Sandiettes Withstand Comeback, Advance to Regional Quarters

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

MADISONVILLE – Whew! What a game! Just when the Grapeland Sandiettes seemed to have the game put away, the Rosebud-Lott Lady Cougars came back to seize the momentum and take a late lead.

As the final minutes ticked away, however, the Sandiettes used a defensive surge to reclaim the lead and seemed to have it iced.

Up by five with less than nine seconds remaining, Lady Cougar Keauna Whitfield hit a three from what seemed like North Zulch to cut the lead to two points with 2.1 seconds remaining.

On their most important play of the season to date, the Sandiettes managed to successfully inbound the ball, run out the clock and capture the Area Championship by a score of 45-43. The victory moves Grapeland to the Regional Quarterfinals.

The game started off with both teams showing some nerves as neither squad was able to score a single point in the first two minutes of play. Once Grapeland managed to make a steal and score a basket, it seemed to relax the Sandiettes as they went on to score 20 points in the opening eight minutes of play.

Tatiyana Bowie and Hannah Chipman both netted seven points in the first period while DeDe McKnight had four and KeKe Harris had two for the Sandiettes.

The Lady Cougars were led by Keauna Whitfield with five and Rebecca Bennett with four.

The Grapeland offense was slowed, somewhat, in the second as Rosebud-Lott held them to 10 total points on five from Chipman, three from Bowie and two from Kenya Woods.

Whitfield scored six for the Lady Cougars and Alexandra Minor dropped in four to bring the score to 30-19 at the break.

After halftime, a combination of ice-cold shooting, nerves and the Lady Cougars defense had the Sandiettes struggling to find the basket. Grapeland only managed three third quarter points on a Bowie basket and a Chipman free throw.

Meanwhile, the Rosebud-Lott offense seemed to find their offensive rhythm as they poured in 14 points to knot the score at 33 with one quarter left to play.

Whitfield and Au’lyric Hargrove both scored four while three other Lady Cougars – Tayler Fulton, Kailey Bennett and R. Bennett – all had two.

As the fourth quarter got underway, Rosebud-Lott took a two point lead before Grapeland tied it up at 35 with 5:30 remaining. The Sandiettes rattled off five straight points to take a 40-35 lead at the 4:34 mark but Whitfield hit a 3-pointer and then added a two to tie the score at 40 with three minutes remaining.

Bowie made a layup at the 2:48 mark and Chipman added a basket at 1:48 to make the score 44-40. The Lady Cougars began to play hack-a-Sandiette and if Grapeland had been able to convert any shots the game would have been over.

Conversely, if the Lady Cougars had been able to capitalize on the Grapeland misses, the game very easily could have ended differently. As it was, after Chipman’s last two, neither team scored again until the clock crept under 10 seconds.

Chipman converted one of two from the charity stripe at the 8.6 second mark to set the stage for Whitfield’s three and the final inbounds play for Grapeland.

The Lady Cougars were led in scoring by Keauna Whitfield with 25 points. Rebecca Bennet had six while both Kailey Bennett and Au’lyric Hargrove had four. Kailey Bennett and Tayler Fulton rounded out the Rosebud-Lott scoring with two each.

The Sandiettes were led in scoring by Tatiyana Bowie with 19 points and Hannah Chipman with 16. DeDe McKnight dropped in four while three Sandiettes- Ragan Bowie, KeKe Harris and Kenya Woods – all had two to account for the Grapeland point production in the game.

“It was a hard fought game,” Sandiette Head Coach Anthony DeCello said. “I thought we came out very nervous at the beginning and then we relaxed in the second quarter and started playing well. Then, things got really tight in the third quarter.”

“The more they scored, the more their fans got into it and I think we didn’t handle it real well. Our offense wasn’t in sync. They were killing us on the boards, Whitfield was scoring at will while we only scored three points in the entire third quarter,” he said.

The fourth quarter was a different story, according to DeCello.

“The ball started changing hands, we started cutting to the basket and we came up with some good plays. We battled on the boards at both ends and all of a sudden it was a whole different ball game when they only got one shot as opposed to getting three or four,” the coach said.

“Our kids were resilient. We missed three straight front ends of one and ones. Even through that, we played well defensively when we needed to,” DeCello said.

The 45-43 win gave the Sandiettes a date with the La Poyner Lady Flyers on Tuesday, Feb. 21 but as of press time, the score was unavailable.

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

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