MUSTANG — Heading into the new year, Putnam City North made a statement for being a 6A contender by beating Bixby Saturday (Dec. 28), 68-42, to win the Bank 7 Mustang Holiday Classic.

With the win, North won its first Holiday Classic title after beating 4-time champion Edmond North in the semifinals Friday. The Lady Panthers’ win marked the first time that Edmond North or Mustang didn’t win the title since the tournament began in 2018.

“It feels like at least during this tournament every day we got better,” Putnam City North coach Logan Martin said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about as making sure we’re improving every day, every game.”

The Lady Panthers (13-1) blew the game open in the third quarter, going on a 16-3 run after coming out of the locker room, taking advantage of Bixby turnovers.

“I thought our defense was a problem for Bixby and that that was really nice to see that,” Martin said. “We were able to speed them up.”

The Lady Spartans (8-2) had 19 turnovers in the contest.

North shot 49 percent from the field for the game and 56.7 percent in the second half.

Senior Nykaiya Dillard was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Dillard scored 19 points on 9-of-18 shooting. She grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 4 assists in the win.

“She’s such a good athlete, such a good player, and when she brings the intensity and the energy that she has when she’s really locked in, she’s special on both ends of the floor and our girls just feed off that,” Martin said of Dillard.

Dillard averaged 17 points and six rebounds a game in the tournament.

Fellow senior Brandie Harrod added 17 points on five rebounds. Harrod hit 6-of-11 from the field and had five steals. Junior Kiana Gray scored 12 points with three rebounds and three steals. Gray was 4-of-9 from the field including 2-of-5 from the 3-point line.

Senior Nini Geretta was also named to the All-Tournament team. Geretta scored nine points and had five assists against Bixby.

Geretta averaged 10 points and four rebounds a game in the tournament. She was also named to the All-Tournament team as a freshman in 2021.

Martin was pleased with the balanced scoring, having three players in double figures and Geretta not far behind with nine points.

“This whole starting five and Raya (Shawareb) off the bench, they were solid,” Martin said. “The balanced scoring is awesome.”

Martin said the tournament format and the competition were a plus for her squad.

“The three games back-to-back-to-back,that’s basically the state run, and this tournament, they’re got quite a few teams that were state teams last year,” Martin said. “We always want to play the best to kind of measure where we’re at and we know that’s who we’re gonna see in March.”

UP NEXT

Putnam City North (13-1, 4-0 in district play) returns to action Jan. 7 on the road in Moore for a 6A-2 matchup. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.

The Lady Lions (3-4, 1-3) beat Edmond Santa Fe, 45-38 on Dec. 20.

Martin is undecided if the break is a good thing for a team that is playing so well.

“Always the conditioning is a little scary coming back. They’ll have about four days off and then we’ll get back at it after New Year’s, so I think it’ll be good,” Martin said. “They need a little time to kind of rest.”

Photographs courtesy of Richard T. Clifton

	1	2	3	4	F
Bixby (8-2)	10	6	7	19	42
Putnam City North (13-1)	15	9	28	16	68

BANK 7 HOLIDAY CLASSIC (GIRLS BRACKET)
AT MUSTANG HIGH SCHOOL EVENT CENTER

THURSDAY, Dec. 26, 2024
Edmond North 55, Newcastle 33
Putnam City North 71, Allen 47
Bixby 49, Alva 42
Mustang 57, Owasso 25

FRIDAY, Dec. 27, 2024
Allen 61, Newcastle 60 (Consolation Bracket)
Alva 45, Owasso 39 (Consolation Bracket)
Putnam City North 50, Edmond North 41 (Semifinal)
Bixby 68, Mustang 67 (3OT) (Semifinal)

SATURDAY, Dec. 28, 2024
Newcastle 61, Owasso 49 (Seventh Place Game)
Alva 49, Allen 34 (Consolation Game)
Edmond North 51, Mustang 41 (Third Place Game)
Putnam City North 68, Bixby 42 (Championship)

TOURNAMENT MVP: Nykaiya Dillard, Putnam City North

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Lakin Gaddy, Alva
Skylar Durley, Edmond North
My Alston, Mustang
Kate Wernli, Bixby
Nini Geretta, Putnam City North