Putnam City advances to semis

BY RYAN ABER
Staff Writer
raber@opubco.com

SKIATOOK— Putnam City is doing just fine in the post-Xavier Henry era.

Class 6A’s defending champions advanced to the semifinals Thursday with a 59-41 win over Jenks at Skiatook’s Gary Johnson Activity Center.

Putnam City (23-4) will face Edmond Santa Fe at 9 a.m. today at the Mabee Center.

The teams have met twice this season, splitting with the home teams winning both games. Santa Fe won the first meeting 56-52 on Jan. 19 while the Pirates beat the Wolves 60-54 in the regular-season finale Feb. 19.

“We had a much better understanding of them the second time,” Putnam City’s Dominique Raney said. “I thought that first game was a bit of a fluke. We have our game plan already set for that one. As long as we play our game, we’ll be fine.”

A win Friday would send Putnam City to the championship game for the seventh time in its last eight appearances.

“Every year we come out, we’re playing for a state title,” Raney said. “We’re not playing for anything else.”

The teams traded the lead on six consecutive trips down the floor early in the first period before Putnam City settled in and pulled away.

“We’re a team that prides ourselves on our defense and we weren’t executing on that end,” Raney said. “We were beating ourselves. We just started executing better and things got better for us.”