For a group of girls that went winless last season, the South Medford High girls are faring quite nicely in spring league basketball.

Coached by Tom Cole, the executive director of Kids Unlimited, the Panthers defeated Crater in their season opener last Thursday, then went 3-1 at a tournament in Sacramento, Calif., last weekend.

"It was fun to see these girls have smiles on their faces for the first time in a long time," Cole says.

Spring league basketball may lack the intensity and structure of the regular season, but it didn't take long for Cole's magic touch to surface with the South Medford girls.

His first order of business was to lure back two talented guards — sophomores Sheena Barkley and Brittney Newcomb — who had disappeared from the program. Barkley quit the South team midway through last season while Newcomb, who went through the South Medford feeder programs, surfaced at Crater last fall.

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Cole had coached both girls at the club level.

"I don't think there's a backcourt around here that's as tough as those two," Cole says. "They're special."

So is Newcomb's younger sister, Chelsea, whom Cole calls "probably one of the better eighth-graders in the state."

Cole, 35, has a gift for motivating and connecting with kids, something he's done at Kids Unlimited — the nonprofit, after-school home for Medford's less privileged — for more than a decade. But he also knows a little something about basketball. He guided a seventh-grade girls team to a 69-7 record last year, and his sixth-grade team hadn't lost a game in nearly a year until it finally succumbed at the tournament in Sacramento last weekend.

Cole coached both younger teams and the high school team at the tournament.

"It was a little sadistic for me, I suppose, but the tournament director accommodated us," Cole says. "I told him I was the parent and coach for 85 percent of our group and that they wouldn't get around unless I got them there."

The South Medford High team rarely scored as many as 50 points in a game last season; in Sacramento, it averaged in the 70s and scored 84 in one game.

Cole's secret? Focusing on fundamentals and getting the players in superb condition. He's been getting 40 to 60 girls in grades five through 11 to show up during workouts at the Kids Unlimited sparkling new gym on Riverside Avenue.

Cole puts them through the paces and has them work with medicine balls and training balls — basketballs that weigh about two pounds — to improve their strength.

"The expectations are the same across the board," Cole says. "The older girls have been great role models for the younger ones, and the younger ones are doing their best to impress. It's been fun."

The high school team was missing a post player for the tournament, but there weren't any tired legs.

"We didn't have a kid over 5-9, but we ran the floor and pressed the whole time," Cole says.

Cole would seem to be a good fit as South Medford's next coach, a position that is now vacant. He acknowledged Monday that he's applied. He would bring precisely what the program has lacked in recent years: guidance through patience, a little humor, and an atmosphere that's conducive to both hard work and having a good time.

"I'm supportive of seeing the program get better, whether I get the job or not," Cole says. "I'm committed to building opportunities for these girls."

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WHEN SOUTH MEDFORD junior point guard Michael Harthun showed up for his first practice with the Oregon Rebels AAU travel team at Thurston High in Springfield last week, he found himself matched up with Ben Voogd, the former Siuslaw High of Florence standout who is now a sophomore at Louisiana State.

Harthun held his own, and during one stretch dropped five straight 3-point baskets on the shorter Voogd.

"He couldn't get around him, though," said Harthun's father, Steve. "That kid (Voogd) is very quick and has great skills. It was a good battle."

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STEVE HARTHUN ANNOUNCED last week that his family — Michael included — will move to the Portland suburbs when school lets out in June. The older Harthun has been working in the Portland area for the past four years and briefly put his east Medford home on the market last summer before changing his mind and allowing Michael to play one last season with Duke-bound Kyle Singler. The "for sale" sign was stolen three times, possibly by an ardent Panthers hoop fan.

Medford real estate agent Sandy Lighthall plans on chaining the sign to a tree this time around.

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CRATER HIGH'S DISTANCE runners are riding high in the Class 5A ranks.

Senior Jake Keyser is ranked No. 1 in the 3,000 (8:51.85), junior Ryan Santana is No. 2 (8:55.43) and freshman Josh Elliot is No. 5 (9:03.91).

Elliot is also ranked fourth in the 1,500 (4:10.12) and leads all freshmen in both events.

Keyser's time in the 3,000 is second among all classifications.

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ST. MARY'S DISTANCE RUNNER Mike Seus will sign a letter-of-intent to attend Loyola Marymount University on a track scholarship today at 8 a.m. in the St. Mary's gym.

Seus broke the course record at the district meet in cross country last fall. Last spring, he finished second in the 3,000 meters and third in the 1,500 at the Class 2A state meet.

Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com