The girls basketball team is headed to the Class 6A tournament.

The Panthers beat Wichita East 62-19 Friday night in the sub-state final. 

In the second quarter, sophomore Destiny Smith was on fire with four straight three-pointers. 

“It felt great. There’s no words to really describe it. My teammates were hitting me, I felt it, and then they had confidence in me that I could make the shot,” Smith said. 

Smith’s hot hand sparked Derby’s game and allowed them to go on a 33-4 run, ending the first half with a 37-6 lead.

“She’s like a microwave, she can go in the game and heat up real quick, and that changes how the defense plays everybody else. When somebody gets hot, it opens up opportunities for other people on the team. It was a good night all the way around for everybody on the team,” coach Dan Harrison said. 

Smith finished with six three-pointers. 

“It was awesome just to see her have a game like that. We knew it was coming, her time is coming. And I tell everybody we just have so many weapons this year. Like you take away one of us, shut down one of us, we have somebody else who is going to score and have a night, so that’s kind of what we had happen tonight. They sped us up in the beginning, but we were able to calm down and play us,” junior Addy Brown said. 

State has been the goal all season.

“I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m ready. I’m a little bit of everything. This is my third time going to state. I’ve come up short two years in a row. I’m ready to get this ring. I think we all are. We are going to work for it. We have three or four days to prepare for this next game, and we can’t take a game for granted,” Brown said. 

Harrison agreed that the job is not finished, and they will put their focus on preparing for state. 

“We are riding a wave of confidence. Now it’s just a matter of putting the work in these next few days and getting ready for it,” Harrison said.