Redmond’s Jaiden Nickel (5) shoots over Mazama defenders during the game in the Central Oregon Tip-Off Classic tournament on Thursday at Crook County High School.

The state basketball tournament is a mixed bag. When a team wins in the eight-team tournament, it’s on top of the world, while a loss puts a team down in the dumps. And the reality is, only one team reaches the end without experiencing the lows of losing.

And that’s what the Redmond girls basketball team experienced a year ago.

The Panthers seemingly burst onto the scene out of nowhere last year, winning the Intermountain Conference outright and advancing to the Class 5A state semifinals.

But the Panthers saw first-hand how quickly tides can turn at the state tournament, having their season end with two straight losses to Silverton and South Albany.

The fifth-place trophy was nice, but this season, Redmond wants more.

“It just made us hungry,” said Redmond coach Alex Carlson. “You get to the end of the year and you get to the state tournament and it is such a great atmosphere and you just want to be there. When you get a win and experience some adversity, the type of kids that we have, they walked out of there saying, ‘This is where I want to be and I don’t want to leave feeling like this.’”

“There was a huge fire lit under us after those games,” said junior guard Mylaena Norton.

Redmond started the season off with a dominant 71-12 win over Mazama at the Central Oregon Tip-Off Classic at Crook County High on Thursday night. Ten different players scored for the Panthers in the lopsided win, with senior guard Dylan Cheney leading the way with 14 points. Four players — Norton, junior guard Neveah Villa, sophomore center Freya Snow and senior guard Maisen Porter — finished with nine points.

“It was super fun,” Cheney said. “We haven’t played games in a while, obviously we have been practicing, but it was really good to get back to playing games.”

The Panthers are no longer the unknown commodity they were a year ago. They are viewed as one of the handful of contending teams to make a return trip to the 5A state tournament at Linfield College and perhaps be the final team standing.

“There is more pressure now because we know we are the big dogs now, we aren’t the underdogs that we were last year,” Cheney said. “But we have that trust with one another and we know that we can do big things.”

Redmond’s entire starting five from last season returns. The Panthers are loaded at the guard position with Norton, Cheney and senior Azlynn Ure. Snow and senior Aspen Morris both provide a capable presence down in the paint. And just like a year ago, the Panthers have a deep and experienced team with Porter and senior guard Rylee Morris coming off the bench.

With so much returning, Carlson, in his second year leading the program, believes his players are more athletic and are more comfortable in his system.

“We were good last year,” Carlson said. “But we want to be better. I think a lot of the girls have taken it upon themselves to do those things that hopefully take their game to the next level, which in turn takes our team’s game to the next level.”

Will the Panthers reach that next level? Well, the next couple of weeks will certainly provide some insight. The nonleague schedule will feature several tests against some of the top teams in the state.

Friday evening (after The Bulletin’s print deadline) Redmond will take on Crater, last year’s 5A state runner-up and top team in the OSAAtoday Coaches Poll, at the Central Oregon Tip-Off. Next Saturday, Redmond will host Silverton, the 2023 5A state champion.

But the gauntlet doesn’t stop there. On Dec. 16, the Panthers will travel to take on last year’s 6A champion South Medford and will host last year’s 4A champion Henley in early January. For those keeping score, Redmond will take on the reigning 4A, 5A and 6A state champions before starting the IMC schedule on Jan. 23.

“We know we are going to have a tough preseason,” Cheney said. “But we are preparing ourselves for state. We have these hard games now to get our minds right and come together so we are ready for these big games down the road.”