MUSKOGEE, OKLA. ? Samantha Pete had quite a night for the Haskell Indian Nations University women’s basketball team.

In fact, it would be tough to do better.

Pete scored 21 points in the Fightin’ Indians’ 64-38 victory over Philander Smith College on Friday night at the Bacone Thanksgiving Classic, shooting 8-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

Oh yeah, she also was 3-for-3 from three-point range.

“She was one of those things that we really have to focus on,” Haskell coach Phil Homeratha said, “because we gotta get the ball to her early in the game.”

Haskell had no trouble with Philander Smith, an NAIA foe from Little Rock, Ark., that Homeratha said he didn’t know much about.

“I was scared, and I shouldn’t have been, I guess,” he said.

Guess not, as Haskell held the Panthers to just eight first-half points.

“We played good defense in the first half, and combined with the full-court pressure we played a pretty good zone and they just didn’t shoot very well,” Homeratha said. “The big thing is that we got to play all of our kids.”

Haskell (5-3) will play host Bacone at 6 tonight. Bacone beat the Indians, 72-68, on Nov. 5 in Lawrence.

“It should be a good game,” Homeratha said.