MCMINNVILLE — Physically exhausted from a 28-game season and emotionally drained from coming so close to playing for a state title, the Panthers mounted one final push to try to place higher at the state tournament than ever before.

But No. 2 Silverton, last year’s state champions, had just a few ounces of energy left to defeat No. 4 Redmond 38-33 for third place on Saturday. For the second year in a row, Redmond finished fifth in the Class 5A girls basketball state tournament at Linfield University.

Junior Naveah Villa led the Panthers with eight points, sophomore Freya Snow finished with seven points and eight rebounds, and senior Aspen Morris had seven rebounds and two blocks. Senior Azlynn Ure added seven points, four assists and four steals.

“The girls competed like crazy,” said Redmond coach Alex Carlson. “It was a great game against a great team. It would have been nice to get this one because they deserve it. Especially for these seniors. That group is so special.”

The Panthers (21-7) ran out of gas, only scoring four points in the fourth quarter, but the once middling program has been injected with juice that could very well keep the Panthers in contention at the state tournament for years to come.

This year’s seniors and the 2024 team forged a path not taken by Redmond teams of the past. Those squads left behind something just as valuable as a bunch of wins, a pair of Intermountain Conference titles and two state trophies after back-to-back semifinal appearances.

“Our youth program is so good right now,” Carlson said. “There are so many middle school and grade school girls that look up to these players and know what they can accomplish now and are that much more excited to play basketball now.”

“It is super special,” Morris added. “I’m glad that we can be role models for the younger generation.”

“They make us feel like we are their super heroes,” added senior Dylan Cheney. “It feels so good to leave that kind of legacy behind.”

The five seniors on the team — Cheney, Aspen Morris, Rylee Morris, Azlynn Ure and Maisen Porter — spent their first two years of high school basketball not knowing what the postseason felt like.

When the Panthers beat Ridgeview in come-from-behind fashion in February 2023 to snap an eight-game losing streak to their crosstown rivals, it felt as big as any win before.

Back then, the goals of beating some of the IMC teams that had made the state playoffs seemed daunting, but now seem insignificant compared to what Redmond has accomplished in recent years.

“Our freshman and sophomore years, we came in with what we thought were big goals — beating Ridgeview, beating Mountain View,” Ure said. “And now, those were just small goals on the way to the playoffs. We are bigger now. We accomplished some of them, we came up short on some of them. But it has been a really exciting journey.”

The senior group raised the bar for the program and took it places never before seen with back-to-back trips to the state semifinals. Now it will be up to those following them to make the next step.

“I’m excited to see what the program can do in the future,” Ure said. “I think they can do really great things. I think our group is passionate about basketball and about each other. We worked so hard for each other and that is why I think we were able to go so far.”