Sandite of the Week: Ethan Baxter

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize Charles Page High School freshman Ethan Baxter as Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Tulsa Edison Green and White Tournament this past weekend.

Baxter leads his team in scoring this season with four goals, three of them coming in a single game this weekend. His hat trick led his team to a 4-1 victory over Regent Prep to snap a five-game losing streak. 

He scored his first goal of the season in a 4-0 shutout of Muskogee in the opening week. He scored his first goal of the Regent game on a header less than 8 minutes into the game, then added his second exactly 4 minutes later. 

The Sandites are now 2-7 for the season and came in 6th of 8 teams in the Edison Tournament.

Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. Bylaws prevent the giving of the award to anyone for two consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of a three-person staff committee. 

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

Sandite soccer shuts out Muskogee but drops losses to Metro Christian

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director and Sports Journalist

Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Bobby Behrens's Lady Sandites stormed into Tuesday night's matchup with Metro Christian (3-1) having shut out their last two opponents by a combined score of 15-0. The Lady Patriots would prove to be too much for the Lady Sandites, winning by a final score of 1-0. 

Offensively the girls made a multitude of well timed runs and executed some well-placed passes, but could never quite make it to the ball before Metro junior goalkeeper Olivia Gordan snatched up the ball. The two teams took the game into the second half scoreless as both Gordan and Abigail Banks, Sandite sophomore goalie, made some impressive saves. 

Gordan would continue to stop everything that came her way in the second half. 14 minutes in Brooklyn Eardley passed to Kayla Foster in the box who then dribbled to the left and took a shot towards back post, but Gordan was all over it. After a couple of shots went just wide for the Lady Patriots, Freshman forward Chloe Tregoning took a pass up the right line, cut inwards, and scored a goal just past the diving arms of Banks.

Sand Springs, who defeated East Central 10-0 and Muskogee 5-0 in a very physical game the week prior, was held scoreless for just the second time all season. The loss puts them at 2-1 for the year. 

The Sand Springs boys came in on a high note, after notching their first victory of the season in a shutout of Muskogee 4-0. Metro Christian Academy (3-0) got off to a very quick start scoring in 1:08 as Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano came out of goal in pursuit of a pop up. Soberano lost track of the ball and Patriot Junior midfielder Nick Mckee was able to tap in an easy goal to get things going. The leading scorer however was Senior Riley Mayes who scored on a pair on goals later in the half, one of which was assisted by fellow forward Tyler LaCourse. The final goal for the visiting Patriots came off of a free kick by LaCourse in which there was a cluster of players blocking Soberano's vision allowing the ball to squeak by unseen. 

Soberano and the Sandite back line were able to keep Metro off the board in the second half, but were unable to net a goal. The loss will drop them to 1-2 for the season. Both Sand Springs squads will look to get back into the win column as they play Enid at home on Friday. 

2X Sandite of the Week: Sydney Pennington

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Story and Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The first Sandite to achieve this recognition twice since we began awarding it in November, Charles Page High School junior Sydney Pennington is your new Sandite of the Week for her outstanding accomplishments on the basketball court this past week. 

Tuesday night the #12 Lady Sandites took on the #2 Muskogee Roughers at home and battled within single digits before ultimately falling 50-38. During the game Pennington shot 57% on field goals for a team-leading 11 points. She was second on rebounds with 7, first in steals with 2, and added a block.

Most impressive was the career milestone she hit. Her 11 points were just enough to bring her to 1,000 career points, the most of any Sandite on either the boys' or girls' teams, by a wide margin. 

She followed up that performance Friday night at homecoming with a team-high 22 points, shooting 75% on field goals and 80% on free throws to lead her team to a 60-48 win over the Bixby Spartans. 

This season she has averaged 13 points per game and was named the All Tournament MVP of both the Bishop Kelley Invitational and the Coffeyville Interstate Classic and has scored six team-highs. 

In addition to being an outstanding basketball player, she was also a member of the 2015 6A State Runner-Up softball team and is committed to Oklahoma State University for softball. 

Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. Bylaws prevent the giving of the award to anyone for two consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of a three-person staff committee. 

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

Haddock, Keener lead #13 Sandites to third straight victory

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff

For the third straight game, the Sandites pulled off the win with Brooks Haddock at the helm. 

The current Sandite of the Week scored 25 against Broken Arrow and 21 against Bartlesville last week. This time he scored 19, but he wasn't the only hero for the home team.

Junior Kyle Keener paced the Sandites with 14 points and 7 blocks and scored the first basket of the game for Sand Springs. Coincidentally, Keener wears jersey #33 and spent most of the night matched up against the Roughers' #33, Keondre' Davis.

Roger Lewis and Tavian Davis ran up an 8-2 lead for the #16 Muskogee Roughers (10-7) before Haddock was sent to the line and sank four free throws to narrow the score. 

The 9-6 Rougher lead would quickly evaporate in the second quarter, however, as the Sandites outscored their conference foe 13-4 for a solid 19-13 half-time break.

Muskogee wouldn't let things carry on like that for long, namely Tyreece Berry. 

Berry scored 16 in the third period alone with four three-pointers.

Keondre' and Tavian Davis kicked off the fourth with a pair of buckets to tie things up at 39. Haddock briefly took the lead back before Lewis sank a three to take the first Rougher lead since the second quarter.

The teams exchanged the lead as Keener and Keondre' Davis exchanged free throws. Mack Thompson sank a basket then went two-for-two from the line to make it 47-45 with 0:45 left. Colt Savage added two more with 0:19 left, but Tavian Davis hit a three for a one point deficit.

Finally, with 0:07.6 left, Haddock hit two freebies and the Sandite defense held strong for a 51-48 win. 

The Sandites (13-5) will next take on the #20 Bixby Spartans (9-9) Friday night at Homecoming. Sand Springs beat Bixby 50-45 in their season opener and are currently third in conference standings with a 7-3 record. 

The JV boys won their game 53-40 and improved to 4-6 for the season.

Fourth quarter rally falls short, #2 Muskogee prevails over Lady Sandites

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff

Sometimes you just have to look for silver linings. Tuesday night was one of those times as the #2 Muskogee Lady Roughers (15-2) handled #12 Sand Springs (12-5) 50-38.

Silver lining number one? It could have been a lot worse. The Lady Sandites got off to a very rough start and had to fight from deep in the hole, trailing by 10 after the first, 14 after the second, and 20 midway through the third.

A strong fourth quarter rally allowed the girls to close the gap to single digits at 47-38 before desperation fouls gave the visitors the 12-point win.

Silver lining number two? A lot of the girls who were having trouble executing in the last game and the start of this one finally seemed to rediscover their fire just in time for the last leg of conference battles before Regionals. 

Silver lining number three? Standout junior Sydney Pennington's team-high 11 points were just enough to hit the 1000 mark for her career.

The first three points of the game for the Sandites were free throws as Muskogee trounced up and down the court for a 15-3 advantage before Coach Morrow pulled the entirety of the starting lineup and sent in his second string.

Selena Hitchcock shot the first two-pointer of the game for the home team, and the girls began to  play solid defense, allowing only two more baskets before Morrow returned the starters midway through the second quarter.

From there the Sandites finally began to connect as Pennington and Holly Kersgieter both sank their first baskets of the night. 

Muskogee came out of the half amped up and shot three straight before Pennington responded with a pair of signature transition layups. Jacie Taber, Cierra Scott, Isabella Regalado, and Destiney Johnson all joined in the scoring action to make the score 40-24 going into the final period.

Jada Ford dropped a three to start things off for the Lady Roughers, then Sand Springs went on an eight-point run before Leigh Westbrook sank a two to break things up. Pennington went two-for-two from the charity stripe, but time was nearly out and the girls had to resort to desperation fouls to try and nibble away at the 9 point deficit. 

Unfortunately Muskogee sank three and didn't give Sand Springs a chance to score. 

As much as nobody likes to lose, when it comes to the #2 team in the state, it wasn't out of the blue. The important thing is that the girls battled hard and got some much needed experience as we close in on the playoffs. 

The Lady Sandites drop to 6th in Frontier Valley standings and will next take on the Bixby Lady Spartans in a Friday night home-coming rematch. The Spartans defeated Sand Springs 61-51 in the second game of the season. 

In JV action, the girls improved to 7-3 for the season with a 49-48 win. 

Sandite Junior Sydney Pennington scores 1000 career points

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff

Charles Page High School junior Sydney Pennington sank a pair of free throws to score her 11th point of the night, 212th point of the season, and 1000th career point in the fourth quarter of the Lady Sandites' Tuesday night match up against the #2 Muskogee Roughers. 

The Sandites burned a 30 second timeout to congratulate the baller and she received a standing ovation.

Pennington is a three year starter, and has led her team in scoring all three years. This season she's had four team-highs and was the All Tournament MVP at both the Bishop Kelley Invitational and the Interstate Classic this season, and was last week's Sandite of the Week.

She's an Oklahoma State Cowboy-commit for softball and was part of the CPHS State Runner-Up team this season.