South Medford's Dyllyn Howell, shown in action last Tuesday, finished with 16 points Friday against Willamette.

South Medford certainly wasn’t at its best but the Panthers put forth a valiant comeback effort Friday night before falling 56-48 to Willamette in a top-tier girls basketball showcase in Eugene.

South Medford, ranked No. 4 in the Class 6A coaches poll, shook off a lackluster second quarter to pull within six points following a 10-0 closing run to the third quarter but couldn’t clinch the comeback against the fifth-ranked Wolverines.

The loss snapped a 51-game conference winning streak for South Medford (12-3, 2-1 Southwest Conference), and marked the first win for Willamette over the Panthers in at least 15 years. The teams last met in last year’s state semifinals, with South Medford going on to earn the 6A title.

“Ultimately, I think the learning lesson is you can’t give a good team that kind of momentum and that kind of a margin to try and rally back from at home with all of the energy that goes into a game with two teams that are competing for a conference title,” said Panthers head coach Tom Cole.

“You couple bad play with things not going your way and it’s a recipe for a tough night,” he added. “But I also felt like there was some growth that occurred there in the third quarter and we were able to get into a two-possession game late in the fourth quarter.”

The teams shared a good back-and-forth battle through one quarter, with Willamette seizing a narrow 15-12 advantage, but the second quarter offered a sluggish start for South Medford and a surging effort by the Wolverines.

Willamette senior wing Isabella Harms connected for three of her team’s five 3-pointers in the second quarter and the Panthers were turnover-prone and 2-for-11 from the field in the frame to fall behind 36-21 at halftime.

“I think we really hurt ourselves in the second quarter,” said Cole. “We played deflated in that second quarter and didn’t really respond very well.”

Junior center Mayen Akpan served as South Medford’s saving grace in the second quarter, scoring five of her team’s nine points and finishing with 11 points and six rebounds in the first half. Overall, Akpan reached 19 points and 12 boards.

Still, Willamette (11-5, 3-0) was dialed in from deep with seven first-half 3-pointers, getting 18 points from Harms behind solid execution against a Panthers defense that routinely seemed a step behind.

“You have to credit their play,” said Cole. “They shot the ball really well and they showed a lot of poise. They clearly were motivated for this night and came out with great energy and came out with great execution.”

The Wolverines led by as many as 16 points three minutes into the second half before South Medford finally began to answer.

Jordan Barlow converted a driving effort to get things started, and Dyllyn Howell heightened her aggressive play with a pair of driving baskets and another that resulted in two converted free throws. The final leg of the strong finish to the third quarter involved a steal by Howell and long pass up the court for a layin by Akpan that made it 42-36 before Payton Andersen spiked back a 3-point attempt from Diamond Wright.

All of that momentum went for naught, however, when the Panthers were tagged with four fouls in the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter — putting Willamette near a bonus that would pay off later — and saw Brynn Smith convert a deep step-back 3-pointer.

Howell helped draw her team back with a pair of 3-pointers and a nice setup for Akpan in the fourth quarter, and the duo combined for all but two of South Medford’s points over the final 12 minutes of the contest.

“I thought Dyllyn Howell made some strides tonight in mental toughness and really played a key role for us,” said Cole.

Howell finished with 16 points and three assists. Her final 3-pointer made it 54-48 with one minute to go but a quick whistle foul on Barlow allowed Victoria Nguyen to go right to the foul line for two free throws. Howell was unable to answer on an ensuing drive and the Wolverines essentially ran out the clock to seal the win.

“It’s disappointing but you’ve got to move on,” said Cole. “There’s a lot of basketball left to play and you hope losses can create some motivation to be better.”

“They held serve and it’s our turn to try to match that for the end of the year,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of basketball between now and then and who knows what could happen.”

Senior leader Sara Schmerbach re-aggravated a groin injury that forced her to miss a game a week prior early in the second quarter and battled foul trouble throughout, finishing with four points.

SOUTH MEDFORD (48): Richardson 0, Taulani 0, Warberg 3, Schmerbach 4, Barlow 6, Howell 16, Akpan 19, Anderson 0. Totals: 16 13-16.

WILLAMETTE (56): Nguyen 9, Smith 17, Wagner 2, Wright 10, A. Ireland 0, J. Ireland 0, Harms 18. Totals: 17 14-17 56.

South Medford 12 9 15 12 — 48

Willamette 15 21 6 14 — 56

3-point goals — South Medford 3 (Howell 2, Warberg 1), Willamette 8 (Harms 5, Smith 2, Nguyen 1).

NORTH MEDFORD 57, SOUTH EUGENE 36: North Medford’s Sophia West got her team off to a hot start with 10 first-quarter points and finished with 17 overall as the Black Tornado moved to 2-0 in SWC play.

Caileigh Raines had 11 points, eight rebounds, six steals and three assists and Olivia Boger chipped in with 14 points, three steals and two assists to propel North Medford (5-9).

Capri Betenson scored 21 points to lead South Eugene (5-10, 0-3 SWC).

SOUTH EUGENE (36): Ward 0, Wares 0, Karpinski 1, Schindler 0, Betenson 21, Hyde 14, Mora 0, Cadaret 0, Sites 0, Wallen 0, Williams 0. Totals: 14-51 7-11 36.

NORTH MEDFORD (57): Brownlee 3, Gomez 0, Smalley 2, Scull 0, West 17, Taylor 2, Boger 14, Raines 11, Verduzco 4, Lane 2, Leggett 2. Totals: 24-65 5-11.

South Eugene 9 7 12 8 — 36

North Medford 18 19 15 5 — 57

3-point goals — South Eugene 1-9 (Betenson 1), North Medford 4-25 (Boger 2, Raines 1, Brownlee 1).

CRATER 74, THURSTON 28: At Springfield, Crater junior Taylor Young scored 17 of her 24 points in the first half and senior Sage Winslow recorded 19 points to power the top-ranked Comets to a Midwestern League win.

Lydia Traore also got off to a good start with 10 of her 13 points in the first half to help Crater (15-1, 3-0 MWL) build a 40-15 advantage, while Addi Dippel added nine points.

Addi Nelson had nine points for Thurston (5-8, 1-2).

CRATER (74): Gugliotta 0, Winslow 19, Jackson 3, Fernandez 4, Griffin 2, Dippel 9, Plankenhorn 0, Kitchen 0, Yohner 0, Young 24, Traore 13. Totals: 31 9-18 74.

THURSTON (28): Parker 7, Nelson 9, Tovey 3, Nault 4, Troyano 0, Montes 0, Gerdrum 0, Nissen 1, Newell 0, Skinner 4. Totals: 11 4-11 28.

Crater 22 18 17 17 — 74

Thurston 3 12 9 4 — 28

3-point goals — Crater 3 (Young 2, Winslow 1), Thurston 2 (Nelson 1, Tovey 1).

PHOENIX 51, MAZAMA 17: At Phoenix, Alissa Alvarez registered 18 points, five rebounds and five assists and Phoenix got 13 points apiece from Lily Quintero and Carsyn Sousa to earn the Skyline Conference victory.

Freshman Zepherya Noxon pulled in nine rebounds for the Pirates (9-5, 2-1 Skyline), while Quintero also had five steals and Sousa dished out four assists.

Addison Slezak led Mazama (0-13, 0-3) with nine points.

MAZAMA (17): Holbrook 0, Byington 5, O’Brien 0, Lee 1, Davis 2, Pena 0, Slezak 9, Hernandez 0.

PHOENIX (51): Quintero 13, Sousa 13, Woodward 4, Alvarez 18, Noxon 4, Foster 1, Ponce 0.

Mazama 0 4 6 7 — 17

Phoenix 7 15 14 15 — 51

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 53, ROGUE RIVER 15: At Rogue River, Cascade Christian senior Isabel McCauley flirted with a triple-double Thursday after recording 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the Southern Oregon Conference win.

Jordynn Jones added eight points, four assists, three rebounds and two blocks for the Challengers (10-3, 2-0 SOC).

Freshman Sterling Badley scored six points for Rogue River (2-11, 0-2).

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (53): Brehm 2, Coppedge 5, Wilcox 2, Ferreira 0, I. McCauley 18, Samhammer 2, Vanlandingham 2, Coats 3, Jones 8, Davis 2, Arce 5, G. McCauley 2, Madden 2, Fortier 0.

ROGUE RIVER (15): Perryman 4, Badley 6, Garwood 0, LeDoux 1, Alden 1, Fine 1, Gomes 2, Hook 0, Fliegel 0.

Cascade Christian 21 9 18 5 — 53

Rogue River 2 5 6 2 — 15

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 6 (I. McCauley 3, Coppedge 1, Coats 1, Arce 1).