The Derby girls basketball team handled business on the first night of the Class 6A tournament.

The 60-44 win over the Blue Valley North Mustangs on Wednesday night at Koch Arena started off slow, though.

“In a way I think I started off a little scared, a little timid,” sophomore Sydney Nilles said. “… But then after tipoff, trying to get my confidence back saying, ‘it’s just another game.’”

Junior Kennedy Brown put up the first points for Derby at the 5:15 mark of the first quarter. By the end of the period, junior Aliyah Myers and Brown both had six points for the 12-6 lead.

Nilles added five of the seven points in the second quarter, but the Panthers still only had a single-digit lead at 19-15 heading into the halftime.

“I probably started hitting some shots I thought I couldn’t do, dribble a little better. But I mean my goal was just to get everyone else to score and they did. You can always do better,” Nilles said.

Junior Tor’e Alford finally made her presence known in the second half. She had started the game 0 for 3 from three-point range.

Alford first hit a three-pointer at the 3:09 mark in the third and made four more.

“We told them we need to keep shooting, they’re going to fall, they’re going to start falling. We got to have that confidence that they’re going to go in… We just came out and we made the shots,” Nilles said.

Four players scored in double digits — Nilles, Myers, Alford and Brown scored between 12-18 points. Brown had a team-high 18 points.

In Friday’s semifinals the Panthers see a familiar opponent in the Wichita South Titans. The Panthers beat South at Koch Arena in January during the City League vs. AVCTL challenge.

“I feel like they’re going to bring their all,” Nilles said. “They’re going to go full throttle, and I’m sure they know us piece by piece by now. It’s going to be a really good game, it’s going to be a tough game, it’s not going to be easy. I think if we come out with our A-game like last time, we should be good.”