Sandiettes Finish District Play 10-0
Bi-District Set for Tuesday in Fairfield
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CENTERVILLE – The Grapeland Sandiettes capped off an undefeated District 20-2A season with a 47-44 win over the Centerville Lady Tigers on Tuesday evening.
The Lady Tigers appeared to have a plan to take down the Sandiettes in the final district game of the season. Last year, it was Hannah Chipman who tormented Centerville. In the first game between the Sandiettes and Lady Tigers this year, it was Teira Jones.
Centerville set out to take Chipman and Jones out of the offensive mix and did just that in the opening minutes of the game. It appeared, however, they forgot about Ragan and Tatiyanna Bowie. And the two sisters made the Lady Tigers pay.
R. Bowie and T. Bowie both had six points apiece in the first quarter to stake the Sandiettes to an early 12-5 lead.
Hannah Matthews and Sara Stutzman both scored two while Raylynn Brewer added a free throw to round out the Centerville first quarter points.
The two teams played each evenly during the second quarter with Centerville slicing a single point off of the Grapeland lead. R. Bowie dropped in another five for the Sandiettes while Teira Jones got going with four points in the quarter. T. Bowie chipped in a two which made the halftime score 23-17.
Tara Goolsby paced the Lady Tigers with six in the second while Matthews had four and Brewer had two to close out the half.
After the break, the Lady Tigers began to make a comeback attempt. Stutzman knocked down a pair of shots from behind the arc while a trio of Centerville players – Brewer, Goolsby and Brittany West – all had four points in the quarter.
The Sandiettes seemed to struggle from the fields after intermission and allowed the Lady Tigers to even the score at 35 by the end of the third quarter. R. Bowie connected on her fourth and fifth three pointers of the game while T. Bowie, Jones and KeKe Harris all had two.
As the fourth quarter got underway, so did Hannah Chipman. The junior guard had been held scoreless for the first three quarters but erupted in the final period of play with nine points. Jones had two and T. Bowie added a free throw as the Sandiettes held on to win by a final score of 47-44.
For the game, the Lady Tigers were led by Tara Goolsby with 12 and Sara Stutzman with 11 points. Raylynn Brewer had nine, Hannah Matthews had eight and Brittany West had four to close out the Centerville scoring.
The Sandiettes’ scoring leaders were Ragan Bowie with 17 and Tatiyanna Bowie with 11 points. Hannah Chipman had nine, Teira Jones had eight and KeKe Harris chipped in two as the Sandiettes finished district play with an unblemished 10-0 record.
The Sandiettes next scheduled game will be for the Bi-District Championship against the Italy Lady Gladiators. The game will be held at the Fairfield High School gymnasium on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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