Holly Santman is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Perry High School for AZPreps365.com.

GILBERT — Celebratory cheers erupted from Perry’s locker room Thursday night after its dominating win over Highland. The Pumas defeated the Hawks 74-39 to advance to the 6A Conference playoffs. 

The game was, at first, more competitive than the final score indicates, with Perry only owning a small lead over the Hawks at the end of the first half.

Perry (12-6) opened the 6A Conference play-in game strong on both sides of the ball, scoring six straight points and pressuring their opponent on defense with a full-court press.

Highland (8-10) consistently broke Perry’s suffocating press, working the ball up the court to get in position to score. The No. 22 Hawks were able to set up their offense and execute plays to keep up with the No. 11 Pumas early, even taking a brief lead halfway through the first quarter.

“We got to make them play outside their athleticism,” Perry coach Andrew Curtis said. “They were clearly taking their time at times and we weren't pressuring them.”

Khamil Pierre, Perry junior guard and small forward, was active on offense, helping extend the Pumas lead and send them to the Conference playoffs. (Holly Santman/AZPreps365)

Despite not pressuring as much on defense, the Puma offense had momentum and Perry retook the lead with the help of back-to-back three pointers from senior Leah Davis and junior Jayla Cal. 

Highland only scored two points in the first five minutes of the second quarter but cut Perry's lead to six with the help of a late six-point scoring run before halftime.

“(Our) strategy definitely was just seeing the floor and spacing out the floor,” Highland coach Cassandra Damyanovich said. “Perry does a really good job of ball pressure and trapping.”

The Pumas ran a full-court press throughout the entirety of the game, but increased the pressure on Highland in the second half. The press forced the Hawks into mistakes and turnovers, leading to a multitude of points scored on fast breaks at the start of the third quarter.

Damyanovich said she thought her team handled the pressure from the Pumas well in the first half but were not able to keep up in the second.

Despite only leading by six to start the half, the Pumas controlled all aspects of the game to start the third quarter. Although the Hawks struck first to cut the lead to four, Perry scored 11 unanswered points within the first two minutes of the half.

“The (girls) kept getting comfortable there, kept getting what they wanted,” Curtis said. “That’s what we talked about in the scout, not letting (Highland) do what they wanted to do.”

The Puma offense was dominant in the second half, keeping possession for the majority of the last two quarters.

“I thought (senior guard) Kira (Patel) really did a good job in the second half of getting up and pressuring everybody else,” Curtis said. “She got some really good steals and kind of got us going.”

Curtis said the turning point in the game was adjusting the defense and gaining more control over Highland’s movement on offense after halftime. 

Perry’s punishing defensive strategy held the Hawks to just eight points in the third quarter and only four points in the fourth.

Just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Pumas took a 30-point lead, prompting a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Perry (12-6) scored a total of 41 points in the second half, facilitated in part by Khamil Pierre, junior forward and guard, who scored over 15 points in the game.

“Our last few games have been really good,” Pierre said. “We'd been playing together as a team, so I think we knew if we just played hard, we would win.”

Damyanovich said that while her team could not handle the second-half pressure tonight, there is still room to improve.

“You have a young team here,” she said. “I think they did an amazing job of learning and growing this year. So hopefully next year we can get a little further.”

After their celebration, the Pumas will get to work preparing for teams they may face in the first round of the playoffs. Curtis said the key for the upcoming games will be consistency.

“It’s just going to keep getting harder,” Pierre said. “So we just have to stay together and just keep working and want it more than the other teams.”

The playoff bracket will be announced over the weekend and the first round of playoff games for the 6A conference begins Wednesday.