South Medford (Oregon) storms back vs. Mission Hills (California) to claim Platinum title at POA Holiday Classic

“They shot great, but I guess we came to play, too”

It’s said that sometimes the best offense is a good defense. 

But a good defense can provide even more than that. It can help you overcome an opponent’s fast start, it can help you come storming back from behind, and it can even help you win a championship — just ask the South Medford girls basketball team.

The Panthers, using their opportunistic defense to get easy basket after easy basket, as well as sinking some timely 3-point baskets, rallied from a 16-8 first-quarter deficit to get a 63-56 win over Mission Hills, Calif., in the Pacific Office Automation Holiday Classic Platinum Division championship game, played Saturday at Franklin High School in Portland.

“It’s really nice. I feel like we played really good,” said South Medford sophomore guard Taylor Young, who scored a team-high 19 points. “We’ve had some bad second halves, but this third quarter, we came out competitive, and we got it done.”

“It means a lot,” said South Medford sophomore Dyllyn Howell, who had 15 points, including 12 in the second half. “It’s good to finally start winning against a really good team. We’ve been on the road a lot, so this is nice.”

South Medford, which also bested Cleveland 70-35 and West Linn 59-29 at the tournament, improved to 7-3.

“We’ve been doing a lot of traveling, but it’s fun; it’s basketball,” said Young, referring to the team’s two early-season games in California as well as playing in the Capitol City Classic in Salem.

“It was good,” Howell said. “I feel like our people stepped up, and that was nice.”

Mission Hills, out of San Marcos, Calif., moved to 7-6 with the loss.

But the Grizzlies, who beat Crescent Valley 56-43 and Jefferson 53-43 to get to the Platinum Bracket title tilt, got off to a blazing start to the contest, with senior guard Kyara Walters leading the way.

Walters opened the scoring with a 3-pointer off an assist from junior Destiny Walker. She soon added two free throws and followed with a steal and pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the circle, giving her eight points in the opening 1 minute and 22 seconds.

Walters made another 3-pointer on her way to scoring 12 points in the first quarter, which ended with Mission Hills holding a 16-8 lead.

That certainly caught the attention of the Panthers.

“We knew we had to stop their threes,” Young said. “They shot great, but I guess we came to play, too.”

“It was kind of scary, but we knew we just needed someone to step up, and Tay (Young) stepped up, and we just kind of followed,” Howell said.

Howell stepped up herself, opening the second-quarter scoring with a 3-point basket from the right corner. Young followed with a steal, and she was fouled putting in a layup on the play, resulting in a 3-point play.

The Panthers followed suit on defense, keeping Mission Hills off the scoreboard in the period until senior point guard Mariah Brown converted on a baseline drive 3:30 before halftime.

Another steal by Young led to a follow-up basket by junior Sara Schmerbach. Young added a 3-point basket, and she finished the quarter with another steal and layup, coming with just three seconds left in the period, trimming Mission Hills’ halftime lead to 27-25.

South Medford carried its momentum to the second half — in a big way.

The Panthers took their first lead, 32-30, when Young had yet another steal and layup coming with 6:18 left in the third quarter.

South Medford kept rolling from there. Howell sank two 3-pointers and scored eight points in the period, and sophomore Mayen Akpan, who was a powerful force on the offensive boards all game, added five points in the quarter, which ended with the Panthers holding a 45-38 advantage.

South Medford opened the final period with a layup by senior Kimberly Ceron-Romero following a steal by Akpan, giving the Panthers their biggest lead of the game, 47-38.

Now, it was Mission Hills’ turn to come battling back.

The Grizzlies got a three-point play from senior Genesis Henderson, and senior Maria Gorbushin connected on two 3-point shots to trim the South Medford lead to 55-50 with 2:58 remaining.

The margin was four, at 57-53, when Mission Hills senior Lindsey Jones went 3 for 3 from the line after she was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 2:06 to play. But the Grizzlies wouldn’t get any closer.

Howell scored on a drive. She then assisted on a layup by Ceron-Romero and then, with 10.9 seconds remaining, she went 2 for 2 from the line to wrap up South Medford’s 63-56 victory.

“It was really fun. They’re a really good team,” Howell said.

“I feel like we really brought a lot of energy,” Young said. “We got it done. We did good.”

Young certainly did.

She scored her 19 points on an 8-for-15 shooting night, and she had two rebounds, two assists and five key steals.

“It was really nice,” she said. “This will boost our confidence, and I think it will really help us a lot.”

The Panthers defense helped force Mission Hills into 20 turnovers, many of which resulted in easy South Medford baskets.

“Our press is our main thing,” Howell said.

“I think it was Dyllyn making her threes and us pushing the ball,” Young said of the key to the Panthers’ turnaround. “The steals helped us a lot, too. We’ve been working on defense a lot. We’re still working on it, but I thought we did pretty good today.”

Howell sank three 3-point baskets on her way to scoring 15 points, and she had three assists and three steals.

“It was nice to make some because recently I’ve been in a little bit of a slump,” Howell said.

Akpan had a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds, with nine of those rebounds coming off the offensive glass. Ceron-Romero added 11 points, and Schmerbach scored six.

South Medford made 22 of 56 shots from the field, with six 3-pointers, and 13 of 16 free throw attempts.

Now, the Panthers are looking to add to the momentum they built at the tournament.

“Oh yeah, we can build off of this, 100 percent,” Howell said.

“We can build off of this. We’re going to keep working hard,” Young said.

For Mission Hills, Walters led all scorers with 21 points, sinking six 3-pointers. She had five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Gorbushin, who sank three fourth-quarter 3-pointers, had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Brown added nine points, four assists and three rebounds. Jones added nine points, and Henderson had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Mission Hills made 17 of 47 shots from the field, with 12 3-pointers, and 10 of 14 free throw attempts.

Photos by Leon Neuschwander 

Leon Neuschwander, SBLive Sports