol-loway, Maurice Little, Taymon Smith. Middle row: Aaron Lofton, Zach Farmer, Reggie Bradsher, Antonio Williams, D.J. Jeffers, Michael Terry. Back row: coach Dwayne Johnson, Shaquan Brown, Dylan Riley, Trey Brandon, Antwan Smith, coach Prentice Hargrove.


Members of the Person girls’ JV basketball team include: front row (left-to-right) Alyssa Carpenter, Lakeisha Ormond, Tashyra Drum-wright. Middle row: Jacquetta Graves, Zharia Harris, Soren Williams, Makayla Thorpe, Lyanna Lester. Back row: coach Bryan Lawson, Kierra Woods, Lafonda Paylor, Chelsay Jimenez, Nicole Sutherland.

SATURDAY, NOV. 17, 2012 WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW THE COURIER-TIMES | ROXBORO, NC C7

RCS Girls’

10 Alyssa Morris

12 August Howerton

11 Cassidy Solomon

2 Carlee Garrett 24 Emily Pierce 14 Caitlin Whitfield

15 Anderson Clayton

3 Maranda Oliver

5 Danielle Holt

Basketball

11.19 GRANVILLE CENTRAL 6pm

11.20 Person 6pm

11.28 RALEIGH CHARTER 6pm

12.3 NORTHWOOD 6pm

12.8 RIVER MILL 6pm

12.12 GRAN. CENTRAL 6pm

12.19 East Wake Acad. 6pm

Graham High School

Christmas Tournament

12.21-12.22 TBD

1.2 SOUTH GRANVILLE 6pm

1.9 VOYAGER 6pm

1.12 FRANKLIN ACAD. 7pm

1.16 CARRBORO 6pm

1.18 NCSSM 6pm

1.22 CEDAR RIDGE 6pm

1.23 Woods Charter 6pm

1.25 FRANKLIN ACAD. 6pm

1.30 DSA 6pm

2.6 NCSSM 6pm

2.12 VOYAGER 6pm

2.13 RIVER MILL 6pm

2.15 RALEIGH CHARTER 6pm


SCHEDULE

Caitlin Whitfi eld

#14 RCSBasketball

Love,Mom, Dad, Cassi & Cam

GOOD LUCK!

Maranda Oliver

#3 RCS BasketballCenter

Love,Mom, Dad, & Mackenzie

Go Get ‘em Big Red!

Bulldog girls look to continue

improvementBY KELLY SNOW

COURIER-TIMES SPORTS [email protected]

The Roxboro Community School girls’ basketball team will be looking to take another step up in the standings of the Carolina-12 1-A conference this season.

The Bulldogs finished fourth in the league last year and ad-vanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament before falling to River Mill Academy.

RCS earned a trip to the 1-A state playoffs and fell to Carr-boro in the opening round.

The Bulldogs finished the sea-son 8-17, but return several key players from last year’s squad.

This year’s team consists of Alyssa Morris, Danielle Holt, August Howerton, Maranda Oli-ver, Cassidy Solomon, Anderson Clayton, Carlee Garrett, Emily Pierce and Caitlin Whitfield.

The Bulldogs jump right into conference play Monday when they travel to Granville Central. They return to the court the fol-lowing night to face cross-county rival Person and open the home slate Nov. 28 against Raleigh Charter. All home games will be played at Helena Gym.


11.20 Person 7:30pm

11.28 RALEIGH CHARTER 7:30pm

12.3 NORTHWOOD 7:30pm

12.8 RIVER MILL ACADEMY 7pm


12.19 East Wake Academy 7:30pm

Halifax Christmas Classic

South Boston, Va

Halifax County High School

12.27-28 TBD TBD

1.2 SOUTH GRANVILLE 7:30pm

1.9 VOYAGER ACADEMY 7:30pm


1.16 CARRBORO 7:30pm

1.18 NCSSM 7:30pm

1.22 at CEDAR RIDGE 7:30pm

1.23 Woods Charter 7:30pm

1.25 at FRANKLIN ACADEMY 7:30pm

1.30 DSA 7:30pm

2.6 NCSSM 7:30pm

2.12 VOYAGER ACADEMY 7:30pm

2.13 RIVER MILL ACAD. 7:30pm

2.15 RALEIGH CHARTER 7:30pm


SCHEDULE



The Roxboro Community School boys’ basketball team cel-ebrated easily the best season in the young program’s history last year.

The Bulldogs steamrolled the 1-A division of the Carolina-12 conference to regular season and tournament championships.

And now begins the task of staying on top.

RCS enters the 2012-13 cam-paign with an almost entirely new squad after losing nearly every key contributor from last year’s team, including confer-ence player of the year Charlie Burton Jr.

Despite the new faces, the goals remain high for the reign-ing conference champions.

“A good season for us is fin-ishing in the top-half of the 1-A teams in our conference,” RCS coach Justin Bettendorf said. “We definitely want to make the state playoffs and get our first playoff win. Our sights are cer-tainly set on winning the confer-ence again, but if we can get in the top half of the conference, we’ll feel good because we’ll have all those guys back next year.”

Bettendorf is seeing the in-terest in the basketball pro-gram growing after last season’s breakthrough year.

“There’s a lot of excitement around here before the season even starts,” Bettendorf said. “We had a lot of guys come out that hadn’t tried out before. I think we’re definitely on the verge of getting a really solid program going. We have a lot of talent on the middle school level and those guys are coming up all the time and telling me they can’t wait to play on varsity.”

The Bulldogs’ lone senior is forward Adam Redman, who started a couple of games last

year but was primarily a reserve. The only other returning varsity players are guard Deshawn Mc-Ghee, Christian Ingram and Jar-ren Winstead.

RCS picked up several key transfers including projected starting point guard Mickey Drumwright. Drumwright played on the JV team at Person last season.

“He has a high basketball IQ and really makes good decisions for us,” Bettendorf said. “We’re going to try to get him as many opportunities as we can.”

Drumwright will be leading a team without a lot of height, but one that will follow a similar for-mula as the one that led the Bull-dogs to their first conference championship.

Run, run early, run often, run always — no fair slowing down.

“We have a 6-3 center (Ter-rence Hawley) but with being smaller, we’re not going to want to have to set uyp a lot of half-court offense,” Bettendorf said. “We want to push the ball, play in-your-face defense and not let teams get comfortable. The guys we had last year had such high basketball IQs and played so well together that we didn’t have to run a lot of sets. This team is younger, and is going to need a little more structure, but pri-marily, we’re going to be looking to run and be in great shape.”

The Bulldogs will face tough challenges in the 1-A half of the Carolina-12 from a handful of teams, including Franklin

Academy. Franklin finished sec-ond behind RCS last year and gave the Bulldogs their toughest challenge of the conference sea-son in the league championship game.

Granville Central, Voyager Academy, Raleigh Charter and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics are also expected to compete for spots near the top of the league standings.

RCS opens its regular season with road games at Granville Central and cross-county foe Person before facing Raleigh Charter at home Wednesday, Nov. 28

The Bulldogs play their home games at Helena Gym.

Members of the team include Tucker Hord, Bryan Henderson, Kyle Pool, Zac Carter and Bryce Henderson.

Scrappy ‘Dogs looking to continue program’s success

New core of players to lead reigning Carolina-12 1-A champions

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Winter sports preview