Black Tornado girls build on strong finish with steady win over Irish

A rollercoaster ride of a showdown with league-leading Sheldon featured plenty of fireworks Tuesday, but not the celebratory finish North Medford’s boys basketball team felt destined for earlier in the night at the Pawlowski Athletic Center.

The Black Tornado led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter before finding themselves in a tug-of-war finish that saw the Irish eke out a 60-59 victory after staving off two final possessions on the Oakdale Middle School campus.

“We had our chances,” said North Medford head coach Scott Plankenhorn.

Black Tornado junior Traeger Healy scored all 11 of his team’s points in the fourth quarter and finished with 24 points. Healy went 6-for-11 from 3-point range and also pulled in four rebounds.

With just over one minute remaining, Healy hit a nonchalant 3-pointer from the corner adjacent to North Medford’s bench after tracking down a long outlet pass from Tate Snyder. The pass took him toward the right corner, and Healy calmly took one dribble before turning and facing the basket for a pure trey.

“It was a little bit crazy, but at the same time our whole bench was yelling at him to shoot it,” Plankenhorn said of Healy’s final 3-pointer that put North ahead 59-57. “We all know when he’s hot it doesn’t matter, if he can get his feet set that’s the main thing. It was a great basket.”

Sheldon (20-5, 12-0 SWC) got the ball in the paint to Nathan Sheley toward the end of the ensuing shot clock but his shot was pressured by Snyder and wound up hitting the rim and bouncing right back down. North Medford senior Nate Anderson hustled in for the rebound, but was called for stepping out of bounds on the play — giving the Irish another opportunity.

Following a timeout by Sheldon — and subsequent timeout by North Medford (13-10, 6-5) before the ball was put in play — the Irish were able to inbound the ball to Gabe Alvarado, who looked to return the ball to Rocco Graziano at the top of the key but was hounded by Easton Curtis.

Alvarado then turned his attention to the left baseline — where Eli Forsha was setting a screen for Sheley — and was rewarded when miscommunication between Snyder and Anderson saw both jump out at Sheley and leave Forsha alone below the rim. Forsha made the basket and was fouled by Dylan Scott on a late effort to challenge the shot.

“I might have screwed our guys up on the timeout on the defensive end, and we screwed up the coverage we had called and Forsha makes a big bucket,” said Plankenhorn. “We were supposed to make sure we switched and didn’t give anybody anything, and we chased the wrong guy and left a guy at the bucket.”

Following another timeout by North, Forsha completed the three-point play to put Sheldon up 60-59 with 32 seconds remaining. Forsha scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Snyder raced the ball upcourt and the Tornado took another timeout with 27 seconds to go. Sheldon did a good job of denying the initial inbounds set before giving up a foul with nine seconds remaining. After another timeout by North Medford, Snyder took an inbounds pass by Scott at midcourt and then drove the lane before kicking the ball back to Scott, who drove the right baseline and put up a one-hander floater that rolled around the rim and out to Graziano.

“D-Scott gets the shot that we think is going in, and it just kicked itself out,” said Plankenhorn.

Curtis crashed into Graziano for a foul with 2.8 seconds remaining, and on the ensuing inbounds, Alvarado’s pass intended for Sheley was shielded by Anderson and led to the ball simply skipping off the court to give North Medford another chance.

After a quick shuffling of players to set up the inbounds play, Snyder’s pass toward Scott at the top of the key was tipped by Sheley. Healy picked the ball quickly up off the floor and whisked a shot to the basket but it was just off the mark as the buzzer sounded.

“We didn’t quit and we played (defense) and got a turnover and we had a chance there,” said Plankenhorn. “We just didn’t have a timeout to call and we had to go with what we had. We had some guys in different positions tonight, and we didn’t quite get what we wanted.”

Scott and Curtis each finished with 12 points, with Scott grabbing three steals and Curtis doling out three assists for North Medford. Anderson contributed nine rebounds and five assists.

The finish was a far cry from a first half that saw the Black Tornado seemingly seize full control, with the defense keeping Sheldon from too many quality shot opportunities and the offense getting contributions throughout the lineup.

A shooter’s touch 3 by Healy allowed North to go up 34-19 with just over a minute remaining in the first half, but Kai Gallic gave the Irish some momentum heading into the break with a 3 just before the buzzer to cut the deficit to 11 points.

Sheldon went on to outscore North Medford by six points in each of the third and fourth quarters to complete the comeback. The loss was the Tornado’s third in the last four games entering Thursday’s regular-season finale at 6 p.m. against South Medford.

“That’s basketball and life, you don’t get to sob for yourself usually,” said Plankenhorn of having to quickly turn the page. “You’ve got to find out about yourself a little bit. You watch other teams celebrate and you’ve gotta shake hands and be sportsmen, and then you’ve got to bring yourself back to battle again because in the next game, no one’s ever giving it to you, so you’ve gotta go take it.”

A win Thursday by North Medford would clinch a second-place tie in the SWC with South Medford (11-12, 7-4) and Grants Pass (11-13, 7-5), which wrapped up its regular season Tuesday. A win by the Panthers would mean they finish in sole possession of second place, and likely secure a state playoff bid.

North Medford and South Medford each split their season series with Grants Pass.

For a 32-team state bracket, the Panthers enter Thursday’s finale No. 32 in the Class 6A state power rankings, while North Medford (26th) and the Cavemen (28th) are likely already in the field.

In an unusual twist, fifth-place South Eugene (14-10, 6-6) — which twice beat the Tornado but was swept by the Panthers — holds the SWC’s second-best power ranking at No. 20, while Sheldon stands 15th.

SHELDON (60): Morrow 0, Gallic 6, Graziano 6, Sheley 10, Alvarado 13, Forsha 21, Sperry 4. Totals: 24 2-4 60.

NORTH MEDFORD (59): Scott 12, Rea 2, Sawyer 1, Curtis 12, Snyder 2, Healy 24, Anderson 6. Totals: 23 7-8 59.

Sheldon 14 11 18 17 — 60

North Medford 18 18 12 11 — 59

3-point goals — Sheldon 10 (Sheley 3, Alvarado 3, Gallic 2, Graziano 2), North Medford 6 (Healy 6).

Girls Basketball

NORTH MEDFORD 56, SHELDON 42: North Medford turned the Southwest Conference game around with a second-quarter outburst to help the Black Tornado earn their third win in the last four games.

Mariah Lane punctuated a 10-0 closing run to the first half with a four-point play for North Medford (9-14, 6-5 SWC), which outscored Sheldon 19-6 in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead into the break.

Olivia Boger had 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to lead the Black Tornado, and Caileigh Raines added 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Sophia West also scored 10 points for North, which closes the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against South Medford at Oakdale Middle School.

Kaya Trumbull tallied 11 of her team’s 13 points in the first quarter and finished with 15 points for the Irish (12-12, 4-8).

SHELDON (42): Trumbull 15, Sowers 3, Line 4, Raleigh 12, Mayernik 3, Seilo 0, Ayres 0, Schuck 2, Kearney 3. Totals: 17 2-4 42.

NORTH MEDFORD (56): Brownlee 3, Gomez-Monarrez 0, Smalley 1, Miller 1, West 10, Taylor 0, Boger 24, Raines 10, Canton 0, Verduzco 0, Lane 7, Molioo 0, Leggett 0. Totals: 19 13-20 56.

Sheldon 13 6 6 17 — 42

North Medford 8 19 10 19 — 56

3-point goals — Sheldon 6 (Trumbull 4, Sowers 1, Kearney 1), North Medford 5 (Boger 3, Lane 1, Brownlee 1).

Reach sports editor Kris Henry at khenry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035