Lady Sandites win five straight games by 20+ points, win Interstate Classic tournament

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff

The Charles Page High School varsity basketball girls have been having one heck of a season. They're certainly the best squad since the 2010-2011 Regional Championship team, and possibly even better. With eight regular season games left before Regionals, the ladies only need to post one more victory to beat last year's record and officially claim their best season since 2011. 

How did they get to this point?

From 2011-2013 the Lady Sandites went 3-42 under Head Coach Bob Banfield. 

In 2012, the ladies added freshman Cierra "CJ" Scott who was an immediate scoring threat with well over 100 points, setting a career-high in her sixth game with 16 points--an amount she would repeat a month later.

For the 2013-2014 season, Dustin Morrow took over Head Coaching duties and led the team to a 10-14 overall record, 5-9 in Frontier Valley. Sydney Pennington, Jessica Collins, Amari Grant, Bailey Boaz, Lee Leslie, and Maddie Ward were the freshman additions to the team. 

Pennington erupted on the scene with 373 points, only failing to double in three games, and set a personal best of 22 points against Muskogee. Scott scored 101. 

Last season the Sandites added Selena Hitchcock and major inside scoring threat Gloria Mutiri. Pennington led all scorers with 412 points and set a new career-high with 32 points against Muskogee once again. Mutiri made an incredible debut with 200, Scott added 150,  Collins scored 69, and Hitchcock had 31. 

That year the 8th grade girls went a perfect 28-0 and secured a Frontier Valley Conference Championship. In 2015 those girls became freshmen. 

The first game of the 2015-2016 season saw a 59-39 rout of the Green Country Defenders home school team. Pennington scored a team-high 22 points, and eight other girls scored including four freshmen.

The next game was a 61-51 loss to Bixby, but Pennington had a double-double with 19 points, followed by Scott with 18. 

Next came the Bishop Kelley Invitational. The ladies swept the tournament, dominating Cascia Hall 59-37, Norman North 52-38, and 5A #4 Shawnee 49-40. Freshman Destiney Johnson had her break-out game against Cascia with 14 points. Collins added 12, Pennington 11, and Scott 10. Pennington led against Norman North with 15. The Shawnee game proved a defining night for two different freshmen. Isabella Regalado led with 17, followed closely by Holly Kersgieter with 14. Johnson, Pennington, and Scott were named to the all-tournament team and Pennington was named MVP.

The next game was against then #6 Sapulpa, who would go on to be ranked #1 for weeks before dropping to their current position at #2. The Sandites led for nearly the entire game before a series of fouls gave the Chieftains a 54-43 win. Johnson and Pennington both doubled with 14 and 11 respectively.

From there it's been nothing but wins, and most of them were big ones.

Mutiri, Kersgieter, Pennington, and Johnson all doubled in a 59-39 win over #14 Union. 

Pennington and Kersgieter doubled in a 57-28 doubling of Green Country. 

Johnson, Pennington, and Mutiri doubled in a 51-48 upset of #8 Owasso.

Mutiri scored 20, aided by Pennington and Johnson with 11 each in a 64-43 extermination of Jenks.

Scott scored 17, and Pennington and Mutiri each added 10 in a 67-46 smothering of Bishop Kelley.

Currently the ladies are ranked 11th with a 12-2 record, sitting at 4th in Frontier Valley Conference standings. 

Thursday night the girls arrived in Coffeyville, Kansas for the 43rd Harold Thomas Interstate Classic, where they went undefeated last year. 

In Thursday's round one matchup with Field Kindley High School (Coffeyville), the Lady Sandites continued their dominating streak with a 64-33 smack down. Gloria Mutiri led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Collins with 9, Pennington with 7, Hitchcock with 7, Regalado with 6, Johnson with 6, Kersgieter with 4, Ward with 4, Scott with 2, Presnall with 2, and Grant with 2. 

Friday night was even more impressive, as they outscored Nathan Hale 60-16, led by Hitchcock with 10, Ward 8, Grant 7, Pennington 7, Taber 6, Presnall 5, Collins 5, Leslie 4, Kersgieter 3, Regalado 3, Mutiri 2.

Saturday saw an end to their streak of 20+ point wins, but not an end to their overall winning streak. The Ladies took down Life Prep Academy 51-49 to defend their Interstate Classic Champions title and add to their eight-straight win streak. Pennington scored 22, aided by Johnson with 8, Kersgieter 6, Scott 5, Hitchcock 4, Regalado 3, Collins 2, Mutiri 1. Mutiri and Pennington made the All-Tournament team and Pennington was named the tournament's Most Inspirational Player. 

The girls return to action Tuesday night at #4 Broken Arrow (14-2) in a Frontier Valley Conference battle. 

#11 Lady Sandites hammer Bishop Kelley, 67-46

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief, with Morgan Miller, Staff Writer

The #11 Charles Page High School varsity girls' basketball team (9-2) wreaked havoc on the 5A #16 Bishop Kelley Lady Comets (4-7) Tuesday night in the first meeting of the season for the two conference opponents. Three Lady Sandites doubled, three Lady Comets doubled, and for much of the night it looked like the Sandites would double Bishop Kelley entirely. 

The Sandites led 20-6 after the first period and 35-8 at the half before they finally began to run the bench and allow the Comets to play catch-up. Cierra Scott had one of the best performances of her career, nearly beating her career-high with 17 points, and shooting 5-of-6 from three-point range. 

Gloria Mutiri doubled for her third-straight game, scoring 10, and Sydney Pennington added 10 of her own. Pennington has only failed to double once this entire season. 

Twelve Sandites saw action and eleven of them scored in the sixth 20-point win of the season for the Lady Sandites. Jacie Taber and Maddie Ward both scored season-highs. 

The Lady Comets actually outscored the Sandites in each of the final two periods, but they were too far behind to even come close to catching up, trailing 54-31 after the third and finishing 67-46. 

The Lady Sandites will return to action Thursday night at the three-day Interstate Classic tournament in Coffeyville, Kansas. 

#13 Sandite dribblers snap losing streak at #15 Bishop Kelley

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief with Morgan Miller, Staff Writer

After a rocky start, the #13 Charles Page High School varsity basketball team (8-4) finally snapped out of a three-game losing streak Tuesday night at Bishop Kelley. 

The 5A #15 Comets (5-6) got off to an early lead, limiting the Sandite scoring action to a series of Kyle Keener free throws for most of the first quarter. Finally, Brooks Haddock sank a three to get the Sandites back on the right track. 

Mack Thompson struck a series of field goals midway through the second period to help carry the Sandite momentum, and the boys began to lead for the duration of the half. 

The Comets, however, came out firing in the third to take a 39-35 lead before the Sandites once more found their feet and began to build some cushion. 

Trailing by four with a minute to play, the Comets began a series of desperation fouls, but were unable to close the gap, thanks to the near-perfect free throw capabilities of the Sandites, and the visitors returned home with a 57-53 victory. 

Kyle Keener led the Sandites with 15 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the charity stripe, 4-of-5 from field goal range, and adding 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in an outstanding performance consistent with what we've come to expect from the talented giant. 

Mack Thompson and Colt Savage were right behind Keener, each scoring 14 points, with Savage shooting a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws. Brooks Haddock also doubled with 10 points. Haddock has doubled in all but one game this season, and Thompson tied his career-high. 

The Sandites return to action on Thursday night in Coffeyville, Kansas against Nathan Hale at the Interstate Classic tournament.  

Sandite of the Week: Gloria Mutiri

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief, with Morgan Miller, Staff Writer

Photo: Morgan Miller

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize CPHS Sophomore Gloria Mutiri as Sandite of the Week for her outstanding season-high 20 point output in a 67-46 rout of Jenks Friday night at Frank Herald Field House. She was 8-of-9 on field goals and also put up multiple rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. 

She also had a double-double against Owasso last Tuesday, scoring 10 points with 13 rebounds. 

Mutiri is currently fifth in Lady Sandite scoring output for the season with 75 points over ten games. 

The Sandites return to action Thursday night at the Coffeyville Interstate Classic. 

#20 Jenks Trojans upset #10 Sandites

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity dribblers still hold their #10 ranking, but have been going in the opposite direction from where they started.  

After starting the season 7-0, the boys have given up four straight and gave up a close loss to the #20 Jenks Trojans whom they should have handled easily. 

The Sandites got on the board first with a layup by Arvionte Nichols, but TJ Washington shot three from three-point range, broken up by a Kyle Keener free throw, to make the score 9-3. Once more it would appear the Trojans were having difficulty at the score table, however, and the score was only updated to 7-3--a mistake that would not be corrected.  

The Trojan scoring frenzy continued till they had worked up a 22-9 first quarter lead.

The second quarter belonged to Sand Springs, however, as the Sandites found their mojo and doubled the home team 16-8 by half time. The visitors still trailed by 5 (three according to the scoreboard) but they were clearly on the up-and-up.  

The Sandites won the third quarter as well, but only by 12-11 and still trailed by four going into the final period.  

Both teams battled valiantly but ultimately it came down to a series of desperation fouls and the Trojans came out on top for a 53-48 finish with Washington sinking a pair of freebies for an incredible 28 point game high. 

Keener and Haddock both doubled but it was a shortage of rebounds that ultimately did the Sandites in.  

Gloria Mutiri scores 20 in 64-43 rout of Jenks

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The #14 Charles Page High School varsity girls (8-2) had no problem running up the scoreboard against the unranked Jenks Lady Trojans (4-8) Friday night at Frank Herald Gym, emerging to a swift 9-2 lead before allowing the host team to catch back up 16-15 by the end of the first. 

The home team took a brief 3 point lead to start the second quarter but the Sandites responded with an 11 point streak and held a 34-25 lead at halftime.  

The second half was no better for the home team despite the Sandite starters being benched early in the fourth. In the third period the Lady Sandites outscored Jenks 19-6 and 11-10 in the final quarter for a commanding 64-43 victory. 

Gloria Mutiri stole the show scoring 20 points with 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal and 1 assist.  It was Jenks's Jensen Price with the game-high 22, however. 

All the Sandites were impressive and Destiney Johnson and Sydney Pennington each doubled with 11.  

In JV action, the Lady Sandites improved to 5-1 with a 46-45 victory.