Lady Wolves tough out win against Putnam City
EDMOND — The Edmond Santa Fe girl’s basketball team breathed a sigh of
relief when Alex Richardson knocked down a crucial basket with nine
seconds remaining in the game, as the Lady Wolves held on for a 44-41 win
over Putnam City at home on Friday night.
“We were starting to gel, and then Christmas break came, so it was like
we were starting over tonight,” said Santa Fe head coach Paul Bass. “Alex had a big game for us tonight, but I think we were a little rusty.”
The Lady Wolves led 23-16 at halftime, and withstood a strong rally by
PC in the third period, which saw the Lady Pirates crawl to within
23-21 early in the quarter.
But back-to-back baskets by Cierra Thomas and Richardson, gave the Lady
Wolves a 34-27 lead going into the fourth.
Still the Lady Wolves had to withstand another rally, after PC’s Alyssa
Hankins got a steal and a layup, she knocked down a pair of free throws
with 1:00 remaining in the contest to pull the Lady Pirates to within
42-41.
PC then forced a jump ball which gave them the ball back, but a
traveling call gave the Lady Wolves the ball back with 21.6 seconds left.
That’s when Santa Fe went to Richardson, who calmly sank a turnaround
jumper to push the lead to three.
“We knew they were going to have to shoot a three pointer to tie it,”
said Bass. “Defense is what we do best, so we tried to make it hard on
them, and we didn’t give them any easy looks.”
PC managed to get a three pointer off at the buzzer, but it missed
badly, securing the win for the Lady Wolves.
Richardson led the Lady Wolves with 21 points, while Chandell Norman
scored 12 points, Thomas followed with nine points.
“One of the areas where I think that we are actually better than last
year’s team which went to the state finals, is three point shooting,”
said Bass.
Santa Fe will compete in the Clinton Tournament this weekend.
Putnam City 80, Santa Fe 54 (boys)
When the Santa Fe boy’s basketball team hosted Putnam City on Friday
night, the Wolves matched up pretty well at about four positions. Then
there was the X-factor, better known as sophomore Xavier Henry, who led
the Pirates to an 80-54 win.
Henry drained a three pointer just seven seconds into the contest, and
scored 11 of PC’s first 18 points, as they jumped out to an 18-13 lead
at the end of the first period.
Ross Morrisett kept the Wolves in the game early knocking down a couple
of shots just inside of the three point line, and Carlton Dean added a
three pointer with 1:48 left in the period to make it 16-13, but Henry
took over from there.
The sophomore sensation scored seven straight points for the defending
state champions in the second quarter, as the lead grew to 10 points.
But the Wolves didn’t give in.
Joey Atkinson converted a three-point play, then Michael Spinner
drained a three from the top of the key to make it 31-21 with 2:56 left in
the first half.
The Pirates ended up taking a 42-27 lead into the break.
PC pushed its lead up to 21 points late in the third, but Victor Seidel
scored two straight buckets in the paint, to get the Wolves within
58-41 at the end of the third.
Then Kichang Lee hit a three pointer to start the fourth period, but it
was just too much Henry down the stretch, as PC outscored the Wolves
22-10 in the final stanza.
Henry had a game-high 36 points for the Pirates.
Morrisett led the Wolves with 14 points, while Atkinson also finished
in double-figures with 12.
The Wolves will return to the hardwood this weekend when it plays in
the McGuinness tournament.
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