NOBLE – Putnam City West advanced to the state tournament, holding off a fourth quarter surge from sister school and rival Putnam City North, 62-52, Thursday (Feb. 29) and winning the Class 6A West Area Tournament.

Neither team shot the ball well early in the game, but West (24-1) had a 28-20 lead at halftime.

North coach Logan Martin thought her team played “out of character” in the first half.

“We had shooters turning down shots and kind of playing a little panicky,” Martin said.

The Lady Patriots went on a 17-3 run in the third quarter with six points from sophomore Jayla Constant to take a 45-20 lead with 3:00 left in the third quarter.

North (20-6) roared back in the final quarter, forcing West turnovers by pressing the Lady Patriots in the back court and turning the turnovers into points. Sophomore Tehlia Kutsoati cut the West lead to seven points (50-43) by hitting 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 3:07 left in the game.

“We’ve talked about our defense, whether we’re pressuring or trying to contain the drive that we can still play with that intensity,” Martin said. “(Cutting the 20-point West lead was) pretty impressive and that’s got to be our our focus going forward is what we’re capable of when we’re all playing hard.”

The Lady Panthers wouldn’t get any closer than that as West took advantage of bonus free throws and North couldn’t hit enough shots from the field.

“Our defense turned up a little bit. So the more stops we get, we’re able to get down in transition and get wide open shots,” Putnam City West coach Ja’Ron Jefferson said of his team’s final push.

Constant led West 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She also grabbed four rebounds and collected three steals.

Jefferson pointed out that Constant was playing through an illness. Sophomore Da’Nae Jefferson added 16 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Shamar Bert finished with 11 points and sophomore Kiana Gray scored 10 points.

Junior Jazzlin Brown added seven points and grabbed 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive end.

Ja’Ron Jefferson also singled out Da’Nae Jefferson and Brown for their contributions while star senior forward Caya Smith was out.

For North, Junior Nykaiya Dillard scored 11 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter. Junior Nini Geretta scored nine points. Senior Nevaeh Sanchez and freshman Demy Howard each added seven points. Kutsoati scored all six of her points in the final period.

Martin noted that Dillard rebounded after being held to four points in the first half.

“I was really proud of how she responded and competed and she really kind of got her offense and defense going a little bit,” Martin said.

UP NEXT: Putnam City West advances to the state tournament which begins March 6.

Jefferson thinks the time off will help his team.

“It really helps us so we can be fully 100 percent when it’s time to go next week,” Jefferson said.

Putnam City North has another chance to qualify for state. The Lady Panthers meet Yukon Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Shawnee.

Martin noted that her team “did its job early,” by winning a regional title last week.

“It gave us the chance to drop this one and still come back Saturday,” Martin said. “We don’t get to pout about it. We got to move right on to the next game and get ready for Saturday.”

TEAM	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City North	7	13	8	24	52
Putnam City West	12	16	20	14	62