Reigning Class 6A state champion South Medford set things up the way the Panthers wanted Friday night and then enjoyed the fruitful process as one domino fell down and set the others in motion for a season-opening 67-32 win over Beaverton at the Barlow Trail Tournament in Gresham.

Senior Sara Schmerbach provided the opening influence by attacking the basket to finish with 11 points and six assists, junior Mayen Akpan fell in line with 12 points and 10 rebounds and then junior Dyllyn Howell came through with six steals and nine points before senior Maddy Warberg was part of a nice finishing touch with five 3-pointers to secure a team-high 19 points.

It was all about the pieces working in cohesive nature with the other, a key component if South Medford is going to navigate its way back to a third straight 6A championship final.

“We were very unselfish tonight,” said South Medford head coach Tom Cole. “Sara was able to set the tone by getting to the rim early a few times and I think it really started to open up things and we started to get the ball to Mayen in the post, and then when they started really collapsing, it left some shooters to do things.”

Chief among those shooters was Warberg, who was making her Panthers debut after three years as a starter at Willamette High. The senior guard, who along with Schmerbach will be attending Santa Clara next fall, knocked down two treys in the first quarter and then finished with three more in the third quarter to erase any doubt against a Beaverton squad that was just outside the top 10 in the preseason 6A coaches poll.

“She had five 3s so that was a good dimension to things tonight,” said Cole, “but it was really pretty balanced for us.”

Payton Andersen came off the bench to corral six rebounds and add five points and Jordan Barlow dropped in six points as the Panthers look to combat the loss of last year’s leading scorer — point guard Taylor Young to Crater — with a different look in the early going.

South Medford pounced early with a 24-6 surge in the first quarter and led 42-11 by halftime to never give the young Beavers a true chance at challenging. That effort was a far cry from where the Panthers found themselves during their jamboree earlier this week.

“We were really flat, to be honest, in our own jamboree,” said Cole, “and we got a chance to look at our energy levels and realized that our hallmark has always been playing an aggressive defense and trying to push a pace. We really challenged ourselves to come out with more of that, and I just thought they came out with great energy and got after it defensively and did all the things we challenged them to do.”

The Panthers will match up against West Salem in Saturday’s championship after the Titans beat host Barlow, 54-42.

South Medford then will have a week off before playing two rare home games in December, with matchups against 5A preseason top-6 foes Corvallis (Dec. 13) and Redmond (Dec. 16), before returning to the road until the first week of January.

SOUTH MEDFORD (67): Richardson 0, Taulani 3, Warberg 19, Imperial-Viray 2, Schmerbach 11, Barlow 6, Howell 9, Akpan 12, Andersen 5, Vasey 0. Totals: 25 10-18 67.

BEAVERTON (32): Oluwafemi 9, LaFontaine 3, Foord 7, Honnold 0, Berg 0, Rice 3, Oudom 0, Watson 0, Burnett 4, Braden 6, Bologoff 0. Totals: 13 3-10 32.

South Medford 24 18 20 5 — 67

Beaverton 6 5 14 7 — 32

3-point goals — South Medford 7 (Warberg 5, Howell 1, Anderson 1), Beaverton 3 (Oluwafemi 1, LaFontaine 1, Rice 1).

WEST ALBANY 52, NORTH MEDFORD 49: At Eugene, North Medford senior Caileigh Raines scored 21 of her game-high 26 points in the first half but West Albany was able to rally by outscoring the Black Tornado 31-21 in the second half at the Luke Roth Invitational.

Olivia Boger added nine points for North Medford (0-1), which was hindered by an 8-for-16 outing from the free-throw line.

West Albany (1-0), No. 9 in the preseason 5A rankings, connected on 11 3-pointers to provide the bulk of its offense.

NORTH MEDFORD (49): Brownlee 0, Smalley 5, Miller 0, West 5, Taylor 3, Boger 9, Raines 26, Canton 0, Lane 1, Leggett 0. Totals: 17 8-16 49.

WEST ALBANY (52): Droke 2, Chamberlain 0, Bennett 0, Martirano 15, Kurth 0, Tidwell 15, Warner 0, Hamblin 2, Barker 0, Starwalt 18. Totals: 19 3-6 52.

North Medford 12 16 9 12 — 49

West Albany 8 13 14 17 — 52

3-point goals — North Medford 7 (West 1, Boger 2, Raines 4), West Albany 11 (Martirano 3, Tidwell 5, Starwalt 3). Fouled out — Boger.

CRATER 61, REDMOND 43: At Prineville, Crater cruised in a preseason top-5 matchup behind a big night from junior Taylor Young, who helped break the game open with three 3-pointers in the third quarter for a second win at the Central Oregon Tip-Off Tournament.

Young finished with 24 points for the top-ranked Comets (2-0), who also got 12 points apiece from Sage Winslow and Lydia Traore.

Mylaena Norton was the lone player to reach double figures for No. 5 Redmond (1-1), scoring eight of her 12 points in the second half.

CRATER (61): Gugliotta 0, Winslow 12, Jackson 0, Fernandez 2, Griffin 2, Dippel 5, Plankenhorn 4, Kitchen 0, Yohner 0, Young 24, Traore 12.

REDMOND (43): Ure 5, Nickel 2, R. Morris 1, Cheney 6, A. Morris 2, B. Porter 6, Villa 0, Norton 12, Snow 3, M. Porter 6.

Crater 18 12 20 11 — 61

Redmond 9 13 11 10 — 43

3-point goals — Crater 5 (Winslow 1, Dippel 1, Young 3), Redmond 8 (Ure 1, Cheney 2, B. Porter 2, Norton 1, M. Porter 2).

EAGLE POINT 55, HOOD RIVER VALLEY 32: At Redmond, Eagle Point senior Thianna Deng-Gomez scored 14 points to lead the way in the Central Oregon Tip-Off Tournament.

The Eagles (1-0), who finished 7-for-14 from 3-point range, never trailed and opened a 26-14 lead by halftime.

Kady Lindstrom chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Jill Garlitz, Kady Ledbetter and Maddie Daw scored six points apiece in the rout.

KENNEDY 65, ST. MARY’S 36: At Tigard, freshman Bailey Strickler powered St. Mary’s with 17 points and nine rebounds but the Crusaders fell behind early to suffer its second loss at the Westside Winter Jam.

Elizabeth McGill had four points and four rebounds for St. Mary’s (0-2), which got between two and three points from seven others against Kennedy (1-1).

Boys Basketball

NELSON 72, NORTH MEDFORD 47: At Happy Valley, North Medford senior Dylan Scott collected 18 points but the Black Tornado couldn’t quite get in sync in its season opener.

With a host of players fresh off an extended football season that went into last Saturday, North Medford (0-1) struggled with 22 turnovers and 35% shooting from the field.

Easton Curtis finished with nine points and six rebounds and Traeger Healy had six boards and three of North Medford’s eight assists.

Sophomore Braylon Gaines scored 30 points to lead Nelson (1-0), which broke open the contest with a 16-8 edge in the second quarter.

NORTH MEDFORD (47): Scott 18, Rea 3, Sawyer 2, Curtis 9, Snyder 3, Healy 3, Stewart 2, Anderson 3, Chin 3, Zimmer 1. Totals: 16-46 11-23 47.

NELSON (72): Gaines 30, Katoanga 4, Schregards 5, Bonifacio 0, Garlington 4, Lopez 0, Neal 15, Colombo 0, Day 0, Pickett 14, Kirkland 0, Cantwell 0, Davidson 0. Totals: 30-77 7-12 72.

North Medford 18 8 10 11 — 47

Nelson 24 16 13 19 — 72

3-point goals — North Medford 4-17 (Rea 1, Curtis 1, Healy 1, Chin 1), Nelson 5-32 (Gaines 1, Schregards 1, Neal 3). Fouled out — Garlington.

BENSON 73, SOUTH MEDFORD 63: At Portland, Cole Adee poured in 17 points but South Medford suffered through third-quarter woes for the second straight game to fall shot in its road opener.

Joey Clevenger came off the bench to score 11 points and Isaac Tannaci added seven points for the Panthers (0-2), who were outscored 16-7 in the third quarter to help Benson build a 15-point advantage entering the final quarter.

Freshman Dreison Niko led Benson (1-0) with 23 points.

SOUTH MEDFORD (63): Hopkins 0, Tannaci 7, Adee 17, Dufour 0, Spires 6, Ritchie 6, Clevenger 11, Johnson 5, Von Strahl 6, Carson 0, Pacheco 5. Totals: 23 10-18 63.

BENSON (73): Williams 2, Acelar 12, Hubble 0, Hudson 12, Bott 7, McKelvey 4, Parnell-Patton 13, Niko 23. Totals: 29 9-19 73.

South Medford 17 19 7 20 — 63

Benson 20 22 16 15 — 73

3-point goals — South Medford 7 (Adee 3, Clevenger 2, Von Strahl 2), Benson 6 (Acelar 2, Bott 1, Niko 3). Technical fouls — Tannaci.

ASHLAND 66, MCKAY 58: At Wilsonville, Ashland overcame an early surge by McKay behind a dominant second quarter and closing effort in the second half to win its season opener at the Wilsonville Tournament.

Jojo Harrower poured in 26 points and Quillian Tourzan added 20 points to power the Grizzlies (1-0), while Jon Harper connected on four of the team’s 10 3-pointers to add 12 points.

ASHLAND (66): Rountree 0, Harrower 26, Harper 12, Hernandez 6, Matsdorf 0, Levorse 0, Tourzan 20, Wieczorek 2.

MCKAY (58): Munguia 11, Bondar 12, Vasquez 9, Vargas 6, Ochoa 5, Bautista 7, Mitchell 6, Omwere 0, Tsikhotakiy 2.

Ashland 14 18 20 14 — 66

McKay 21 7 15 15 — 58

3-point goals — Ashland 10 (Harrower 1, Harper 4, Hernandez 2, Tourzan 3), McKay 9 (Munguia 1, Bondar 4, Vasquez 1, Vargas 1, Ochoa 1, Bautista 1).

ST. MARY’S SPLITS: At Tigard, one night after suffering a 72-57 loss to host Westside Christian, St. Mary’s evened its record at the Westside Winter Jam when freshman A.J. Zimmerman hit a game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds remaining for a 47-45 win over Kennedy.

Junior Jax North battled through injury to lead St. Mary’s with 16 points, six rebounds and four blocks on Day 2, while Zimmerman added 14 points and sophomore Cooper Anderson provided a key defensive effort and some timely shooting.

On Thursday, a 12-0 run by Westside Christian created the winning separation by the Eagles despite 28 points from junior Tai Zimmerman. The younger Zimmerman had 10 points and sophomore Joel Kiene added nine points off the bench.

ST. MARY’S (47): AJ Zimmerman 14, Anderson 9, North 16, King 0, Tai Zimmerman 6, Chmelir 0, Kiene 2, Primerano 0.

KENNEDY (45): Hansen 1, Taylor 9, Martinez 3, Vaquera 2, Beyer 6, Sucich 19, Graves 5.

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ST. MARY’S (57): AJ Zimmerman 10, Anderson 6, King 4, David 0, Tai Zimmerman 28, Van Horn 0, Chmelir 0, Kiene 9, Ausland 0, Primerano 0.

WESTSIDE CHRISTIAN (72): Jaimet 7, E. Lee 0, J. Lee 12, Hunstad 0, Stillwell 0, Vergas 0, Crites 16, Leland 19, Huskey 2, Carty 2, Spencer 2, Chiong 10, Pruski 2, Reid 0, McGuire 0, Graf 0.