Lady Sandites Win Carl Albert Titan Classic, Wilson Named MVP

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Sakauri Wilson’s MVP performance and a blowout fourth quarter led the Charles Page High School girls basketball team to a 61-49 come-from-behind win over Carl Albert in the Titan Classic finals Saturday in Midwest City.

The Lady Sandites trailed 40-31 late in the third before riding a 15-0 streak into the fourth to take the lead.

“I just asked them going into the fourth ‘hey, let’s be us.’” said head coach Josh Berry.

“Let’s have some energy and let’s play with a little bit of passion and grit and toughness. They responded and they did that. I think Aaliyah (Simone) made a play to start it off with a couple of jump balls and after that the rest was history.”

The Sandites brought an aggressive press defense, coming up with five steals in the fourth quarter and tied up several jump balls while outscoring the host Titans 25-9 in the final stanza.

“I think they finally took the lid off the basket for us,” said Berry. “We’ve been having that lid on there for probably about five games now. It kind of came off.”

Sand Springs has now won four in a row since a disappointing 1-2 performance at the Putnam City Invitational two weeks ago.

The girls won 63-52 against Del City (6-8) in the first game, leading only 39-38 early in the fourth before pulling away down the stretch.

“The fourth quarter is always like a win or go home moment,” said Wilson. “Go hard or go home.”

The senior guard scored a game-high 20 points with 7 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 assists in the win. Hope Bump added 14 points and Taiona Morris had 10.

In the semifinals they won a 58-54 overtime battle with No. 5 Edmond Memorial (12-2) in a preview of a looming district battle.

After taking a 24-20 lead into the locker room, the Lady Sandites led for the entire second half until Addy Johnson scored off back-to-back steals to tie it up at 50-50 on the final drive.

Wilson was on fire in overtime, scoring the first three buckets for the Sandites to lead 56-53. The teams traded free throws from there but the Bulldogs were unable to close the gap a second time.

Wilson ended the game with a career-best 32 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, and 5 assists, followed by Bump with 10 points and 7 rebounds.

In Saturday’s finals the Sandites jumped out to a 9-2 lead against the Titans before surrendering an 11-0 run.

“I think we messed up, especially early on, on our assignments,” said Berry. “But, at the end of the day, I think that fourth quarter and end of the third quarter, they played hard. That’s all we asked them was just give us everything you got whenever you’re out there, and I believe they did that.”

A pair of free throws from Simone gave the Sandites a 15-14 lead to enter the second quarter but a five-point run from Jakary Brown put the Titans back on top 24-22 at halftime.

The teams traded blows to open the second half before Bump took a spill in the paint and hit her head. With the junior forward out of the game, the Titans went on a 10-2 run for their biggest lead at 40-31.

“When she hit her head, I heard somebody on the sideline say ‘oh, she woke up now,’” said Berry. “I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but after that, she responded and played the way that we know she can play.”

Bump drained a three shortly after reentering the game to break up the Titans’ run and scored five points in the fourth quarter to go with some aggressive defense.

“Our mindset was just go, go go,” said Wilson. “The more we speed them up, the more they turn over the ball and that’s in our advantage.”

Wilson ended the game with 18 points, 3 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals, while Morris matched her career-high with 17 points, 4 boards, and 3 steals. Bump added a season-best 14 points and 8 rebounds. All three were named to the all-tournament team.

Wilson was named the tournament’s MVP after averaging 23.3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3.3 steals per game.

“It takes everybody, not just me, but everybody coming together - playing hard and guarding everybody how we’re supposed to guard and executing everything,” said Wilson.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with a district road game at Union (8-6, 3-2). The Lady Sandites are 4-1 for third place in district play while the RedHawks are fourth.

Tournament Box Scores

1/18/2024 - CPHS vs. Del City
1Q: 13-13.
2Q: CPHS 13-10.
3Q: CPHS 13-12.
4Q: CPHS 24-17.
Free Throws: CPHS 20-of-25, DC 9-of-17.
Field Goals: CPHS 20-of-56, DC 20-of-56.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 11, DC 12.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 18, DC 18.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 29, DC 30.
Steals: CPHS 14, DC 7.
Blocks: CPHS 16, DC 14.

Sand Springs Stats
Scoring: Wilson 20, Bump 14, Ti. Butler 10, Morris 8, Simone 4, Young 3, Ta. Butler 2, Pearce 2.
Offensive Rebounds: Bump 4, Ti. Butler 4, Morris 2, Gilton 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Wilson 7, Morris 5, Ta. Butler 3, Ti. Butler 1, Pearce 1, Young 1.
Total Rebounds: Wilson 7, Morris 7, Ti. Butler 5, Bump 4, Ta. Butler 3, Ta. Butler 1, Young 1, Gilton 1.
Steals: Wilson 5, Bump 3, Morris 2, Simone 2, Ti. Butler 2.
Assists: Wilson 3, Morris 2, Simone 2, Ti. Butler 1, Bump 1.
Blocks: Ti. Butler 4, Morris 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Fouls: Simone 4, Ti. Butler 4, Bump 3, Wilson 3, Morris 1, Pearce 1.

1/19/2024 CPHS vs. Edmond Memorial
1Q: 12-12.
2Q: CPHS 12-8.
3Q: CPHS 17-14.
4Q: EDM 16-9.
OT: CPHS 8-4.
Free Throws: CPHS 13-of-17, EDM 13-of-20.
Field Goals: CPHS 21-of-50, EDM 18-of-62.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 6, EDM 16.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 20, EDM 18.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 26, EDM 34.
Steals: CPHS 7, EDM 7.
Blocks: CPHS 6, EDM 1.
Fouls: CPHS 13, EDM 16.

Sand Springs Stats
Scoring: Wilson 32, Bump 10, Morris 6, Ti Butler. 4, Simone 3, Ta. Butler 3.
Offensive Rebounds: Bump 3, Morris 2, Simone 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Ti. Butler 7, Wilson 5, Bump 4, Morris 3, Ta. Butler 1.
Total Rebounds: Bump 7, Ti. Butler 7, Wilson 5, Morris 5, Simone 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Steals: Wilson 2, Simone 2, Bump 1, Ti. Butler 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Assists: Wilson 5, Morris 2.
Blocks: Ti. Butler 4, Bump 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Fouls: Wilson 3, Morris 3, Simone 3, Bump 2, T. Butler 1, Ta. Butler 1.

1/20/2024 CPHS vs. Carl Albert
1Q: CPHS 15-14.
2Q: CA 10-7.
3Q: CA 16-14.
4Q: CPHS 25-9.
Free Throws: CPHS 19-of-20, CA 12-of-16.
Field Goals: CPHS 24-of-52, CA 17-of-46.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 6, CA 5.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 18, CA 17.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 24, CA 22.
Steals: CPHS 10, CA 5.
Blocks: CPHS 1, CA 3.
Fouls: CPHS 17, CA 15.

Sand Springs Stats
Scoring: Wilson 18, Morris 17, Bump 14, Ta. Butler 6, Simone 2, Ti. Butler 2, Young 2.
Offensive Rebounds: Morris 2, Ti. Butler 2, Bump 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Bump 7, Ta. Butler 4, Wilson 3, Ti. Butler 2, Morris 1, Simone 1.
Total Rebounds: Bump 8, Morris 4, Ti. Butler 4, Ta. Butler 4, Wilson 3, Simone 1.
Steals: Wilson 3, Morris 3, Simone 2, Bump 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Assists: Wilson 4, Bump 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Blocks: Ti. Butler 1.
Fouls: Ti. Butler 5, Wilson 3, Simone 3, Morris 2, Ta. Butler 2, Bump 1, Young 1.