CHAPEL HILL - Chapel Hill High School’s girls basketball team did a lot of things right while it blasted Orange High School last week. But none of it pleased CHHS coach Sherry Norris more than the play of K’la Noel.

Noel, a 5-1 reserve, played sparingly in Chapel Hills 83-10 victory Thursday, but when she did, she played at full speed. After about 3 minutes on the court, helping to force two turnovers and grabbing a rebound, Noel raised her fist — the Tigers’ “tired” signal that meant a player was ready to come out.

“K’la, who doesn’t get to play a whole bunch, played so much that she gave the tired signal with 38 seconds to go, and that tells me she is not a selfish player,” Norris said. “She is more concerned about our team, and she buys into our defensive philosophy of giving 100 percent.”

Chapel Hill (14-1 overall, 1-0 in the Carolina-6 after the conference opener against Orange) has risen to No. 3 in the Maxpreps.com and No. 4 in the NCpreps.com rankings, on the power a withering defense that fuels an up-tempo offense.

The Tigers have been averaging 65.1 points a game while holding opponents to an average of 27.2 points a game. That’s an average margin of victory of 37.9 points a game. By comparison, Carolina-6 rivals Southern Vance (9-1) and Cardinal Gibbons (10-3) have been winning by an average margin of 17.2 and 7.9 points, respectively.

There’s hardly any secret to the Tigers’ success: they’ve got talented players at every position and everyone contributes. Barely 12 minutes into Thursday night’s win, 10 different Tigers had scored at least one basket.

Chapel Hill’s defense was so effective, Orange went 19:18 without a field goal in the middle of the game. Ironically, the Panthers (2-11, 0-1) led 3-2 after Deja Johnson hit a 3-pointer, but then they committed 24 turnovers and didn’t score again the rest of the first half.

Chapel Hill hit 23 of its first 38 shots — most of them from the paint — and led 58-3 at halftime. By game’s end, 11 of the 13 Tigers had scored at least two points.

“We did keep them under 100, which was the only goal we had after a 58-3 halftime score,” Orange coach Joe Grice said.

Raziyah Farrington, who had 14 points in the first half, finished with a game-high total of 18. Catherine Romaine and Arianne Jacobs each added 10 points.

“We’re feeling pretty confident now,” said Chapel Hill’s Laura Musalem, who had a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her five points. “There was a stretch when we weren’t playing top-notch, but this game really helped us get our chemistry back. We are working together more now.”

Boys Basketball:

Chapel Hill 53, Orange 43

Anthony Van Hook had game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds Thursday as Chapel Hill went on the road to get a 53-43 win against Orange High School in the Carolina-6 Conference opener for both teams.

Brian Thornton added 10 points and Stephen Himmelberg Jr. eight points for Chapel Hill.

It was the sixth straight win for Chapel Hill (10-3), which has moved up to No. 12 in the Maxpreps.com 3A rankings and is receiving votes in the NCpreps.com poll.

Chapel Hill (12-3, 1-0 Carolina 6 3-A Conference) won its sixth straight game, while Orange (5-8, 0-1 C-6) lost its conference opener at home.

The Tigers grabbed an early lead that they never relinquished as Orange struggled to find the range from outside. Up 24-15 at halftime, Chapel Hill pulled away in the second half and led by as much as 43-29 in the fourth quarter.

Without a scorer in double figures, Orange (5-8, 0-1) shot poorly until the closing minutes of the final period and lost for the third time in four games. Andrew Toney led the Panthers with eight points, while three others had seven.

Both schools will wait a week between games as they prep for this week’s semester exams. Chapel Hill won’t play again until its girls’ and boys’ games Friday at home with Southern Vance. Orange takes on Cardinal Gibbons on Friday.