6A Panthers limit South Eugene to three points; 5A Comets tally 100 against Churchill

If you fancy blowouts, South Medford and Crater provided plenty to talk about Friday night.

The elite girls basketball programs put together the kind of performances that were sure to catch everyone’s eye statewide, with the Class 6A sixth-ranked Panthers clamping down for an 81-3 road win over South Eugene and, closer to home, the top-ranked 5A Comets finally reaching the century mark with a 100-12 romp in Central Point over Churchill.

“I’m not even sure what you can say about it,” said South Medford head coach Tom Cole. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

On a night when South Eugene honored its returning members from the program’s 1999 large-school state championship team, South Medford limited the Axe to the lowest point total ever allowed in Panther history.

South Eugene was unable to net a single basket, only getting a pair of free throws in the first quarter by senior Lila June Cadaret and one more fourth-quarter free throw by sophomore Amelia Hyde.

South Medford was minus a pair of starters due to illness and injury in Maddy Warberg and Dyllyn Howell to field only seven available players, and each registered at least one basket in the Southwest Conference win.

Senior guard Sara Schmerbach went 11-for-11 from the field to net 24 points, and also contributed six steals, three assists and three blocks for the Panthers (19-4, 9-2 SWC).

Jordan Barlow went for 16 points and four assists, while fellow juniors Malia Taulani (14 points, five steals, four rebounds) and Mayen Akpan (13 points, eight rebounds, five seals, three assists) also had big outings for South Medford.

Payton Andersen also came up with nine assists, four steals and four blocks, and Citrine Imperial-Viray made the most of her increased playing time by going 3-for-5 from 3-point range and adding three steals.

The Panthers pushed out to a 28-2 lead through one quarter and led 48-2 by halftime over the Axe (5-19, 0-11) despite retreating to a halfcourt defensive approach and eschewing transition baskets after building a formidable lead.

After flirting with the 100-point milestone a handful of times this season — reaching between 93 and 98 points on four occasions — Crater used a corner 3-pointer by Jazmine Fernandez with 42 seconds remaining to reach the century mark after a push up the court by fellow junior Taylor Young following a rebound.

The Comets bench erupted following Fernandez’s shot that established a new single-game scoring record on a night that Crater was already celebrating its seniors in their final home game of the regular season. As the No. 1 team in the state and Midwestern League champions, the Comets (23-1, 11-0 MWL) will get one more home date before hopefully advancing to the state tournament.

In the ensuing minute before the final tally, senior standouts Lydia Traore and then Sage Winslow exited in succession to rousing applause during each stoppage after each finished with 21 points.

Winslow came up with her ninth steal to set up her final bucket before exiting, and also finished with five assists and five rebounds in another strong all-around outing. Traore collected seven rebounds to go with two steals.

Young, who was part of South Medford’s run to the 6A title a year ago, led Crater with 22 points and came up with five steals, three rebounds and three assists in the rout.

Addi Dippel contributed 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, and fellow senior Alexa Gugliotta had three steals and three rebounds.

As a team, Crater managed to secure 32 steals against Churchill (1-20, 0-9), opening a 35-6 lead through one quarter. The Lancers were held to a single field goal in each of the final three quarters.

SOUTH MEDFORD (81): Taulani 14, Imperial-Viray 9, Schmerbach 24, Barlow 16, Akpan 13, Andersen 3, Vasey 2. Totals: 32-51 10-13 81.

SOUTH EUGENE (3): C. Ward 0, Wares 0, Karpinski 0, Schindler 0, Hyde 1, Mora 0, Cadaret 2, Sites 0, Gould 0, Williams 0, M. Ward 0. Totals: 0 3-6 0.

South Medford 28 20 23 10 — 81

South Eugene 2 0 0 1 — 3

3-point goals — South Medford 7-14 (Imperial-Viray 3, Schmerbach 2, Barlow 1, Andersen 1, Vasey 1). Fouled out — Andersen.

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CHURCHILL (12): Friesen 5, Emmons 0, R. Perrott 0, Davies 0, Stone 0, Buendia 1, Erlenbush 4, A. Perrott 2. Totals: 5 1-2 12.

CRATER (100): Gugliotta 0, Winslow 21, Nieman 0, Jackson 7, Fernandez 6, Griffin 2, Dippel 11, Plankenhorn 0, Kitchen 2, Yohner 8, Young 22, Traore 21. Totals: 42 11-17 100.

Churchill 6 2 2 2 — 12

Crater 35 17 29 19 — 100

3-point goals — Churchill 1 (Friesen 1), Crater 5 (Yohner 2, Young 1, Dippel 1, Fernandez 1).

WILLAMETTE 59, NORTH MEDFORD 46: At Eugene, North Medford used a third-quarter surge to close the gap but Class 6A fourth-ranked Willamette was able to fend off the threat to remain undefeated in Southwest Conference play.

Mariah Lane, who had four rebounds, went 4-for-7 from 3-point range to help total 14 points in leading the Black Tornado (8-14, 5-5 SWC). Caileigh Raines and Sophia West added 12 points apiece, with Raines also sporting 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Olivia Boger dished out six assists to go with 11 rebounds and four steals for North Medford, which fell into a 20-9 hole after one quarter but was able to close the gap at 46-37 entering the final frame thanks to a 20-12 run in the third quarter.

Izzy Harms scored 20 points to lead Willamette (19-5, 11-0).

NORTH MEDFORD (46): Brownlee 0, Smalley 4, West 12, Taylor 0, Boger 4, Raines 12, Verduzco 0, Lane 14. Totals: 19-63 4-6 46.

WILLAMETTE (59): Harms 20, Nguyen 4, Smith 14, Wagner 5, Wright 16, A. Ireland 0, J. Ireland 0. Totals: 23-56 8-9 59.

North Medford 9 8 20 9 — 46

Willamette 20 14 12 13 — 59

3-point goals — North Medford 4-17 (Lane 4), Willamette 5-16 (Harms 4, Smith 1).

EAGLE POINT 61, NORTH EUGENE 42: At Eagle Point, a second-half surge allowed Eagle Point to close in on the third and final automatic bid to the 5A state playoffs from the Midwestern League.

The Eagles improved to 12-9 overall and 5-5 in MWL play, with road games remaining against Ashland and Churchill and a half-game edge over North Eugene (11-12, 5-6 MWL), which closes against sixth-ranked Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD 94, ASHLAND 23: At Springfield, Ashland fell into a deep hole early and couldn’t recover in falling to 5-16 overall and 1-8 in MWL play.

Springfield moved to 16-6 and 9-1, respectively.

KLAMATH UNION 61, PHOENIX 42: At Klamath Falls, a matchup of second-place teams in the Skyline Conference went to host Klamath Union, allowing the Pelicans to move one game ahead of Phoenix in their regular-season finale.

Phoenix (13-8, 6-4 Skyline) has two more conference games remaining against Class 4A top-ranked Henley and one-win Mazama.