Orangeburg Prep girls basketball team off to another fast start

Orangeburg – And the beat goes on.

For the Orangeburg Preparatory School girls basketball team that is. The Lady Indians are off

to another strong start under veteran head coach Jan Stoudenmire.

“The team is 8-1 and playing well,” said Stoudenmire, who is in her 28th year at Orangeburg Prep.

“We will see how the Christmas break affects us. I am anxious to get back to playing on January 6 at

Colleton Prep.”

The Lady Indians return three starters from last year’s team that went 26-1 and loss in the

semifinals of the SCISA AAA state tournament. The returning starters are senior Izzy Exum, senior Jane

Walker Yonce and senior Annabelle Hunter.

Yonce is averaging a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. Exum is averaging

10.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Both players averaged double-doubles last season.

Hunter is a strong all-around performer. As a junior, she averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0

steals and 4.0 assists.

The other starters are junior Hannah Lambrecht and senior Graysen Garrick. Lambrecht

averaged 6.5 points coming off the bench last season.

Sophomore Mary Legare Delaney and junior Prestan Schurlknight are usually the first

reserves off the bench. However, Stoudenmire said she sometimes substitutes five players at a time. The

other players are junior Jayme Culler, junior Kate Holstein and freshman Gee Gee Riley.

Stoudenmire said all of her players have a great work ethic.

“We are lucky because all our girls are very dedicated athletes and want to work hard every day,”

Stoudenmire said. “That makes my job easy. I am blessed to be at such a fine school.”

Stoudenmire said she is also blessed to have a stable coaching staff.

“Our program at Orangeburg Prep is successful due to consistency in our coaching staff,” she

siad. “My daughter, Barkley McNair, coaches the junior varsity team and does an amazing job with her

team. Angie Patterson coaches the B team group and she has been very successful also. They both help

me with the varsity and I think we make a great coaching team.”

Orangeburg Prep is part of Region 1-AAA along with Calhoun Academy, Clarendon Hall and

Thomas Sumter Academy. The Lady Indians begin region play on January 17 on the road against

Clarendon Hall.

ORANGEBURG PREP BOYS BASKETBAL STARTS 4-2

Michael Delaney is in his first season as the boys basketball head coach at Orangeburg Prep.

However, that doesn’t mean Delaney and the Indians are having to learn about one another.

Delaney was the B team head coach for the past four years, so he has played a role in the

development of most, if not all, of the roster.

“I think they’ve done about what I expected them to do going into the season,” Delaney said of

the Indians’ 4-2 start. We’re a senior-heavy team with a lot of junior leadership. It’s good. I think we’re

going to have a good season. I’m excited about the potential of this team.”

Orangeburg Prep returns just two starters from last year’s squad that went 18-8 and reached the

quarterfinals of the state tournament. The two starters back are junior Avery Ravenell and junior Tilden

“T” Riley and both are having great starts.

Ravenell, the point guard, leads the Indians in scoring at 22.0 points per game. He is also

averaging team highs with 4.2 assists and steals with 2.8 He is also averaging 5.3 rebounds.

“I really challenged Avery going into the season to step up and elevate his game,” Delaney said.

“That’s what we worked on and talked about in practice That’s what he’s been doing.”

The 6-foot-5-inch Riley is averaging a double-double of 19.5 points and 12.2 rebounds. Riley is

also a defensive force, averaging 4.8 blocked shots and 1.7 steals.

The other starters are senior Walt Mims, senior Eli Pantaleon and senior Charlie McCutcheon.

Mims is also scoring in double igures with a 10.3 average to go with 3.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

Pantaleon is averaging 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds, while McCutcheon is averaging 2.5 points and 3.8

rebounds.

The Orangeburg Prep roster is made up completely of seniors and juniors. Each of them had

played in at least four games through the first six. The rest of the players are senior Morrison

Burroughs, senior Hunter Judy, senior Jack Mims, senior Hart Wiles, junior Jackson Strickland and

junior Jsyri Parker.

Burroughs is averaging 2.7 points, Strickland 2.0 and Mims. 2.4.

Orangeburg Prep is averaging 66.7 points per game while allowing 55.4. Delaney said there is no

great strategy when it comes to what the Indians want to do.

“We want to get out and run when we can and play good, solid man-to-man defense,” he said.

“We’ve got some good shooters, we’ve got good presence under the boards. We want to shoot well, be

stingy on defense and get rebounds.”

Delaney thinks the Indians have a chance to have a really good season.

“I think just like any team going into a season, you’re going to have times where you play better

or worse than expected,” Delaney said. “Really, some of our seniors stepped up and have contributed a lot

more.

“First, we’ve got to focus on winning the region. Calhoun will be a tough out. You want to get

better every game you play. When you get there (to the state tournament) anything can happen. The plan

this year is to go deeper. A lot of the kids on the team, they’re workers. They get out there and give you

everything they’ve got.”