Lady Sandites Go 3-0 at She Got Game Classic

After a lopsided defeat at Sapulpa to start the season, the Charles Page High School girls basketball team rebounded with a 3-0 performance at the She Got Game Classic in Mansfield, Texas over the weekend.

“I thought we learned a little bit from Tuesday and I thought we got better,” said head coach Josh Berry. “It’s going to be a growing process of everybody learning their new roles.”

Senior star Hailey Jackson averaged 23.3 points per game at the festival, earning MVP honors in each game.

“She wasn’t very aggressive that first game (against Sapulpa),” said Berry. “We’ve been talking about her being extra aggressive each and every game this year.”

“She did a great job of just staying aggressive the whole game while we were down there and hopefully she can continue to do that for us.”

On Thursday the Sandites won 63-60 against Boswell (5-6) behind a 24-point effort from Jackson, a career-high 18 points from Sakauri Wilson, and a career-high 16 points from Kiaryn Taylor.

Jackson scored 24 again in a 42-25 rout of Austin Westlake (6-9) on Friday.

On Saturday the Sandites rolled to a 60-26 win over Medgar Evers (0-2) behind a 22-point performance from Jackson. Freshman Calla Fueshko also had a breakout performance with 9 points.

“Kauri Wilson did a great job early on, especially that first game, of scoring the ball and finishing. We had a lot of production from different players throughout the weekend.”

“I know Kiaryn Taylor had a good game the first game where she was able to finish. Yanni (Morris) that last game where she got to see the ball go in the hole some.”

“I think that’s just kind of what it’s going to take is for some of our ones that aren’t used to doing those things consistently to just be more consistent. I thought defensively we got better.”

The Sandites lost their season-opener 61-21 to Sapulpa (2-0, 2-0) in conference play but will get a rematch in February.

Sand Springs was outgunned by a Sapulpa lineup that shot 43.6% in the field with nine players in the scorebook. Mataya Hall scored 15 and Taylor Bilby added 12 for the home team, while Jackson led the Sandites with 5 points and 8 rebounds.

The Lady Chieftains have now won four straight in the Highway 97 Rivalry series.

Sapulpa’s boys team (1-1, 1-1) snapped a three-year losing streak to the Sandites with a 60-51 victory.

Freshman Fabian Harris led the Chieftains with 18 points and Kylen Edwards added 14. The Sandites were led by seniors Michael Foster and Kade Holland with 12 apiece.

In junior varsity action, the Sapulpa girls won 38-37 despite a 21-point performance from Fueshko. The Sand Springs boys triumphed 38-35 on a buzzer-beater three from Krus Smith to avoid overtime.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday with conference home games against Muskogee. The girls will play at 6:30 p.m. and the boys will play at 8:00.

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)