Tornado Girls fall in tourney final
BY Mail Tribune Staff
NAPA, Calif. — Mission San Jose used a key defensive adjustment to seize the momentum in the second quarter and held off North Medford late for a 40-28 victory in the championship game of the Wine Valley Tournament on Saturday.
The Black Tornado (3-2), which earned two wins to advance to the tourney final, rallied to within six points in the third quarter but couldn’t get over the hump as its three-game winning streak came to an end.
“They came out and changed defenses and kind of changed the tempo of things,” North Medford head coach Aaron Rayburn said. “They did a good job slowing the game down and that kind of changed the momentum.”
Only three players scored for the Black Tornado, as Jane Ersepke led the way with 12 points and Talia Baker and Savannah Weaver added eight points apiece.
North’s Talia Baker held Mission San Jose’s top scorer, tournament MVP Starla Murillo, to eight points, but Isha Nambisan picked up the slack by finishing with 17 points as the Warriors (6-0) remained undefeated.
Ersepke and Baker both earned all-tournament honors for North, which is scheduled to play a nonleague game against Roosevelt in Eugene on Thursday.
MISSION SAN JOSE (40): Wu 3, Nair 9, Zhu 3, Nambisan 17, Murillo 8, Leung 0, Wakayama 0, Chauhan 0, Garcia 0. Totals: 14 7-11 40.
NORTH MEDFORD (28): Ersepke 12, Baker 8, Weaver 8, Fish 0, Kay. Seney 0, Kar. Seney 0, Christiansen 0, Thurman 0, Drysdale 0. Totals: 11 3-8 28.
Mission San Jose 10 16 7 7— 40
North Medford 11 5 9 3— 28
3-point goals — Mission San Jose 5 (Wu 1, Nair 1, Zhu 1, Nambisan 2), North Medford 3 (Ersepke 1, Weaver 2).
DOUGLAS 47, PHOENIX 40: At Phoenix, Maggie Carrillo had 17 points, three assists and two steals for Phoenix, but Douglas was too much for the Pirates on the glass with a 46-22 rebounding advantage.
Delani Parent chipped in nine points and three steals for the Pirates (3-4), who came away with 15 steals as a team and committed just 12 turnovers to the Trojans’ 20.
DOUGLAS (47): Parson 8, Hall 15, Phillips 6, Snuka-Polamalu 8, Gillis 0, Davis 0, Thorp 1, Dickover 9. Totals: 18 8-26 47.
PHOENIX (40): Carrillo 17, Villasenor 7, Christensen 2, Skaff 0, Bolstad 0, Tellez 0, Flores 0, Badillo 5, Parent 9. Totals: 16 3-12 40.
Douglas 11 10 16 10— 47
Phoenix 13 8 10 9— 40
3-point goals — Douglas 3 (Parson 1, Hall 2), Phoenix 5 (Carrilo 3, Villasenor 1, Badillo 1); Fouled out — Bolstad; Technical foul — Douglas coach.
JV result — Douglas won.
FALL RIVER 57, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 32: At Grants Pass, senior forward Mallory Meilicke scored 11 points to pace Cascade Christian, but the Challengers fell behind 32-17 at the half and could not recover in the final day of the Evergreen Tournament at Hidden Valley High School.
Emily Stephens added nine points and Abigail Alexander seven for the Challengers (1-4), who travel to face Mazama on Monday.
CASCADE CHRISTIAN (32): Joseph 0, Quast 0, Alexander 7, Meilicke 11, Clark 0, Hagloch 5, Sweem 0, Stephens 9, Hensley 0. Totals: 12 6-8 32.
FALL RIVER (57): Gallion 0, Easley 2, Bucher 5, Marham 11, Pevehouse 2, Osborne 15, Leighto 15, Garcia 5, Venegas 2.
Cascade Christian 9 8 8 7— 32
Fall River 13 19 12 14— 57
3-point goals — Cascade Christian 2 (Alexander 1, Meilicke 1).
ROGUE RIVER 40, MYRTLE POINT 35: At Rogue River, Madison McKown scored 12 points and the Chieftains pitched a shutout in the opening quarter en route to their third win in a row.
Rogue River (5-3) outscored Myrtle Point 8-0 in the first quarter and led 19-8 at the half before surviving a rough stretch at the free throw line for the home victory.
Alyssa Sizemore added nine points and Destiny Rangel eight for Rogue River.
Myrtle Point (4-4) was led by Nikki Leep, who scored 12 points.
MYRTLE POINTS (35): Leep 12, Wheeler 5, Nicholson 6, Weekly 6, Smith 6, Hernandez 0, Reynolds 0, Brown 0, Grove 0. Totals: 15 4-6 35.
ROGUE RIVER (40): McKown 12, Sizemore 9, Rangel 8, Langfield 5, Howard 6, Bless 0, Earnest 0, Spaeth 0. Totals: 17 6-18 40.
Myrtle Point0 8 6 21— 35
Rogue River 8 11 10 11— 40
3-point goals — Myrtle Point 1 (Wheeler 1); Fouled out — Weekly.
JV result — Myrtle Point won.
ROGUE VALLEY ADVENTIST 46, PARADISE ADVENTIST ACADEMY (Calif.) 15: Savannah Zamora generated 14 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists for undefeated host Rogue Valley Adventist.
Madelyn Bennett paced the Red Tail Hawks (4-0) with 15 points and three steals while Zoe Belovitch produced eight points, five assists, four boards and three steals.
