The Oak Ridge Wildcats had been scheduled to play West in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game today (Saturday, February 23), but the game has been rescheduled to Sunday as heavy rain causes flooding and road closures across the area.
The elimination basketball game is now scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Wildcat Arena at Oak Ridge High School.
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won their fourth straight district basketball championship with a 47-40 win over Campbell County at Karns on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
KARNS—The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won their fourth straight district basketball championship with a 47-40 win over Campbell County at Karns on Tuesday.
The girls rallied from a nine-point 24-15 deficit in the second quarter to take a lead that they didn’t give up at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Cougars 10-5 in the final quarter to expand their margin.
Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn was named most valuable player of the District 3-AAA tournament, which was played at Karns High School. Guinn has been named district tournament MVP three of the past four years: 2016, 2018, and 2019.
“It feels good,” Guinn said after the Tuesday night win. She said the competitive Campbell County game helped prepare Oak Ridge for the next level, which includes the Region 2-AAA tournament that starts today (Friday, February 22). [Read more…]
The former CSX railway is pictured near Jefferson Middle School in central Oak Ridge on Dec. 30, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Work has started on the next phase of Rails to Trails, a project to convert a former CSX railroad into a bicycle and pedestrian pathway in the center of Oak Ridge.
After about six months of discussions, the City of Oak Ridge has a right of entry, which allows geotechnical and surveying work to be done on the former railroad, said Jon Hetrick, director of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department. Geotechnical work allows holes to be bored in the ground for subsurface studies.
The survey and geotechnical work is being done by A. Morton Thomas and Associates of Kingsport. The Oak Ridge City Council awarded a $358,317 contract to that company in May. A. Morton Thomas is to provide environmental testing, master planning, design and engineering of the trail, and help with construction bidding.
After a Tuesday evening City Council work session, Hetrick said the geotechnical and survey work is required under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The city hopes to have the NEPA phase approved through the Tennessee Department of Transportation by August, Hetrick said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge’s regular basketball season will end at Fulton on Tuesday.
The games had been scheduled for Saturday but were rescheduled because Knox County Schools were closed Thursday and Friday.
The girls’ game will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the boys’ game will begin at 7:30.
Both teams will continue playing in the playoffs.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn (24) has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Guinn is pictured above shooting a free throw during a 81-24 win at Clinton on Friday, Jan. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn is a finalist for Miss Basketball in Class AAA in Tennessee.
The three finalists were announced Thursday. Besides Guinn, the finalists for Miss Basketball in Class AAA are Madison Hayes of East Hamilton High School and Jayla Hemingway of Houston High School.
Guinn was, as of several games ago, averaging 23 points per game this year, seven rebounds per game, four assists per game, and three steals per game, according to Miss Basketball nomination information posted by broadcaster David Clary. She scored 24 points or more in the first half of two recent games: 27 at the half at Karns on Monday, January 28, and 24 at the half at Clinton on Friday, January 25. She’s had several recent games where she has scored more than 30 points, with 32 at Clinton that Friday and 34 against Halls at Wildcat Arena on January 8.
Guinn scored 32 points against Campbell County on Friday, February 1, when Oak Ridge defeated the Lady Cougars 74-44 after losing to them 49-48 in November. Guinn scored 32 in that earlier game also. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, talks to a television reporter after a 56-21 rout at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins had two touchdown receptions and two interceptions that set up Wildcat scores. Higgins is now a sophomore receiver at Clemson, and he caught a touchdown pass in the Tigers’ 44-16 college football championship win over Alabama on Jan. 7, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Today was not able to attend the jersey retirement ceremony for Tee Higgins at Wildcat Arena on Friday night, but you can read two stories about the ceremony here:
Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn (24) has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Guinn is pictured above shooting a free throw during a 81-24 win at Clinton on Friday, Jan. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday.
Guinn moved into third place on the all-time scoring list during that same game, when she scored her 2,064th point in the first half of a 94-19 win, according to Prepradio.com broadcaster David Clary, who tracks Wildcats’ statistics. She went on to add to that scoring total later in that same game.
Guinn has played basketball all four years at Oak Ridge, and she has signed to play basketball at Tennessee Tech.
Guinn was, as of a few games ago, averaging 23 points per game this year, seven rebounds per game, four assists per game, and three steals per game, according to nomination information posted by Clary for Class AAA Miss Basketball in Tennessee. She scored 24 points or more in the first half of two recent games: 27 at the half at Karns on Monday and 24 at the half at Clinton last Friday. She’s had several recent games where she has scored more than 30 points, with 32 at Clinton on Friday and 34 against Halls at Wildcat Arena on January 8. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge basketball games that had been scheduled for Tuesday at Karns have been moved to Monday because of the threat of snow and cold winter weather on Tuesday.
There is an 80 percent chance of snow in the Oak Ridge area on Tuesday, and the low Tuesday night could be 16 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the seven-day forecast by the National Weather Service in Morristown. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, talks to a television reporter after a 56-21 rout at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins had two touchdown receptions and two interceptions that set up Wildcat scores in that game. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 9:45 p.m. Jan. 26.
Oak Ridge will retire the number 5 football jersey of Tee Higgins, a star football and basketball player who now plays as a wide receiver for the Clemson Tigers and caught a touchdown pass in the national championship win over Alabama on January 7.
Higgins’ football jersey will be retired during halftime of the Oak Ridge Wildcats boys’ basketball game against Campbell County at Wildcat Arena on Friday, February 1, Oak Ridge High School Principal Martin McDonald said. That game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.
“Congratulate our hometown hero on his national championship and watch as his #5 becomes only the third number to be retired in our 76-year school history,” McDonald said in a post published on Twitter. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins (5), who was then a junior, makes a leaping catch during a 26-17 loss at Ooltewah in a second-round Class 5A playoff game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. (File photo by Julio Culiat)
Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, talks to a television reporter after a 56-21 rout at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins had two touchdown receptions and two interceptions that set up Wildcat scores. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Former Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins is one of a few former Wildcats to win a national championship in a college sport. Higgins, who was a football and basketball star in Oak Ridge, is probably the first former Wildcat with a touchdown catch in a national championship game.
Higgins is a sophomore wide receiver for the Clemson Tigers, who crushed the Alabama Crimson Tide in a 44-16 championship win in Santa Clara, California, on Monday. It was Clemson’s third national championship and second in the past three years, both over Alabama. It was the first national championship for Clemson since Higgins, the team’s leading receiver who has impressed fans with his catches, joined the Tigers.
Higgins had three catches for 81 yards on Monday, including a five-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, the final Clemson touchdown.
Clemson is the first college football team to go 15-0 since Penn in 1897. Trevor Lawrence, the Tigers’ freshman quarterback, was impressive Monday, finishing 20-for-32 for 347 yards and three touchdown passes. He became the first true freshman starting quarterback to win a national championship since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge trailed by seven points early in a Thursday night game against Clinton, but three Wildcats came off the bench and helped flip the lead.
Clinton had taken an early lead and widened it to 15-8 halfway through the first quarter in a district game at Wildcat Arena.
But Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green put in three bench players: senior forward Shemar Smith, junior guard Jack Replogle, and sophomore guard/forward Jonathan Stewart.
The Wildcats then went on a 13-0 scoring run in the next 3.5 minutes to take a 21-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
They never trailed after that. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats had a blowout 67-23 win over Clinton at home on Thursday.
Oak Ridge (16-2, 4-1 District 3-AAA) outscored Clinton 25-1 in the first quarter and continued to outscore the Lady Dragons in the next three quarters.
The Lady Wildcats were led by senior guard Jada Guinn, who scored 22 points, including 12 in the second quarter.
Sophomore guard Khamari Mitchell-Steen added 15 points for Oak Ridge, including three three-point shots. [Read more…]
