GRESHAM – Nine months removed from winning the 6A title, South Medford's girls basketball team returned to the court Friday night against Beaverton in the opening game of the Barlow Trail Tournament.
And despite missing their leading scorer from last season – point guard Taylor Young, who has transferred to 5A Crater – the Panthers looked like a well-oiled machine in routing the Beavers 67-32.
“Everyone is stepping up because we're all getting older and we're all moving up a grade,” said 6-foot-4 junior post Mayen Akpan, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds. “The chemistry is still there with everyone. Everyone knows how to play with everybody.”
Senior guard Maddy Warberg, a transfer from Southwest Conference rival Willamette, hit 5 of 9 shots from three-point range and finished with a game-high 19 points. Senior guard Sara Schmerbach added 13 points and six assists and junior guard Dyllyn Howell added seven points and five steals.
“We're sharing the ball a lot better, just everyone getting touches, everyone being able to score,” Schmerbach said. “We're getting more confident. Everyone is showing out.”
Schmerbach, Akpan and Howell are South Medford's returning starters. The team is adjusting to the loss of Young and the addition of the sharpshooting Warberg, who averaged 10.6 points for Willamette last season.
“It gives us a dimension that is quite different than what we were collectively last year,” said coach Tom Cole, whose team is No. 2 in the OSAAtoday 6A preseason coaches poll, behind Clackamas.
Warberg and Schmerbach – both signed with Santa Clara – are the team's top threats from deep, along with Howell.
“We're a little deeper from the outside,” Schmerbach said. “We can shoot it a lot better.”
Warberg seems to be blending into the offense nicely, settling into open spots around the three-point arc. She is learning to play at South Medford's speed.
“It's a lot more fast-paced than Willamette was,” Warberg said. “Willamette was slowed down a lot. It's just different. I've never played with any of these girls. The Willamette girls, I played with forever. So it's a big change, but I think it's helping me, and making me better for college, too.”
Schmerbach, who averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 steals as a SWC first-team pick last season, is helping pick up the slack at point guard. Juniors Jordan Barlow, Elise Richardson and Malia Taulani also are getting their chances to run the point.
“We're running a lot of things that don't necessarily mean that whoever initiates the offense is a traditional point guard,” Cole said.”Clearly, Sara's confident. She has some senior leadership and she's comfortable under pressure.”
The Panthers have the ability to attack from all angles. They are in constant motion, forcing the defense to scramble and opening up driving lanes.
“We all know Taylor was the main scorer on our team, and she'd find a way to get to the hoop,” Akpan said. “But we still have people on our team that know how to do it, like Sara and Jordan. I think that everyone is going to step up.”
The rugged Akpan gives South Medford a dominant interior presence. She made giant strides last season, earning first-team honors at the 6A tournament after collecting a tournament-record 51 rebounds in three games.
Akpan has come back for her junior season ready to expand on her offensive game. In Friday's game, she not only converted inside after getting deep position, but she also hit a 12-foot baseline jumper.
“We're watching Mayen grow into a confident post player,” Cole said. “She's feeling much more confident offensively. She's trying to score more with back-to-the-bucket things and taking jump shots.”
Schmerbach said of Akpan: “We're always looking for her.”
South Medford took a 12-0 lead against Beaverton, getting two three-pointers from Warberg. The lead grew to 42-11 at half and 57-17 in the third quarter.
“We have plenty of things to work on, but I thought the kids who had experience showed that,” Cole said.
Beaverton, which graduated four starters from a team that shared the Metro League title with Jesuit and Southridge, was overwhelmed by South Medford's pace at the start.
Sophomore point guard Dara Oluwafemi, a transfer from Westview, led the Beavers with nine points. Sophomore wing Ruby Foord, a transfer from Sunset, added seven points.
“We're young and it's our first game together,” Beavers coach John Naro said. “I was a little disappointed in how we came out. We played very scared. We weren't aggressive. We didn't run our stuff, we didn't do our things on defense.”
Naro said it was difficult to prepare for South Medford's tempo.
“I believe there are four teams that can win it this year, and I think they're one of them,” Naro said of the Panthers, putting them in the same category as Clackamas, Willamette and Tualatin.
South Medford will play in the tournament final Saturday against West Salem, which defeated Barlow 54-42 on Friday. Beaverton will take on Barlow.
jerryu@osaa.org
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