MUSTANG – Bethany led from start to finish en route to a 57-39 win over Putnam City North Thursday morning (Dec. 28) in the girls opening round of the Bank 7 Mustang Holiday Classic.

The Lady Bronchos, top-ranked in Class 4A, meet Class 6A Edmond North (6-0) Friday (Dec. 29) at 4 p.m. The Lady Huskies beat Class 2A’s Okemah, 73-33, in the first round Thursday.

Bethany (5-1) sprinted out to a 7-0 lead and it wasn’t until 2:34 in the first quarter when senior guard Nevaeh Sanchez 3-pointer hit a 3-pointer to get the Landy Panthers on the board.

Starting fast was something Lady Broncho coach Eric Sailer emphasized to his team despite the 9 a.m. start.

“You know, it’s just hard to kind of generate that when you’re just rolling out of bed and getting up early.”

North (7-2) tightened the game in the second quarter but Bethany pulled away behind 26 points and 13 rebounds from senior forward and Oklahoma commit Zya Vann. Her point total was just one shy of the tournament record for points in a game (27), set by Edmond North’s Laci Steele in 2022.

“She brings a toughness to the game of basketball for our program,” Sailer said of Vann.

Bethany’s defense and using tempo helped the Lady Bronchos stretch the lead, something Sailer focused on during halftime against the undersized North squad.

“And then we wanted to push the ball, continue to push the ball in transition and look for our shots.”

Vann had three assists as did junior Keziah Lofton, another Oklahoma commit. Bethany’s crisp passing got the offense going, especially in transition.

“When we’re at our best, the ball is moving and the ball is moving quickly,” Sailer said. “These girls have played together for a long time and they understand the game. Sometimes they sacrifice individual stats for the betterment of the team.”

Lofton finished with nine points. Her 16 rebounds set a new tournament record for rebounds in a game, breaking the record of 15 set by Edmond North’s Graycen Holden in 2019.

Junior forward Kayten Donley added 13 points and nine rebounds.

For North head coach Logan Martin, the loss was a missed opportunity after the Lady Panthers got off to a good start in district play and won the Lawson tournament in Norman. Martin said the difference was not grabbing rebounds. Bethany out-rebounded North 58-36.

“We talked a lot about boxing out being a huge priority key to the game for us.” Martin said. “And then getting out and running, since we’re small, try to play the fast game.”

North’s tempo gave Bethany issues at times and that is Martin’s gameplan.

“That’s kind of been our go-to is the press and creating chaos for teams and just trying to speed people up.”

Lady Panther sophomore guard Nini Geretta led the team with 10 points and two rebounds.

“She does a real good job of maintaining and controlling the game for us. She plays a lot bigger, averages about three and a half steals a game.” Martin said of Geretta, “I felt like she kind of kept us in it when we were going crazy.”

Fellow sophomore guard Tehlia Kutsoati added eight points and six rebounds.

UP NEXT: Bethany faces the 6A state champion in Edmond North and Sailer expects a challenge and that’s something he welcomes, scheduling tougher opponents in non-conference play.

“One thing that we wanted to do this year is we wanted to make sure that we were pushing ourselves in our tournament with our schedule,” Sailer said. “We are definitely stretching our programs, stretching our challenge for our girls this year.”

North will meet 2A No. 6 Okemah. The Lady Panthers are 6-2.

Martin also likes the challenge of this tournament’s challenging field.

“I love seeing the top teams early and it helps prepare us for playoffs. We always talk about we want to play the best, see where we’re at and know where we need to get better.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City North	3	10	17	9	39
Bethany	14	12	20	11	57