Document text
South gains split in SOC showdowns Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman Beth Mueller of South Medford, left, passes under pressure from Roseburg's Lindsey Heard. Roseburg girls find their rhythm and post a crucial conference victory, giving them a 2-game lead in the race for second place By TED BURNHAM for the Mail Tribune Now the South Medford girls basketball team knows what Ashland felt like last Friday. After trailing for nearly three quarters, Roseburg used a 9-0 scoring run to pull ahead of South Medford, then put the Panthers in foul trouble and nailed timely free throws to win, 49-47, Tuesday night at South Medford High School. Just as South struggled early but found its stride to beat Ashland last week, the Indians started weakly but defended well as the game wore on. The Roseburg offense, barely able to score in the first quarter, became potent late in the contest, shooting better than 50 percent and hitting 7 of 11 free throws in the final 10 minutes. The victory puts the Indians at 9-1 in Southern Oregon Conference play, second behind unbeaten Crater. South falls to 7-3, third in the SOC. Three Indian players scored in the double digits, but it was sophomore Katie Stephens, playing in her first contest of the year, who proved to be the difference. During a 20-second span in the game's last minute, the diminutive guard drew two fouls on South's Whitney Grant and went 4-for-4 from the line. "Those were big free throws for her," Roseburg head coach Bob Feasel said, adding that Stephens is still recovering from a shoulder injury and has barely practiced shooting at all lately. Starting senior Lindsey Heard and junior post Kristen Bitter, who came in the second quarter, each scored 11 points for Roseburg. Senior post Shannon Burmeister had 11 and junior guard Micaela Williams came off the bench to chip in eight for the Indians. South junior Kirsten Gillingham led all scorers with 17 points, while Grant had 13 points and freshman starter Katie Singler added seven. South Medford head coach Andrea Jaime said the Panthers are down but not out. "I was really pleased with our effort," Jaime said. "Had we not had those four minutes when we didn't score, we would have won." Indeed, South led by as much as nine in the first half and was leading, 35-29, more than five minutes into the second half. Roseburg's Bitter was fouled and hit one of her free throws to start the Indians' 9-0 run, which extended into the fourth quarter. Bitter scored five points in the final 2:30 of the third quarter and Heard hit a basket to put Roseburg up, 38-35, with 6:55 remaining. More baskets by Heard and Bitter helped the Indians go up 45-40 with 80 seconds remaining. With 1:03 on the clock, Heard fouled Gillingham, who hit two free throws to bring South within three. Grant fouled Stephens seconds later, and the sophomore hit her first two free throws. Singler hit a basket to bring the Panthers to within three points again, but Stephens drew the foul, hit two more free throws and put the Indians ahead, 49-44, with 20 seconds remaining. A Natasha Wright free throw and a Beth Mueller basket at the buzzer were not enough for South. "We weren't finishing," Jaime said. "They defended us well ... We have got to get a little more out of a couple more people." South, which shot better than 40 percent in the first half, went just 8-for-29 (27 percent) in the second half. Feasel said the Indians' depth helped. Seven Roseburg girls scored, compared to five for South. "We do go 10 players deep," Feasel said. "And we got in a cycle where we had kids come in (off the bench) and step up and defend." He also said the offense broke through in the second half. In the final quarter, Heard hit all three of her shots and the team made 4 of 7. "We finally got the ball in the center," he said. "We managed to get it to Lindsey Heard and Burmeister and Bitter." Down by nine early on, Bitter said the Indians never wavered in their intentions. "I think that we saw the way we were playing in the beginning and we knew we had to step it up," Bitter said. "We did that on defense. They have some people who can really score." South plays host to Eagle Point (2-8 SOC) on Friday, while Roseburg plays host to Grants Pass (4-5 SOC). ROSEBURG (49) - Grady 0, Shepherd 3, Williams 8, Stephens 4, Bartholomew 0, Heard 11, Burmeister 10, Lint 2, Bitter 11. Totals: 17 15-23 49. SOUTH MEDFORD (47) - Wright 5, Grant 13, Ingram 0, Gillingham 17, Silva 0, Mueller 5, Singler 7. Totals: 18 9-13 47. Roseburg ............................................... 6 17 13 13 - 49 South Medford....................................... 13 13 9 12 - 47 3-point goals - Roseburg 0, South Medford 2 (Grant 1, Singler 1). JV score - Roseburg 49, South Medford 32. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.