Sandite Basketball Tips Off Tuesday at Home Against Edmond Memorial

View fullsize

The Charles Page High School varsity basketball teams will tip off the season Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House in a district double-header against Edmond Memorial.

The varsity girls will play at 6:30 p.m. while the boys will play at 8:00 p.m.

The girls are in their fifth year under head coach Josh Berry, who holds a 68-30 record at Sand Springs and a 166-143 record overall.

The Lady Sandites went 18-9 overall last season and 9-5 in the final year of Frontier Valley Conference play. They ended their season in the Area consolation finals, one round short of the State tournament.

The girls graduated Fayth Walker and All-State selection Hailey Jackson, but return Sakauri Wilson, Taiona Morris, and Kiaryn Taylor, who are all receiving attention from college recruiters. Abigaile Martin, Calla Fueshko, and Patience Pearce are all impactful returners.

The Sandites also picked up a big-time transfer in Hope Bump, a junior star at Claremore who was an All-Conference second-team selection in the Metro Lakes who averaged 18 points and 9 boards last season.

The boys went 10-14 overall and 3-11 in FVC play under head coach Eric Savage, who holds a 123-121 record after ten seasons at Sand Springs and a 428-214 record overall.

The boys graduated Michael Foster, Jax Marshall, Kade Holland, Sam Hayes, and Luke Hooper, but will still return a talented lineup anchored by Alijah Roper, Kooper Kelly, Blake Johnson, and Khalil Allen.

Junior transfer Deke Thompson will be a high-profile addition from Jenks as an All-Conference Honorable Mention last season. Marcus Mitchell, Zane Fueshko, and Colin Shope all return a wealth of experience from last season.

The OSSAA shifted to district play this season, meaning the Sandites will say goodbye to old rivals like Sapulpa, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Muskogee, Booker T. Washington, and Jenks. Shockingly, the Highway 97 Rivalry is not on the schedule this season.

Edmond Memorial will be the first district opponent for the Sandites in the new era. The Bulldog boys went 12-11 last season while the girls were 22-5.

The Lady Sandites’ last meeting with the Bulldogs was a 50-46 victory in the Area consolation playoffs in 2021. If the boys have ever played Edmond Memorial, it was before Sandite Pride’s records.

Lady Sandites Beat Union and Owasso, Receive Regional Assignment

The Sand Springs girls’ basketball team should be battle tested and ready when the Regional playoffs arrive Thursday.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites went 2-1 in a tough final week to the regular season, ending the year 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the tough Frontier Valley Conference.

“We’re a team that’s still learning every day,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’re up and down, but hopefully we’re going to be going up over this next week, which I think we will.”

The Sandites were on upset alert Tuesday against No. 16 Union (5-18) on Senior Night but survived 48-43 behind a 23-point performance from Hailey Jackson.

On Thursday, however, they suffered a 58-30 drubbing at No. 1 Booker T. Washington (17-5) as the team struggled with a 20% field goal performance, their worst since a season opening loss at Sapulpa.

“The best thing is to see if you can come back and regroup the next night and play, and we were able to do that,” said Berry.

The Sandites stormed out to a 26-12 halftime lead at No. 7 Owasso (12-9) on Friday in a game that the Rams probably felt due to win. The first two meetings between Sand Springs and Owasso were decided by a total of three points, but the Sandites only trailed once in the rematch.

The visitors surrendered an uncontested opening bucket to Laila Hamilton, a senior who has missed the entire season to injury. The senior tapped in the final bucket of her career and exited the game to applause, and fortunately the Sandites’ charity didn’t come back to haunt them.

After taking their biggest lead of the game at 29-12 to open the third, the Sandites suddenly found themselves on the ropes after Owasso used a 16-2 swing to make it a one-score game entering the fourth.

“(Thursday) we might have lost this game, but today they stayed together, they kept their composure, and they found a way to win, and that’s the most important part,” said Berry.

Jackson broke the Rams’ momentum with a three-point play to open the fourth and scored seven of her 15 points in the final stanza to secure the team’s 11th consecutive win against Owasso.

Jackson’s 15 led all scorers, while Sakauri Wilson added 11 and Taionna Morris had 10.

“We played a few tough teams this past six games,” said Berry. “I think that we did well, we held ourselves well. I’m proud of them for the season that we had but now everybody’s 0-0 and let’s just go see what happens.”

Sand Springs will travel to Norman Thursday for a first-round Regional playoff against No. 11 Stillwater (8-15) at 6:00 p.m.

No. 7 Norman (17-4) will host No. 14 Muskogee (6-15) in the other semifinal. The finals will be Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

“We’re going to need a lot of people to pitch in,” said Berry.

“We always say ‘I don’t know how we’re going to win, but however it is that night, just be ready. It might be your night, it might be somebody else’s night. Just be ready.’”

Boys

The 6A-East No. 11 Sand Springs boys (10-13) suffered a tough final week to the regular season, falling 66-37 to No. 8 Union (12-10) on Tuesday, 86-69 to No. 4 Booker T. Washington (12-8) on Thursday, and 57-34 to No. 5 Owasso (13-8) on Friday.

The Sandites led Union 22-20 at halftime on Senior Night but the RedHawks got hot in the third quarter for a 42-35 lead before starting the fourth on a 19-0 run. Michael Foster, Alijah Roper, and Kade Holland scored 8 apiece.

Thursday was a similar affair as the Sandites led the Hornets 36-34 late in the second quarter before Washington went on a 12-0 run to enter the half with a double-digit advantage that it never relinquished. Kooper Kelly scored 16, Holland 12, and Khalil Allen had 10.

On Owasso’s Senior Night the Rams jumped out to a 19-2 first-quarter lead and never trailed. Blake Johnson, Zane Fueshko, and Sam Hayes scored 6 apiece to lead the Sandites.

The boys ended the season with a 3-11 record in conference action, an improvement over the past two one-win seasons in the brutally tough Frontier Valley.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Bixby Regionals with a first-round elimination game against No. 6 Moore (16-6).

Sakauri Wilson scores 27, Sandites Upset No. 1 Sapulpa 57-53

Sakauri Wilson says she puts up a hundred free throws a day, and it paid off Friday night at the Ed Dubie.

The junior guard went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds of a 57-53 upset against 5A No. 1 Sapulpa (17-2).

The Sandites (14-6) previously lost 61-21 to the Chieftains to open the season but managed to keep pace in the rematch for their first rivalry win since 2019. It also snapped a 10-game win streak for Sapulpa, who hadn’t tasted defeat since December.

“I wasn’t intimidated at all,” said Wilson, who scored a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers.

“I just knew the first time (we played them) we weren’t ready, everybody was scared.”

“We all came together as a team, clutch free throws at the end, everybody’s coming together on defense and shutting everybody down.”

Sand Springs trailed for most of the first quarter but traded leads through the second and entered the locker room with a 26-24 advantage on Wilson’s first of three treys.

A five-point run midway through the third gave Sand Springs the lead till the final two minutes when a Sapulpa rally nearly staved off the upset.

Sapulpa trailed 49-42 before surging ahead to a 52-51 lead, but Abigaile Martin put her team back on top from the free throw line and the Chieftains never led again.

Hailey Jackson also had a big night with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Oklahoma State signee Stailee Heard had 23 to pace the Chieftains.

“That’s a good team over there,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We just had a great all around effort tonight and some girls stepped up and made some plays.”

The Sandites also won 54-38 at No. 13 Bartlesville (7-13) on Monday behind a career-high 17 from Calla Fueshko, but dropped a 69-40 decision to No. 2 (15-6) Bixby on Tuesday.

“We just challenged them to match (Sapulpa)’s energy and their effort and I think that’s what they did tonight. Plus they made plays.”

“That’s what it comes down to. It’s not too much about Xs and Os, it’s about the players. When they make plays, it makes it easy on us.”

(Boys) Sand Springs 78 Sapulpa 57

Sapulpa’s warmup shirts said “beating Sand Springs never gets old,” but it was the Sandites who prevailed 78-57 in a Friday night romp.

The Sand Springs boys (10-10) paid back a season-opening 60-51 loss at Sapulpa (5-14) with a balanced team attack.

Alijah Roper scored 15 to lead the Sandites, closely followed by Blake Johnson and Kade Holland with 14 apiece - a career-high for Holland.

“We always enjoy a rivalry win against Sapulpa, especially after they got us in the first game of the year at their place,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“The guys were focused and ready. They were excited - we really didn’t have to motivate them much to play this game.”

Jalen Pratt’s opening three-pointer gave Sapulpa its only lead of the night but the Sandites soon set the tempo and took a 21-11 lead into the second quarter.

“I thought we came out and set the tempo early and really dominated inside the paint,” said Savage.

“Our bigs really controlled offensive and defensive rebounds inside and made their guards alter their shots a little bit and that was a huge factor for us getting off to a good start.”

By halftime the Sandites led 39-25 and Sapulpa never got within double digits in the second half.

The Sandites fell 58-52 to Bartlesville (7-12) on Monday despite a career-high 14 points from Khalil Allen. They also lost 73-44 to Bixby (17-4) on Tuesday.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday with a Senior Night home finale against Union.

The Sandites also received their Regional playoff assignments on Wednesday.

The girls will play No. 11 Stillwater (7-13) in the first round of the Norman Regional on the 23rd, while the boys will play No. 6 Moore (14-6) in the first round of the Bixby Regional on the 24th.

Box Scores

CPHS;21;18;18;21;--;78.
Sapulpa;11;14;18;14;--57.

Scoring: (CPHS) Roper 15, Holland 14, Johnson 14, Hooper 9, Allen 8, Kelly 7, Foster 6, Shope 2, Mitchell 1. (Sapulpa) Harris 18, Abbage 10, Lewis 8, Read 8, Ragsdale 6, Pratt 5, Willbey 2.

(Girls) Sand Springs 57, Sapulpa 53
CPHS;8;18;12;19;--57.
Sapulpa;12;12;11;18;--53.

Scoring: (CPHS) Wilson 27, Jackson 20, Martin 4, Fueshko 4, Taylor 2. (Sapulpa) S. Heard 23, Ri. McQuarters 12, Ra. McQuarters 11, T. Heard 5, Adkisson 2.

Luke Hooper Has Career Night in 60-33 Verdigris Rout

Luke Hooper didn’t play basketball his junior year but he shook off any lingering rust Saturday afternoon in the Port City Classic consolation finals.

The 6-foot-4 power forward hit his stride for a career-best 12 points and 9 rebounds to lead Sand Springs (8-7) in a 60-33 romp against Verdigris (10-7) for fifth place in the Catoosa tournament.

“You don’t realize how much it can slip away from you, just getting back into basketball shape and timing,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“He’s a big body and does a good job rebounding. If we can get him scoring on offense like he was able to today then it’s really going to help us.”

The Sandites suffered a 69-61 loss to 4A No. 16 Catoosa (11-4) in the first round to cap a four-game losing streak, but snapped back with a 66-48 win over 5A No. 16 Claremore (8-7) in Friday’s consolation semifinals.

“We went through a tough stretch right there in a conference that’s arguably very tough,” said Savage.

Sand Springs lost conference games against Union and Owasso the prior week, and fell 72-50 to Jenks on Tuesday. Now back above .500, the Sandites will be looking to ride some momentum into their next week’s conference games.

“I think it does a lot for the players’ confidence and our team to be able to experience some success,” said Savage.

“I wish we would’ve got three (wins) this weekend, but to finish on two wins - hopefully we can build on that”

Several Sandites had notable performances on the weekend. Alijah Roper and Micahel Foster scored 13 apiece in the loss to Catoosa and Kade Holland had a career-best 12. Blake Johnson was a bucket shy of a double-double with 8 points and 11 boards.

“We’re getting better and guys are stepping up and realizing they can make plays during games,” said Savage. “We’re getting some maturity and growth out of those sophomores.”

The sophomores being Kooper Kelly, Zane Fueshko, Khalil Allen, and Johnson.

Foster led the team with 14 against Claremore and Roper added 10. Against Verdigris, Roper and Kelly had 10 apiece, Allen added 9, and Foster had 8 points and 10 rebounds.

In Tuesday’s game against Jenks it was Kelly with 11 and Allen with 10 to lead the team.

“Alijah’s been playing a lot better and he’s been really consistent for us this year - probably our most consistent,” said Savage. “We need Alijah playing like he played this tournament.”

“I think by the end of January, going into February, I’m hoping we’ll be hitting our stride and playing our best basketball.”

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. with a road game at No. 9 Booker T. Washington (9-4, 4-2) followed by a home battle against No. 1 Broken Arrow (14-0, 6-0) on Friday.

Girls

For only the second time this season, Hailey Jackson didn’t lead her team in scoring against No. 9 Jenks (9-4, 4-2) on Tuesday.

It wasn’t because she had an off-night - it was because her entire team was on fire.

Five Lady Sandites scored in double digits, each with impressive stat lines, in a 67-43 win that was arguably the best performance of the season for No. 10 Sand Springs (11-4, 4-2).

Freshman Calla Fueshko led her team with a career-high 16 points, going 4-of-6 from three-point range before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Sand Springs actually trailed 20-14 after the first quarter but Fueshko and Taiona Morris opened the second with a trio of treys to go up 23-20 and never relinquished the lead.

By halftime the home team led 37-29 and they used a 14-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to put the game to bed.

Jackson scored 15 points with 6 boards; Sakauri Wilson had 13 points, 3 steals, and 5 assists; Kiaryn Taylor had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals; and Morris had 10 points with 6 boards, 3 steals, and 5 assists.

Jill Twiehaus led all scorers with 21 points for Jenks, but was held to only 4 in the second half.

Sand Springs will take to the road Tuesday against No. 4 Booker T. Washington (13-2, 5-1) before hosting No. 13 Broken Arrow (10-5, 4-2) on Friday.

Sandites Throttle OKC Knights 72-29 at Memorial Invitational

Happy Birthday Kade Holland. The senior starter scored 9 points with 4 rebounds in a 72-29 win against the Oklahoma City Knights (3-9) Thursday night.

The last time Sand Springs played an Oklahoma City homeschool team, they suffered a 68-48 upset, but this year’s Sandites wouldn’t be caught sleeping,

After giving No. 10 Bixby a scare on Tuesday, the Sandites (2-2) showed up at Memorial High School with extra motivation Thursday night in the first round of the Veterans Arena Invitational.

“I thought we had big strides against Bixby at home on Tuesday night,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“Hopefully, I thought coming into here, is we carry some of that momentum and try to keep gaining experience and develop a little more depth.”

“Obviously we’d like to have a couple of more wins in there, but we’re getting better,” said Savage.

Thirteen Sandites saw game time and all but one made their way into the scorebook.

Sophomore Blake Johnson had a career night with 15 points and 9 boards before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

“Blake has had a good week,” said Savage. “He had a good JV game Tuesday night too (scoring 19 points).”

“We thought playing JV would help some of these younger guys get some confidence and he’s turned it up another level this week so that’s good to see.”

Caden Coombs gave the Knights a brief lead with 2:01 left in the first quarter but the Sandites went on an 8-point run and never trailed again.

Jax Marshall fed an assist inside to Sam Hayes on the next possession to make it 12-11 then stole the ball and scored the go-ahead free throws on a foul from Isaiah Zoschke.

Sand Springs ran away with it in the second quarter, taking a 40-23 lead with 10 players in the scorebook by halftime.

“We’re working hard and we’re showing improvement,” said Savage. “(It’s a) really young team experience wise and age wise.”

The Sandites only returned one starter from last year’s unit and only started two seniors against the Knights.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who it’s their first time seeing significant varsity action and they’re going to go through some growing pains,” said Savage.

The second half was a 32-6 rout with the Knights only scoring on free throws.

Kooper Kelly scored 10 for the Sandites, followed by Zane Fueshko and Holland with 9 apiece. Coombs led all scorers with 17.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Tulsa NOAH (5-4). The Knights will play 5A No. 16 Collinsville (2-3) at 6:00.

Memorial 54, NOAH 31

The NOAH Jaguars made a game of it but ultimately succumbed to 5A No. 2 Memorial (4-1) Thursday night at the Chargers’ home tournament.

After hanging tight for three quarters, the Jaguars were outscored 20-8 in the final stanza of a 54-31 loss.

Jarreth Ingram set the tone early, scoring 7 of his game-best 15 points in the first quarter and the Jaguars never once led.

Montae Collins ended the opening period with a steal and a buzzer-beating floater to go up 16-4 but the Jaguars cut it to 25-15 by halftime.

Ben Radford got hot in the fourth quarter with 7 of his 9 points and the Chargers bullied their way to the win.

Collins ended with 13 for the Chargers and Seth Pratt added 10. Sullivan Wagner scored 14 for NOAH.

Memorial will play Greenwood, Arkansas (1-5) Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Scoring Summaries

CPHS 72, OKC 29
CPHS;15;25;13;19;--;72
OKC;12;9;2;4;--;29

CPHS: Johnson 15, Kelly 10, Holland 9, Fueshko 9, Hayes 9, Hooper 4, Allen 4, Roper 3, Shope 3, Michell 2, Foster 2, Marshall 2.
OKC: Coombs 17, Ledet 6, Skelly 4, Chiarello 2.

Memorial 54 NOAH 31
Memorial;16;9;9;20;--;54
NOAH;4;11;8;8;--;31

Memorial: Ingram 15, Collins 13, Pratt 11, Radford 9, Cotton 6.
NOAH: Wagner 14, Bell 7, Ross 4, Garner 3, Bockett 2, Hislop 1.

Sandite Basketball Preview: Boys and Girls Poised for Success in 2022

The Charles Page High School varsity basketball season will officially tip off Tuesday, November 29th at Sapulpa.

The Sandite basketball teams went different directions last season. The boys will look to get back to form as they seek their first winning season since 2020, while the girls will look to build momentum off of last season’s state semifinal appearance.

After graduating a talented senior class that accounted for 75% of last season’s scoring, the boys will look to build a new identity behind a mostly young, inexperienced roster.

Fans can expect big things from sophomore Kooper Kelley, the lone returning starter, who averaged 6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1 steal last year.

Junior Alijah Roper also saw extensive action last season, averaging 2.9 points over 21 games. 6-foot-5 sophomore Blake Johnson also played in 21 games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.8 rebounds.

Kade Holland, Luke Hooper, Michael Foster, Jax Marshall, Mark Lair, and Sam Hayes will provide the team’s senior leadership.

The Sandites went 5-18 last season and were 7-11 in 2020, but have seen tremendous success under tenth-year head coach Eric Savage with four winning seasons, two Regional championships, and two State tournament appearances.

Savage holds a 423-218 head coaching record over 21 years and is 118-125 at Sand Springs.

The Lady Sandites are entering their fourth season under head coach Josh Berry, who holds a 50-21 record at Sand Springs and a 148-134 career mark.

The girls went 23-4 last season for their best record since 2017, winning the school’s eighth Regional title and seventh Area championship.

Sand Springs took big losses in Journey Armstead, Layne Kirkendoll, and Leyshia Morris, but still has lots of star power ready to make a name for itself.

6-foot senior Hailey Jackson averaged 13.9 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.5 steals last season, with three double-doubles and a career-best 31-point performance against Broken Arrow.

Juniors Taiona Morris and Sakauri Wilson also return as starters after combining for 11.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.9 steals per game last year.

Kiaryn Taylor, Fayth Walker, Abigaile Martin, Patience Pearce, and Tay'Ja Butler all saw solid playing time last season and will give the Sandites strong rotational depth. Freshman Calla Fueshko is also expected to make an impact.

When the girls tip off against Sapulpa at 6:30 p.m. they will be looking for their first Highway 97 Rivalry win since 2019. The boys, however, have won three straight meetings with Sapulpa since 2019.

The girls will then travel to the She Got Game Classic in Dallas over the weekend. The home opener for both teams will be December 6th against Muskogee with the girls playing at 6:30 p.m. and the boys at 8:00 p.m.