Bump and Simone Lead Sandites to Dominant District Wins
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A season-high from Hope Bump and some freshman firepower from Aaliyah Simone led to a perfect week for the Charles Page High School girls’ basketball team.
No. 6 Sand Springs (14-5, 8-2) won 69-43 against Enid (7-12, 2-7) on Homecoming Tuesday, 77-53 at Putnam City (8-12, 3-6) on Friday, and 51-36 against U.S. Grant (4-14, 0-11) on Saturday.
On Tuesday Sand Springs stormed out to a 22-4 first quarter lead and by halftime they led 43-17, their biggest such margins of the season.
Bump led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Taiona Morris with 11 as the only other Sandite in double digits. Sakauri Wilson and Simone added 9 apiece.
On Friday they had yet another dominant first quarter behind seven steals from Wilson. Morris scored the first three field goals of the game for an 8-1 advantage and by the end of the quarter the visitors were up 19-6.
They worked their lead up to 30-14 before the Pirates went on a 7-0 run to keep it within single digits at halftime.
By halftime Bump and Morris had three fouls apiece. Jordan Gilton fouled out in the third quarter, Morris fouled out early in the fourth, and Wilson fouled out with more than three minutes left to play, but it didn’t slow the visitors down as they still won the second half 47-32.
“It was a different atmosphere for us,” said head coach Josh Berry. “It was kind of a little wild so I’m just proud we got the win and we were able to come out of there unscathed and able to move on.”
Simone scored 12 points in the third quarter alone and ended the night with a career-high 23 points to lead all players, shooting 9-of-14 in the field and 5-of-6 at the charity stripe.
Wilson scored 19 points, Morris had 15, and Bump had 11 points with 9 rebounds in the win.
Against Grant on Saturday the Sandites were able to open the game on an 18-0 run over the first five minutes before the starters were benched and the visitors finally got on the board.
The starting five went back in the game to open the second quarter and worked their lead up to 33-7 before a full swap at the 4:00 mark. The Generals trailed 33-10 at halftime.
“We were just trying to make sure that nobody got hurt, we still do things the right way, and we get a win,” said Berry.
After taking a 28-point lead into the fourth quarter, the second string played out the duration of the game and the Generals whittled it back down to a more respectable 15-point loss.
Simone led all scorers for the second straight game with 20 points.
“She has had a couple of big games and that’s good for her,” said Berry. “I think it’s going to be good for us going forward. We know what the seniors can bring to the group and so now we get some more consistency from everyone else and it just depends on the night and how they’re guarding us on who’s going to have a good night for that night.”
Bump added 10 points to go with 6 rebounds and 5 steals while Tianna Butler had 7 points and 8 rebounds.
Now the winners of four in a row, the Sandites can put themselves in a position to win the district title this next week when they host No. 14 Union (12-7, 7-4) on Tuesday before traveling to No. 4 Edmond Memorial (15-3, 9-1) on Thursday.
Sand Springs was upset by Union 49-47 on the road in their last loss.
“That wasn’t our team that showed up the last time we played them,” said Berry. “If we play our game, I think we’ll be alright. We’re going to be in a dog fight. They’re playing good and it’s for district placement, so anytime you have that, you’ve got to get ready.”
