Lady Sandites take first in Bishop Kelley Invitational

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller

The Lady Sandite dribblers sealed a first place finish at their first tournament of the year with a 49-40 victory over Shawnee in the championship round after beating Cascia Hall 59-37 and Norman North 52-38.

Sand Springs took an early lead with back-to-back three-pointers from Holly Kersgieter in a low scoring first period before Shawnee tied things up at 6-6 going into the second.

The  second period saw double the scoring action of the first, and at one point the Lady Wolves pulled ahead by as much as 17-9 before the Sandites ralled with a pair of three pointers from Cierra Scott to narrow the deficit to 19-17 going into the half.

At Friday's semi-final match, the Sandites were tied at the half 19-19 with Cascia Hall when they made a half time adjustment and came out to score 23 points in the third. They pulled off a similar come-back Saturday, outscoring Shawnee 13-3 in the third period for a 30-22 lead thanks to three field goals from Isabella Regalado.

The Lady Wolves tried to stage a comeback opening the fourth with three-straight field goals from Alexis Freeman before Regalado connected once more for a 32-28 lead. Then Monica Brooks scored three-straight followed by a pair of free throws from Moe Tramble to narrow it to 38-36 before the Sandites finally pulled away and put it in the bag.

Two freshman led the scoring for the game, Regalado put up 17 points and Kersgieter had 14. Both girls were part of the undefeated team of 8th grade conference champs last year.

Scott, Destiney Johnson, and Sydney Pennington were named to the all-tournament team.

Stats against Shawnee

Norman North scoring summary: 52-38

Pennington 15, Johnson 8, Hitchcock 7, Collins 7, Kersgieter 6, Scott 3, Regalado 3, Mutiri 2, Boaz 1. 

Cascia Hall scoring summary: 59-37

Johnson 14, Collins 12, Pennington 11, Scott 10, Mutiri 6, Kersgieter 4, Taber 2.

 

Haddock scores 23 in season opener at Bixby

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The #17 Charles Page High School varsity basketball team scored a 50-45 conference victory in their first game of the season at Whitey Ford Athletic Center in Bixby. 

The #20 Spartans were unable to put up an effective defense to a scoring melee by last season's top scorer, sophomore Brooks Haddock. Last year Haddock scored 303 points, but didn't cross the 20 mark in a single game till late January. If Tuesday's victory is any indication of the season-to-come, it's safe to say we can expect further greatness from the young stud.

Behind Haddock was sophomore Colt Savage, son of the head coach, with 11 points and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.

Defensively, junior Kyle Keener was the star of the show with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks to complement his 4 points.

Senior Arvionte Nichols was also all over the action with 8 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal.

The boys lead the game the whole night and while the Spartans were far from push-overs, there was never any real scare that they might win it. 

Only one Spartan posted double-digits. Senior Parker Jennings scored 18 for his team.

The win is a great start for a team with high expectations. Last season the Sandites had their best record since 2000 and only graduated 1 starter. Head Coach Eric Savage is in his third year now at Sand Springs and has overseen marked improvement each year. Savage took his previous school, Tulsa Memorial, to four state titles in ten years.

JV

The Junior Varsity squad had a much closer battle but ultimately won it in overtime 34-32.

Solid effort against Bixby falls short for Lady Sandites

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School girls' varsity basketball team fell to 1-1 for the season after a couple of strong rallies weren't enough to overcome an early deficit. Junior standout Sydney Pennington led her team both offensively and defensively with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Right behind her was Cierra Scott with 18 points and impressive accuracy, only missing 2 of her 9 shots, and scored 11 points in the third period alone.

#17 Bixby's Addison Richards led both teams with 24 points in the Lady Spartans' 61-51 season-opener at the Whitey Ford Athletic Center Tuesday night.

Last week the #16 Lady Sandites won their season opener in a 59-39 blowout of the Green Country Defenders (home school) at home. Pennington scored a game-high 22 points, aided by Destiny Johnson with 7, Scott with 5, Holly Kersgieter 5, Selena Hitchcock 5, Isabella Regalado 5, Gloria Mutiri 4, Kimi Presnell 3, Lee Leslie 3. 

The Spartans were a much tougher opponent, however, and took a 15-12 lead midway through the first period and only briefly gave it up.

Richards started the scoring with a 2pt field goal, but Kersgieter was right behind her with a layup, followed by a field goal from Pennington to take the lead.

It was a back and forth effort from there. Regan Reinholz sank a 3 to tie it at 9, but Scott retaliated with a 3 of her own, then it was Dariann Myles who tied things up. Richards dropped the game-changing field goal and the Lady Spartans pulled ahead to a 20-14 lead to end the first period.

Pennington went 2-2 on free throws and Kersgieter and Hitchcock sank a few goals to narrow the gap to 22-20, then Hitchcock tied it up at 23 before a Reinholz layup took the lead back.

Already trailing 32-26, the Sandites were put further in the hole by a last-second near-half-court 3-pointer from Myles to end the third that even she was shocked she made. Despite outscoring the Spartans 17-15 in the third, our girls were too far behind to make a comeback in the low-scoring fourth period and Richards iced the cake with the last goal of the game. 

JV

The JV girls were back and forth for most of their game before pulling ahead to a 26-18 win in their first game of the season. Amari Grant led the team with two 3-pointers and one 2-pointer.