WARR ACRES -- The Ponca City Wildcats got behind early and lost an Oklahoma Big 7 basketball game to Putnam City Tuesday night.

The cold shooting Wildcats trailed 19-7 after one quarter and then only scored seven points in the second quarter to trail 33-14 at the half. Ponca City Coach Ivan McFarlin changed his defensive stategy in the second quarter employing a zone defense that appeared to slow down the hard charging Pirates of Putnam City.

Offensively, the Wildcats scored only three baskets from the field in the first half, a pair of threes and a two-point shot.

Things went better in the second half, but still Ponca City was able to score only 12 points in both the third and fourth quarters. The Wildcats did outscore Putnam City 12-6 in the fourth period and each team scored 24 points in the second half.

No Wildcat reached double figures in scoring.

Next for the 3-9 Wildcats will be Midwest City, another tough conference opponent. The game will be at Po-Hi’s Robson Field House and will begin at about 7:45 p.m.