Document text
Last-second shot doesn't fall as South Medford loses to Tigard By TIM PYLE PORTLAND - The South Medford girls basketball team's wild ride came to a screeching halt Friday morning. Tigard sophomore guard Kristi Jorgenson drove the length of the court and banked in the game-winning points with 16 seconds left to give the Tigers a 46-45 victory over South in consolation semifinal action in the Class 4A state tournament at the Chiles Center. The Panthers, who end the season 17-11, advanced the ball quickly up court following Jorgenson's bucket and got an open look for junior post Kirsten Gillingham, but her 15-foot jump shot from straight away spun out. The Tigers corralled the rebound, and time expired. "I passed it over to Katie (Singler), and we were kinda looking for a give-and-go, but they were marking up pretty tight," said South senior point guard Whitney Grant, who scored a game-high 25 points. "So we got Kirsten, and she got a look. But sometimes they fall, sometimes they don't." With 25 seconds remaining, Gillingham had given South its third lead of the game by drilling a 15-footer. But then Jorgenson flew down the right side of the court and finished off the glass with her right hand for the first game-winner of her career, so far as she can recall. "Wow," said Jorgenson, who tallied 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the Tigard bench. "I was just dribbling, and I saw no one was open, so I went for it." The Tigers, who entered the tournament on a nine-game winning streak and won the Pac-9 Conference with a 14-2 mark, led almost the entire way. Their largest advantage was 27-18 at halftime on the strength of a 6-0 run punctuated by Jorgenson's layup off an assist from senior guard Shannon Barton with 5 seconds remaining. Grant scored 14 of South's 18 first-half points. Singler, a freshman forward, was the only other Panther to score in the opening 16 minutes, tallying four of her eight points. Grant dropped two free throws with 0.71 seconds to play in the third quarter to pull South within 34-29 entering the fourth. The Panthers roared out of the gate with a 7-1 run to start the final period, claiming their first lead of the game at 36-35 on a Grant free throw at the 6-minute mark. South claimed its largest lead, 40-37, on Grant's jumper off the dribble with 4:35 to play. Tigard (21-6) struck back with a 5-0 run and led until Gillingham's jumper with 25 seconds on the clock. "I hadn't made a shot the whole game," said Gillingham, who went 2-for-12 from the field in scoring five points to accompany a game-high 12 rebounds. Jorgenson quickly upstaged Gillingham's heroics, ensuring that two days after its first-ever state-tournament victory, the Panthers would not add a second. "That's what you call being a player who knows what the situation is and taking the ball to the hole," said Tigard head coach Ken Johnson, a former Ashland boys basketball assistant. "Was that a designed play? I would love to say that as a coach, but there's no way." Junior post Erika Hartvickson paced Tigard with 13 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and nine rebounds. South - the 16th and last seed in the tournament after finishing third in the Southern Oregon Conference - shot 15-for-61 from the field (24.6) percent and snatched 49 rebounds. The Tigers fired at a 24.5-percent clip (13-for-53) and hauled in 46 rebounds. "Being down by nine at halftime made it difficult to come back," said South Medford head coach Andrea Jaime, who loses only one player - albeit Grant, her all-SOC star - heading into next season. "We did. ... But being down by that much and having to come back hurt. We really struggled to score all game." TIGARD (46) - Carey 0-0 1-2 1, Knauss 1-5 3-4 5, Barton 1-8 0-0 3, Hartvickson 3-12 7-8 13, Ramey 2-8 2-2 8, Cameron 0-5 0-1 0, Jorgenson 4-7 2-2 10, Patterson 2-8 2-4 6. Totals 13-53 17-23 46. SOUTH MEDFORD (45) - Wright 0-1 2-3 2, Grant 7-24 10-12 25, Gillingham 2-12 1-4 5, Mueller 2-7 1-2 5, Singler 4-13 0-0 8, Brennan 0-3 0-0 0, Carlton 0-0 0-0 0, Ingram 0-1 0-0 0, Silva 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-61 14-21 45. Tigard.....................................................13 14 7 12 - 46 South Medford.........................................9 9 11 16 - 45 Halftime - Tigard 27, South Medford 19. 3-point goals - Tigard 3-7 (Barton 1-2, Ramey 2-4, Patterson 0-1), South Medford 1-5 (Grant 1-4, Singler 0-1). Rebounds - Tigard 46 (Hartvickson 9), South Medford 49 (Gillingham 12). Assists - Tigard 10 (Barton 5), South Medford 8 (Wright 4). Fouled out - Mueller. Team fouls - Tigard 19, South Medford 18. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.