Sandiettes Bring Home Crossroads Tourney Championship

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CROSS ROADS – The Grapeland Sandiettes are beginning to make some noise in basketball circles once again as District 20-2A play approaches. For the first time in a long time, the Sandiettes went to a basketball tournament over the weekend and returned to the Queen City of the Sand Flats with a championship trophy, but they did just that this past weekend.

The Sandiettes were 3-0 in Pool Play with wins over Athens Prep and Robert E. Lee on Dec. 8, as well as a 22 point win over the Elkhart Lady Elks on Dec. 9.

The tournament resumed on Dec. 10 with Bracket Play. The Sandiettes defeated the Eustace Lady Bulldogs on Saturday morning by a score of 56-44 to move into the championship game against their hosts for the weekend, the Crossroads Lady Bobcats.

The Sandiettes raced out to an 18-11 lead after the first eight minutes of play behind 10 points from Hannah Chipman, six from Tatiyanna Bowie and a basket from KeKe Harris.

The Lady Bobcats were led by Sara Spivey with six points in the quarter while Marilyn Alvarado had three and Grayson Cain added two.

As the second quarter got underway, the Crossroads defense tightened up somewhat and held the Grapeland offense to 10 points in the quarter. Bowie and Chipman both scored four while Deanna McKnight added two.

Meanwhile, the Lady Bo
bcats offense began to chip away at the Grapeland lead. Spivey scored another six in the second period while Cain added four, Hannah Latham hit a three pointer and Cynay Wilson scored two to make the halftime score 28-26, in favor of Grapeland.

After the halftime break, the two teams played fairly even throughout the third quarter. The Sandiettes scored 12 in the third on seven from Chipman, three from Harris and two from McKnight.

The Lady Bobcats were led by Wilson with five points in the quarter while Alvarado and Spivey both had two. Cain and Latham each made one of two from the line and with one quarter left to play, the Sandiettes led 40-37.

With the game on the line, the Sandiettes stepped up to score 22 points in the final eight minutes of play. The Sandiettes hit eight of nine free throws in the fourth quarter while the Lady Bobcats only managed to knock down six of 12 from the line.

Chipman scored nine for Grapeland in the quarter while Bowie went for five and both Harris and McKnight scored four apiece.

Spivey led the way for Crossroads with five, as Alvarado dropped in four and Latham added one to make the final score 62-47. The win meant the Sandiettes were 5-0 over the weekend and returned to Grapeland as tournament champs for the first time in a long time.

On the game, the Lady Bobcats were led by Sara Spivey with 19 points. She was followed by Marilyn Alvarado with nine while Grayson Cain and Cynay Wilson both scored seven. Hannah Latham rounded out the Crossroads scoring with five.

The Sandiettes were led by Hannah Chipman’s game high 30 points. Tatiyanna Bowie poured in 15, KeKe Harris scored nine and Deanna McKnight dropped in eight to close out the Grapeland scoring.

Following the game, Coach Anthony DeCello commented on his team’s performance over the weekend. “They have wanted this since Franklin. They were a little down since they didn’t get to play Franklin. Both of them were 6-0 at that time. They were hungry since then and this was their process,” he said.

“I told them when we left yesterday, they had two games to get to where you wanted to be since Franklin. They played real well.  We beat Athens and Lee in Pool play and then we beat Eustace in the semifinals and Crossroads in the finals,” Coach DeCello said.

On his finals’ opponent, DeCello said, “I knew they had some really good shooters. They have some juniors and seniors who can stretch the floor. We knew we couldn’t put as much pressure on them as we would like because they are a lot more disciplined. WE knew they wouldn’t run into traps and then we had to hustle back on defense because they have some kids who can shoot.”

“To me,” he emphasized, “our defensive transition was the key to winning the tournament. I think Hannah Chipman had a really outstanding tournament. She really stepped up at some key moments and made some big shots. I also think KeKe Harris had a really good tournament at the point. DeDe McKnight also had a good tournament. She did well when KeKe got into foul trouble and did a really nice job. Both of them did a really nice job of handling the ball in the entire tournament. Tatiyanna is also starting to come around in the post. She’s undermanned down there, but she battles for every rebound and she runs the floor great. Now, she’s starting to gather herself and power up.”

Before he left to celebrate the championship, DeCello added, “We also shot our free throws well. It shows you a lot about a kid like KeKe who missed a couple of free throws that could have won the game against Slocum and for her to come back today – she was just knocking down free throw after free throw.”

Will Johnson may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].