They came up short on the scoreboard, but South Medford Panthers prove it once again — ‘They’re winners’

“We’re one of the top two teams in the state — and only two teams can say they made it to the state championship this year.”

By Alex Tam | Photos by Taylor Balkom  

PORTLAND — As the final buzzer sounded in the Class 6A state championship game and South Medford’s players retreated to their bench before returning to the court for the trophy presentation, one thing was noticeable.

There weren’t many tears. Not a lot of emotions. Not much sadness after falling to Clackamas, 56-46, on Saturday at the Chiles Center at the University of Portland.

While the tears flowed once the South Medford players and coaches got back to the locker room for their final postgame meeting as a team, there was more a sense of pride in proving once again the Panthers belong in the conversation as one of the best programs in the state.

“Obviously, we’re really disappointed,” said senior guard Kendall Fealy, an all-Southwest Conference first-team selection. “Nobody wants to end on a loss. We worked so hard for it, but it’s also such a huge accomplishment to make it this far along, so I think we were all just feeling real proud of ourselves at the same time.

“We’re one of the top two teams in the state — and only two teams can say they made it to the state championship this year.”

South Medford found itself battling with a deep and talented Clackamas squad and faced just a 23-19 deficit at halftime. But the Cavaliers surged ahead with an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 31-19 at the 5:37 mark of the third quarter, leaving the Panthers a steep uphill climb.

South Medford senior Donovyn Hunter said the “emotions” of the game caught up to them.

“There were nerves in the moment, feeling like you’re in a rush,” said Hunter, the Southwest Conference player of the year. “I feel like that took over and things happen.”

But the resilient Panthers never gave up. When Hunter nailed a jumper with 1:59 left in the fourth, Clackamas’ lead was down to four at 50-46.

Although that was as close as it got, South Medford proved itself worthy of the big stage once again.

“It’s just the grit and not giving up,” said Hunter, who had 15 points, four rebounds and two assists. “We always say it in practice, we always say it to each other, we see that everyone on our team did not give up.”

The Panthers’ resume holds up as one of the most impressive in the state over the past four seasons. They are undefeated in the Southwest Conference since 2020, going 37-0 in league play.

In addition to this season’s runner-up finish, they took fifth at the state tournament a year ago. In 2021, South Medford won the Class 6A maroon bracket season-culminating tournament title. The year before, it was among the favorites to win the state championship after reaching the semifinals — and then COVID canceled the rest of the tournament.

“These kids have been through so many life moments and so many basketball moments,” South Medford coach Tom Cole said. “They’re winners. The seniors are all moving on to play college ball, which is a credit to what they’ve been. We’re really excited about the younger kids, too.

“We feel real motivated. While we’re disappointed inside the locker room, it can foster the right kind of motivation to get into the gym and follow their passion, get better and get back here and change the outcome the next time.”

While the accomplishments speak for themselves, there’s still a feeling of a constant fight for respect from the rest of the state. Being in southern Oregon and hours from the top Portland schools has continually left a chip of the Panthers’ shoulders every season.

“It’s tough being four hours away from our relevant competition,” Hunter said. “Everyone always sees the Portland teams every week. … Disregarding what everyone else thinks about us, we tell ourselves we have grown and we belong.”

The success of the South Medford program has been a reflection of its senior leaders with Hunter, Fealy and Tatum Schmerbach.

In particular, Hunter has set the tone for the younger players with her leadership. Her teammates and coaches have nothing but praise for the way she carries herself on and off the court.

“She’s clearly a great player,” Fealy said. “We see in the stats every time, but what you don’t see in the stat book is the leadership she provides and input she gives you. One play, something bad happens and she’ll tell you what she needs from you.

“She’s such a great person to be around. She’s probably one of the kindest people I’ve ever been around, which is not something you can say about a lot of great players. Like the cockiness, there’s none of it.”

Cole called Hunter a “tremendous young lady with a lot of class” that the program will sorely miss when next season comes.

“When you spend time with her and see the kindness she exudes and the thoughtfulness she has for so many things that are greater than basketball, it’s special,” Cole said. “We’ll cherish that time we had together. I know she’s moving on to do some amazing things in the Pac-12 and I can’t wait to celebrate those.”

Everyone within the program agreed that this team was special not because of the on-court success, but the chemistry they had off it. With a mix of three senior leaders and six freshmen, it made for some funny and comical moments each player will remember.

That comes with the amount of traveling from South Medford and the hijinks from long road trips around the state. Cole said it’s the simple things that need to be taught to the freshmen from the seniors, such as how to stay in hotels, how to get into the team vans and eating breakfast the right way.

“It seems so simple, but they’re all a part of training and you have to be disciplined around putting your best foot forward,” Cole said. “That really has been the journey. There’s a maturity gap between the seniors and the freshmen, and that always leads to comical moments.

“There’s times when we show up and they don’t have their jersey, they have one shoe, they didn’t pack socks, and they aren’t sure whether they’re the home team or the away team. You just embrace that as part of the development.”

South Medford finishes its season 27-3 and still has plenty of hope for the future with nine players who will return next season to make another run.

“I told my team in the locker room, when there were tears in the locker room — I bring up faith a lot,” Hunter said. “God always has a plan, whether you lose something and it sucks in the moment. There’s always something good that comes out of it. It grows us as people. At the end of the day, the team is my family, so take a win or loss, just the fact I got to play in this game with them is the most important.”

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