For the sixth time in the past nine years, the Lady Sandite basketball team (4-1) is headed back to the finals at the Bishop Kelley Invitational, but it came at a cost.
The defending tournament champions defeated the host team 50-33 Friday night, but lost Kiaryn Taylor to a potentially season-ending injury.
“We don’t know the severity of it yet, but anytime you get hurt in your senior season, it’s a tragedy,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’ve just got to pray for her, hope for the best, and see what happens.”
Fresh off a career-best 23-point performance on Thursday, the uncommitted senior was only just starting to scratch the surface of her potential, and she was a key piece of the Sandites’ State Championship aspirations.
“That means there’s got to be somebody else who steps up,” said Berry. “They’ve got to play harder. She did a lot for us talking and getting everybody in position, so somebody else is going to have to be in that role.”
The starting power forward had 6 points and 4 rebounds when she went down with 5:12 left to play in severe knee pain and had to be carried off the court.
The girls already owned a 44-26 advantage at the time of Taylor’s loss and held on to earn a rematch with No. 8 Owasso (4-1), who dealt Sand Springs its only loss of the season last week.
The Sandites never once trailed in the game, jumping out to a 12-7 first quarter advantage before taking a 25-12 lead into the locker room.
Aaliyah Simone hit her first career field goal from three-point range on an assist from Taylor to open the second quarter and went on to have a breakout game with 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 steals.
“She’s another one that’s a big-time freshman for us,” said Berry. “She’s got a lot of potential, she’s just got to keep getting better day by day. She’s going to help us out now, but she’s going to help us out tremendously down the stretch.”
In the third quarter the Sandites led by as mitch as 36-14 before a late 7-0 run from the Comets kept things interesting. A late trey from Simone gave the visitors a 41-21 lead to enter the fourth.
Sakauri Wilson used Thursday’s mismatch against Edison Prep as a rest and recovery opportunity but returned to the lineup Friday to lead the team with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 steals, and 5 assists.
“She’s always on one-hundred percent whether she’s hurting or not hurting, feeling sick or not feeling sick, so that’s the good thing about her,” said Berry. “You know you’re going to get a hundred every time she steps out there.”
Tiaona Morris also had 14 points for the Sandites to go with 4 steals and 3 assists.
Sand Springs will face off against Owasso Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to defend their last year’s tournament title. It will be a rematch of last year’s 51-49 title game, also against the Rams.
“They’re a good team, well coached, we’ve just got to see if we learned from last Friday,” said Berry. “They’re definitely going to give us everything they can and we’ve got to be able to withstand it and make runs ourselves.”
On Thursday, the Sandites got a pep talk from a Bishop Kelley staff member who has some experience winning titles at Sand Springs.
The Comets’ freshman basketball and varsity golf coach, Linda Garrett, spoke to the Sandites in their locker room following their 58-24 victory.
Garrett was the head coach at Sand Springs in the 1990s and led the Sandites to back-to-back State finals appearances, winning the program’s only gold ball in 1994.
“It was great,” said Berry. “It was just letting them see what a Sandite is from a Sandite coach that’s done it before, that’s been on championship teams.”
“They really like it, they responded well. I think it gave them a little boost of energy.”
Bishop Kelley (2-2) will play No. 15 Mustang (3-2) Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the third-place match. Mustang fell 47-38 to Owasso in its semifinal.
CPHS 50 BK 33
1Q: CPHS 12-7.
2Q: CPHS 13-5.
3Q: CPHS 16-9.
4Q: BK 12-9.
Free Throws: CPHS 3-of-5, BK 10-of-22.
Field Goals: CPHS 19-of-47, BK 11-of-37.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 5, BK 12.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 15, BK 16.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 20, BK 28.
Steals: CPHS 17, BK 11.
Blocks: CPHS 1, BK 3.
Fouls: CPHS 17, BK 11.
Sand Springs Statistics
Points: Wilson 14, Morris 14, Simone 9, Ti. Butler 6, Taylor 6, Ta. Butler 1.
Offensive Rebounds: Wilson 1, Morris 1, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Simone 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Wilson 4, Pearce 3, Taylor 3, Ti. Butler 2, Morris 1, Ta. Butler 1, Simone 1.
Total Rebounds: Wilson 5, Taylor 4, Pearce 3, Morris 2, Ta. Butler 2, Ti. Butler 2, Simone 2.
Steals: Wilson 7, Morris 4, Simone 4, Ti. Butler 2.
Assists: Wilson 5, Morris 3, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Ti. Butler 1.
Blocks: Taylor 1.
Fouls: Taylor 4, Morris 3, Ta. Butler 3, Simone 2, Pearce 2, Wilson 1, Ti. Butler 1, Crain 1.
Bishop Kelley Statistics
Points: Strandmark 10, Jolin 5, Rabb 5, Blankenship 5, Grisaffe 4, George 2, Weber 1, Dale 1.
Fouls: Grisaffe 3, Weber 3, Evans 2, Jolin 1, Strandmark 1, Rabb 1.
