The jubilant walk off the court was a long time coming for those in the North Medford girls basketball program, but it certainly wasn’t unexpected Wednesday night at North Medford High.
After suffering through an 18-game losing streak against crosstown rival South Medford that encompassed eight years, the Black Tornado had all it needed to finally take down the Panthers on this night.
North Medford had the game plan, the pieces in place to make that happen and all the motivation it could muster with a supportive home crowd.
The Black Tornado also had the luxury of facing a South Medford squad largely inexperienced on such a stage, and all of that came to roost as North took control early and cruised to a 46-34 Southwest Conference triumph.
“It was a great win and we’re all very excited,” said North Medford senior post Megan Fossen. “It’s kind of what we expected, we worked hard for this.”
Fossen was a terror in the paint from the start and the Panthers simply had no answer as the determined 5-foot-9 senior poured in 26 points to go with 12 rebounds to help the Black Tornado to its first win in the rivalry since a 50-45 showing on Feb. 17, 2010.
“She was really good,” said South Medford head coach Tom Cole of Fossen. “Her stats going into this game told us that she was good (averaging 15.3 points and 10.8 rebounds) and the reality is at the end of the game all those stats were exactly who she was. She played a great game tonight.”
Coming off the heels of a win against Sheldon on Friday, North Medford (12-7, 6-1 SWC) moved into a first-place tie with the Irish atop the SWC and gained tremendous confidence moving forward. South Medford (12-8, 5-2) dropped one game back of the co-leaders.
“I’ve just been real impressed with their focus,” said North Medford head coach Tim Karrick. “They’re not playing like a team that hasn’t been here.”
“Everyone’s got their role and they’re just putting it together right now,” added the coach, whose team now has six straight victories. “It’s fun to watch. Granted they won, but it’s just fun to watch them play that way together and compete like that.”
The magnitude of the moment wasn’t lost on the Black Tornado players, who haven’t even come within single digits in losses to the Panthers during the team’s drought.
“We put our mindset as if every game is for the conference championship,” said Fossen, “and so every game we’ve got to come play our hardest, and today we played our hardest. Today was just a little extra-special ... it felt great to get this win.”
Fossen didn’t come into play on the scoreboard until her team had already churned out an 8-4 advantage midway through the first quarter, but she sure dominated the action thereafter. Whether it was from rubbing off screens, slashing to the ball or merely working for position in the post, Fossen carved out space against the South defense and her teammates were more than happy to feed her the ball time and again, to fantastic results. She had five points in each of the first two quarters, then tallied 16 of her team’s 21 points in the second half.
“I was up for the competition and I was ready for it,” said Fossen. “I just started to feel it in the second half and it just was great.”
With Fossen and fellow senior Adriane McLemore controlling the paint, North senior Rylee Karrick and junior Talia Baker teamed up to spearhead a triangle-and-two defensive attack that limited South Medford standouts Ula Chamberlin (junior) and Bella Pedrojetti (sophomore) to only two points apiece.
“I really wasn’t planning on those two doing that as much because it’s just tiring,” said coach Karrick, “but come the second half everytime I looked at those two they said, ‘I’m good.’”
That opened things up a little for freshman Kaili Chamberlin to drain four 3-pointers and notch a team-high 15 points, while fellow freshman Toni Coleman had eight of her 11 in the second half, but the damage wasn’t enough to offset the payoff.
“We did it a little bit last year but they just had too much talent on the court and we couldn’t leave anybody open,” said coach Karrick. “We were really worried about Kaili because we knew she could shoot — and she hits some huge 3s — but our goal was to keep (Ula Chamberlin and Pedrojetti) off the 3-point line and make them go to the hoop with our big kids there to just be in the way and not foul and rebound, and for the most part it worked.”
What also helped North was the fact that South especially showed its age on this night, turning the ball over 12 times to go with a 14-for-45 shooting effort (31 percent).
“My fear going into the game that the atmosphere would be bigger than what they are used to, and it was,” said Cole. “The number of turnovers and number of easy shots that were missed are a reflection of almost what you’d say is stage fright.”
“Tonight they were good and we weren’t,” he added. “My hope all season for this group has been can you learn something from losses. It’s one of those games where they’ll reflect and at least they’ve now gone through a North-South game and an atmosphere where it’s a crowded gym and a blue-and-red kind of thing for the community. I think the stage was brighter than what they were used to, but I know one day these kids will be converting a lot of those shots and some of the sparks that we saw will get better.”
North Medford led 25-15 at halftime and build that cushion to 32-16 before Coleman and Kaili Chamberlin came alive with a string of points that build some hope of a Panther comeback. Through it all, though, the Black Tornado did just enough to maintain at least a two-possession advantage in the second half.
“I felt like we had it the whole game and if we didn’t let down then we’d get the win at the end,” said Fossen. “We just kept up the high intensity and pushed through and got the win.”
SOUTH MEDFORD (34): K. Chamberlin 15, Coleman 11, U. Chamberlin 2, Pedrojetti 2, Perry 2, Schmerbach 2, Laupola 0, Dahlin 0. Totals: 14-45 2-5 34.
NORTH MEDFORD (46): Fossen 26, Karrick 7, McLemore 6, Ersepke 3, T. Baker 2, Graff 2, A. Baker 0. Totals: 15-40 15-25 46.
South Medford;7;8;14;5;—;34
North Medford;13;12;13;8;—;46
3-point goals — South Medford 4-15 (K. Chamberlin 4), North Medford 1-8 (Karrick 1).
JV score — North Medford 47, South Medford 28.
Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, khenry@mailtribune.com, www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry