South Medford's Kimberly Ceron-Romero fights for the ball against Grants Pass Brooklyn Wakefield during the 2nd quarter in Medford Tuesday.

It wasn’t the start or the finish that South Medford girls basketball coach Tom Cole had envisioned for the 50-40 Southwest Conference victory over Grants Pass.

From the tip, the Panthers (12-3, 3-0 SWC) were quickly outmatched by the energy that the Cavers (8-7, 1-2) had in the first quarter as they fell behind 11-6, which felt like much more after the lackluster start.

“I think we came out tremendously flat and very unprepared to match the energy of our opponent,” said Cole. “We were lucky to overcome that, and I wasn’t really thrilled about our energy in the first quarter.”

South Medford allowed open looks on defense and couldn’t convert close to the rim as Grants Pass employed a 3-2 zone that seemed to puzzle the Panthers.

“We usually facilitate out of the posts and tonight we couldn’t get it there,” said Sara Schmerbach, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and six steals. “I think that kind of shook us a little bit.”

The end wasn’t much different as Grants Pass whittled down a 47-26 third-quarter deficit to almost single digits in the fourth quarter. South Medford went without a basket in the final eight minutes and had only three points thanks to Taylor Young’s two made free throws and Schmerbach splitting a pair.

“Our energy went down again and we started forcing up shots,” said Young. “It’s not good basketball because we were not playing together.”

Young finished with a game-high 20 points to go along with three steals.

Bookended between those two quarters, however, the Panthers looked like themselves as Schmerbach and Young combined for 14 points to ignite a 21-0 run that stretched over the second and third frames to escape the danger zone.

The biggest difference was the energy change that South Medford played with.

“We just had to hype each other up in the huddle,” said Schmerbach. “We had to get ourselves together and fight for it, which we were not doing at the beginning.”

In the second quarter, the Panthers showed more fight when screened and were quicker with their traps.

“We just picked up the energy and defensive pressure,” said Young. “It led to a lot of transition buckets and we were getting hyped off of it.”

Kim Ceron-Romero also provided a boost with six points, six blocks and two rebounds. Malia Taulani also helped bring stout defense on the perimeter to help build the lead.

“Malia did a good job coming in and giving pressure,” said Young. “She pressured the ball and created turnovers for us.”

One of the biggest factors was Mayen Akpan, who scored only three points but hauled in 18 rebounds — 10 of them on the offensive glass. The sophomore’s impact wasn’t seen in the first quarter due to foul trouble.

“I don’t think that I’ve had a kid at South Medford have 18 rebounds,” Cole said about Akpan’s performance, albeit out of hyperbole since Julissa Tago set a Class 6A state tournament record with 23 rebounds against Sheldon in 2016. “Her presence physically on the boards allowed us to have some chance points on offense.”

“She also allowed us to create some transition opportunities,” he added, “which Sara and Taylor were certainly able to capitalize on those.”

Cole didn’t see much for his young Panthers to learn outside of bringing consistent effort during the game and before it.

“It will marinate when they watch the film,” he said. “The two things you can always control are your effort and attitude.”

“You’re not always going to be perfect on defense, but you can control your effort and your attitude,” he added. “And I think there were places in the game today that I wasn’t real proud about our effort and it was a learning experience.”

Kenzie Kleiner scored 17 points to pace the Cavers.

SOUTH MEDFORD (50): Richardson 0, Taulani 0, Young 20, Schmerbach 17, Kimberly Ceron-Romero 6, Varlow 0, Howell 4, Akpan 3. Totals: 20 8-11 50.

GRANTS PASS (40): Brandes 5, Anderson 7, Thompson 3, Kleiner 17, Robinson 0, Willett 0, Wakefield 8, Vainuku-Johnson 0. Totals: 15 5-7 40.

South Medford 12 21 14 3 — 50

Grants Pass 15 9 5 11 — 40

3-point goals — South Medford 2 (Young 2), Grants Pass 5 (Kleiner 3, Thompson 1, Wakefield 1). Technical fouls — Ceron-Romero.