Jeff Harrison
The Edmond North girls didn’t look quite as flashy as they did during Thursday night, but they were good enough to nail down Ponca City during Saturday’s Class 6A East Regional Championship.
The No. 18-ranked Lady Wildcats pulled within three points with less than three minutes to play, but that’s when Elizabeth Donohoe took over. The sophomore standout scored nine points in the fourth quarter, helping the No. 5 Lady Huskies escape with a 44-39 win Saturday afternoon at the Siberian Gym.
“I thought we finally settled down and found better spots to pick and choose where to get her the ball,” North coach Kevin Korstjens said. “We just needed to be more patient when to get her the ball, and then she made a couple of great shots.”
Donohoe led all scorers with 22 points, while also pulling down eight rebounds and grabbing four steals in the win. TaNita Dewberry finished with nine points and nine rebounds, while Caroline Collins added five for the Lady Huskies.
After trailing by double-digits for much of the first half, the Ponca City girls got their offense rolling in the second half. Micah Havens scored 11 points in the second half and helped the Lady Wildcats stay within striking distance for much of the fourth quarter.
“They got several offensive putbacks, those are just things you can’t do in the playoffs especially against a good team like Ponca City,” Korstjens said.
Donohoe answered with a couple of baskets in the paint, and TaNita Dewberry iced the win with a key steal and three free throws in the final minute of the game.
“We just kind of let up defensively a bit, Coach kind of got onto us and we just got refocused and just played,” Donohoe said.
The Lady Huskies struggled to get much going offensively in the first half, but managed to stay on top. Ponca City slowly chipped away at the deficit and pulled within two early in the second quarter, but the Lady Huskies were able to hang on for a 23-15 lead at the halftime.
Ponca City then outscored the Lady Huskies 11-7 in the third quarter, and made it a 30-26 game heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
Havens led Ponca City with 17 points, while Amber Kremeier and Emily Berwaldt each tallied eight apiece.
North will head to the area tournament where they will take on the winner of the Jenks/Tulsa Memorial game.
