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Crater comes up perfect Photo by Andrew Mariman Sarah Pool of Crater drives to the basket against South Medford�s Whitney Grant in their SOC game. Behind McLeod, Crater caps perfect run Senior post Jody McLeod put up some big numbers and the Crater High girls basketball team completed an unbeaten season in the Southern Oregon Conference on Tuesday night. McLeod scored 16 points and collected a career-high 21 rebounds as the No. 2-ranked Comets cruised to a 55-39 victory over South Medford in the regular-season finale for both teams. With the victory, the Comets improved to 22-1 overall and 14-0 in the SOC, the first time a team has gone unbeaten in conference play since Mazama accomplished the feat during the 1991-92 season. Crater, which found itself locked in a slow-paced game the first time it faced South Medford last month � the Comets won that game 35-27 � prevented an encore by scoring the first nine points of the game and racing to a 19-7 lead after one period. "That�s what we talked about before the game � getting off to a fast start," Crater coach David Heard said. "Our goal was to score four times in our first five possessions and that�s what we did." McLeod dominated the paint in the first half as the 6-foot senior erupted for 10 points and 15 rebounds. "Night in and night out she�s been our top scorer and rebounder, and tonight was no different," Heard said. "She�s extremely strong and she�s a great leaper. Once she gets the ball on the low block she�s tough to defend." The Comets also stymied South Medford with their 1-3-1 zone defense. Panthers star Kellie Thomas, who had scored 67 points in her previous three games and became South Medford�s all-time leading scorer last Friday, failed to score in the first half and finished with just eight points on 2-for-15 shooting. Crater soared to a 34-15 lead at halftime, and South Medford never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way. The Comets will now head to the Class 4A state tournament Feb. 27-March 3 at the Chiles Center in Portland. The Panthers, meanwhile, finished second in the conference standings and will host the No. 3 team from the Metro League in a playoff game on Feb. 24. The winner of that contest will also advance to the state tournament. "We had a tough time putting the ball in the basket," said South Medford coach Andrea Wegner, whose team fell to 15-8 overall and 10-4 in the SOC. "We got some good looks but not much went in, and they just crushed us on the boards." Emily Perttu paced the Panthers with 13 points and Whitney Grant added 12. CRATER (55) � Black 4, Kinney 0, Anhorn 0, Pool 8, Sapienza 8, LeBel 0, McLeod 16, Robertson 0, Nafie 2, Denson 12, Johnson 4. Totals: 24-62 7-9 55. SOUTH MEDFORD (39) � Perttu 13, Wright 2, Grant 12, Thomas 8, Zenz 4, Gillingham 0, Berkey 0, Hilgendorf 0, Brennan 0, Mueller 0. Totals: 15-54 6-8 39. Crater ...................................................... 19 15 12 9 � 55 South Medford ........................................ 7 8 14 10 � 39 3-point goals � South Medford 3 (Grant 1, Perttu 1). Technical fouls � South Medford coach. JV result � Crater won. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.