Lady Sandite Basketball sweeps first three games in dominant fashion

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The Charles Page High School girls basketball team is off to a hot start on the year, winning its first three games by an average of 42 points per outing. 

Ranked No. 15 in Class 6A, the Sandites easily handled Owasso 54-37 in the season-opener, then pummeled Northwest Classen 90-26 and Tulsa Central 54-8 at the Golden Days Hoop Festival.

Senior star Journey Armstead scored 20 points with five steals and four rebounds to power the Sandites to their seventh straight win against the Rams. 

Leyshia Morris, Hailey Jackson, Taiona Morris, and Sakauri Wilson each contributed 8 points apiece for the Sandites in a balanced first-string effort, and Avery Tanner scored 2. 

“That's what we're going to need for us to be really good,” said Sandites coach Josh Berry. “We have to have that. We can't rely on one or two people to get us there. I talk to all of them about that, being ready, staying aggressive, and spreading the wealth around.”

Sand Springs won the junior varsity game 40-36 behind a 15-point effort from Abby Martin. Fayth Walker scored 12, Kiaryn Taylor scored 6, Patience Pearce scored 4, Kadence Bentley scored 2, and Tay’ja Butler scored 1.

On Thursday the girls were led by Armstead with 22 points and Jackson with 20. Taylor scored 11, Leyshia Morris scored 10, Walker had 7, Wilson and Taiona Morris scored 6, Avery Tanner had 4, and Layne Kirkendoll and Patience Pearce scored 2. 

Friday’s game against Yukon was canceled, so the game against Central was moved up from Saturday and the Sandites took a 52-0 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Braves finally found their way onto the scoreboard.

Jackson led all scorers with 15 points and six rebounds, followed by Armstead with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and six assists. Kirkendoll collected 11 rebounds and scored four points from the bench.

Wilson and Taylor scored 5, Tanner had 4, Leyshia Morris scored 3, and Pearce and Taiona Morris scored 2 each. 

The Lady Sandites will get their first ranked test Tuesday at No. 17 Jenks (2-2, 1-0) in a conference battle. The Sandites have won their last 15 games against the Trojans. 

Sandite Girls Basketball poised for great season

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There are only eight days left till the Charles Page High School girls’ basketball program tips off the season, and the Lady Sandites seem poised for what should be a great season.

Sand Springs is entering its third year under head coach Josh Berry, who guided the team to a 12-9 record last year and was 15-8 in his first season. 

The core of last year’s unit is intact after graduating only two seniors. While the Sandites will miss Bayleigh Cheney and Darrian Jordan, they won’t be short on talent.

84% of the team’s scoring power will return, including senior star Journey Armstead, who averaged 16.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last year, and Hailey Jackson, who averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds.

“Armstead is of course going to be big on that (leadership),” says Berry. “She brings playmaking ability. She makes shots when shots need to be made. She's just a playmaker all the way around for us, and of course, in the locker room, she’s a leader in that area too.”

“Then we’ve got Layne Kirkendoll. I think she’s going to be able to step into a bigger role. She’s gotten better every year that we’ve had her and I think she’s one of the smarter players that I’ve coached in a while. She knows where everybody needs to be. So I think those two are going to be really big on the vocal aspect of everything.”

“A big part of us being really good this year is going to be Hailey Jackson scoring. She has to step that role up and be a big scorer, and so does Sakauri Wilson. They have to step up and kind of take the pressure off of Journey to have to score so much.”

Wilson, Armstead’s sophomore sister, averaged 7 points and 2.6 steals per game last year.

The team is filled with upperclassmen, with Avery Tanner, Kirkendoll, and Leyshia Morris all in their senior years.

Girls’ basketball has been one of the most successful Sandite sports in recent years, with three consecutive Regional and Area Championships from 2017 to 2019. Last year the girls made it to the Area playoffs and beat Edmond Memorial before falling 36-33 to Midwest City.

“Our goal every year is to get better every day both individually and as a group,” says Berry. “ If we can do that then I think the rest will take care of itself. We do have a group here that’s pretty special, so if the ball bounces in the right direction, then you know, we’ve got a shot.”

“I think strength wise, defense is what we’re going to be really good at. I think that’s what we’re going to have to lay our hat on, is being there defensively.” Last year the girls averaged 10.5 steals per game.

“I do think we can play with anybody, we can beat anybody in the state. Now I do think we can lose to anybody if we don’t come ready to play. So you know, that’s kind of how I approach the girls all the time. Any given night we can win, any given night we can lose. It just depends on what type of energy we’re going to bring and what type of execution we’re going to bring.”

The girls will tip off the season Tuesday, December 7th with a Frontier Valley Conference home game against Owasso at 6:30 p.m., then will compete at the Tulsa Central tournament that weekend.

They will also compete at the Jenks/Union tournament in January, and will travel to Tampa Bay, Florida for a tournament over Christmas break.

“It’s something new for me, something I haven’t done with a group yet in my 13 years of coaching,” says Berry. “I just thought this was a group that’s been together a while, a special group that I wanted to reward them to be able to go out of town and hopefully go see some competition and hopefully be in another region for scholarship potentials. It’s a pretty good tournament, it’s going to be pretty big. There's going to be some good competition from all over the country.”

Sandite Basketball ends season in Area playoffs

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Sandite high school basketball ended its season this past weekend in the Area playoffs. The boys fell 61-40 to No. 12 Union Friday night at Owasso, while the girls won their first-round game 50-46 against No. 11 Edmond Memorial before falling 36-33 to No. 7 Midwest City Saturday afternoon in Edmond.

The No. 13 Lady Sandites (12-9) paid back a December loss against Edmond Memorial with an overtime thriller Thursday night. Junior star Journey Armstead scored a game-high 22 points with five steals and six assists against the Bulldogs, but the Bombers held her to only 12 points on Saturday. She finished her season averaging 16.9 points per game and joined the 1,000 point club in January.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

Journey Armstead leads Lady Sandites to playoff win at Edmond

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Sometimes it’s less about how many points you score, and more about when you score them.

Isabel Langenberg only had six points for the Edmond Memorial Bulldogs Thursday night, but her two baskets gave her team their only two leads of the game. Meanwhile, Journey Armstead was only 4-of-8 on free throws until the final 30 seconds of regulation, but she focused in and went 7-of-8 when it counted to lift Sand Springs to the win.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

Sandite Basketball teams advance to Area playoffs

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Survive and advance. The Charles Page High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams came up short of securing Regional Championships, but both teams won their first round games and advanced to this week’s Area playoffs.

The Sandite boys (7-10) rolled into Regionals unranked with a losing record, but that didn’t stop them from putting their foes on upset alert. First they knocked off No. 8 Jenks 43-40 on Friday, then they took No. 10 Broken Arrow to the wire in Saturday’s championship, only falling 42-38 after leading early in the fourth.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

Snow stalls Sand Springs sports schedules

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Ice, snow, and a week of sub-freezing temperatures have wreaked havoc with schools and extracurricular activities across Oklahoma. Sand Springs Public Schools lost four days of instruction before shifting to virtual learning, but unfortunately for the Sandites there is no way to play sports virtually.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.