Girls Basketball: Hall’s Putback Boosts Chieftains Past Sand Springs

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Down 44-43 with seven seconds left in the game, Stailee Heard went for the go-ahead layup and had it deflected by Journey Armstead - right into the hands of rising freshman star Mataya Hall for the putback.

After trailing for almost the entire game, 5A-East No. 1 Sapulpa (11-4 overall, 4-2 conference) knocked off 6A-East No. 4 Sand Springs (12-3, 5-2) Friday night in front of a packed Ed Dubie Field House.

“It was really big,” said Sapulpa head coach Darlean Calip about Hall’s putback. “The possession before she had gone down and shot quicker than we would have liked, so it’s really nice to have her come back and finish.”

“For her to be a freshman and be able to do that speaks volumes for her confidence and how much our team has grown to this point.”

The Chieftains didn’t take their first lead till late in the second quarter and still trailed through most of the second half before a huge momentum shift midway through the fourth. 

With 3:50 left to play, the Sandites’ 6-foot junior center Hailey Jackson fouled out while trying to block a bucket from Stailee Heard. Heard missed the and-one free throw, but Tyla Heard rebounded her sister for the putback and Jaselyn Rossman hit a three pointer soon after for the 43-41 lead. 

Layne Kirkendoll made a free throw for the Sandites and Armstead put the home team back on top, but after Hall’s go-ahead putback, Sand Springs didn’t have enough time to get off a final shot. 

“We got some key stops at key times and we really wanted to take the ball out of Journey (Armstead)’s hands because we know she’s a big part of their offense,” said Calip.

“I just felt like our kids stayed within the game plan and gave ourselves an opportunity to win a tough game like this on the road in a hostile atmosphere. And it’s our rival, so we knew that it was going to be a battle so I’m just really really proud of the kids.”

Sapulpa didn’t allow a single offensive rebound and held the potent Sandite defense to a season-low three steals.

The heavily recruited Heard sisters led the Chieftains, with Stailee scoring 12 and Tyla adding 10. Armstead led all scorers with 15 points for the Sandites.

Sapulpa has won three straight in the Highway 97 rivalry series, and Calip remains undefeated against Josh Berry’s Sandites. It was also the third straight win for the Chieftains overall since a loss to El Reno at the Shawnee Invitational.

Currently fourth in the Frontier Valley Conference standings, the Chieftains still have an outside shot at the conference title with home meetings against first-place Union and second-place Bixby coming up. 

Next for Sapulpa is a Saturday home game against 6A-East No. 14 Muskogee (1-8, 0-5) at 4:00 p.m.

Sand Springs has now lost three of its last four games after starting the season 11-0. With one more game played than the Chieftains, it remains in third place in conference standings. 

Next up for the Sandites is a road meeting with No. 3 Union (12-3, 6-1) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and a trip to No. 9 Owasso (8-9, 3-5) on Friday.

Sapulpa 45 CPHS 44
1Q: CPHS 16-11.
2Q: Sapulpa 8-4.
3Q: CPHS 13-10.
4Q: Sapulpa 16-11.
Free Throws: Sapulpa 4-of-7, CPHS 5-of-10.
Field Goals: Sapulpa 19-of-50, CPHS 17-of-32.
Offensive Rebounds: Sapulpa 13, CPHS 0.
Defensive Rebounds: Sapulpa 16, CPHS 12.
Total Rebounds: Sapulpa 29, CPHS 12.
Steals: Sapulpa 4, CPHS 3.
Blocks: Sapulpa 0, CPHS 7.
Fouls: Sapulpa 9, CPHS 13.

(CPHS) Armstead 15, Kirkendoll 9, T. Morris 9, Jackson 6, Wilson 3, L. Morris 2.

Sand Springs Stats

Scoring: Armstead 15, Kirkendoll 9, T. Morris 9, Jackson 6, Wilson 3, L. Morris 2.
Defensive Rebounds: Jackson 4, Wilson 2, T. Morris 2, Walker 2, Armstead 1, L. Morris 1.
Steals: Armstead 2, Jackson 1.
Assists: Armstead 3, Wilson 2, Jackson 1.
Blocks: Kirkendoll 4, Armstead 3.
Fouls: Jackson 5, Armstead 3, Kirkendoll 2, Wilson 1, L. Morris 1, Walker 1.

Sapulpa Stats

Scoring: S. Heard 12, T. Heard 10, Hall 7, Bilby 7, Rossman 7, Berry 2.
Fouls: Rossman 3, S. Heard 3, T. Heard 2, Hall 1.

Frontier Valley Standings

6-1 Union (12-3)
6-1 Bixby (13-3)
5-2 Sand Springs (12-3)
5-3 Broken Arrow (11-6)
4-2 Sapulpa (12-4)
4-3 Booker T. Washington (7-9)
3-5 Owasso (8-9)
2-5 Jenks (5-8)
0-5 Muskogee (1-8)
0-8 Bartlesville (4-13)