SHAWNEE — Putnam City North is headed back to the 6A state tournament to defend their title after a 62-36 win over Broken Arrow to win the East Area 1 championship Thursday (March 5).

The win marked the third time that the Panthers beat the Tigers, as both teams competed in District 6A-3 during the regular season.

The Tigers took the first lead of the game when BA junior Audrey Dow knocked a North pass into the backcourt. She ran down the ball, drove the baseline and put up a reverse layup that appeared to hit the top of the backboard. It rattled in and Dow was fouled. After the free throw, Broken had a 3-0 lead.

North scored the next 12 points in the contest, as senior Da’Nae Jefferson drilled a top-of-the-key 3-pointer.

Jefferson, who led North scoring the first time the two teams met, scored a game-high 19 points.

By the end of the first quarter, the Panthers’ lead was double-digits. The Panther defense held the Tigers to single-digit scoring in the second and third quarters.

Jefferson hit three treys. She also grabbed seven rebounds.

Fellow senior Kiana Gray added 11 points with two 3-pointers. Gray had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Senior Jayla Constant, who was the leading scorer in the second game the two teams played in the regular season, scored seven points, all in the first half. Constant hit a first-quarter trey as North built the lead.

Junior Demy Howard also scored seven points. Howard collected three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Senior Makiya Moore also scored seven points. Moore had four rebounds.

TIP-INS

• Senior Tehlia Kutsoati had three steals and two assists.
• North shot 56 percent from the field.
• The Panthers grabbed 29 rebounds and had 11 steals.
• North was 7-of-19 from the free throw line (68 percent).
• Dow led Broken Arrow with 11 points.

UP NEXT

The Panthers (27-1) are three wins away from back-to-back 6A state titles.

The Panthers will play the Area 4 runner-up next Wednesday (March 11). Deer Creek (14-11) and Edmond North (24-4) will play for that spot Saturday (March 7) at 3:30 p.m. at Blanchard.

Deer Creek earned a 63-20 win over Putnam City West Thursday and Edmond North fell to Mustang, 39-35.

North has now won 20 straight games.

	1	2	3	4	F
Broken Arrow (17-8)	10	7	9	10	36
Putnam City North (27-1)	25	11	12	14	62