Sandiettes Tip-off Season with Win

Grapeland Defeats Winnsboro, 74-58

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

WINNSBORO – When the preseason polls came out, the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches ranked the Grapeland Sandiettes as the #7 team in Class 2A while the Winnsboro Lady Raiders were ranked at #11 in Class 3A and in the 2018-2019 season opener, the two teams faced off against one another.

While it seemed the Lady Raiders might have the upper hand playing at home, Winnsboro was stunned -to say the least – as Grapeland Jumped out to a 27-8 first quarter lead and never looked back as they cruised to a 74-58 win.

Two things were apparent at the outset of the game. The first was the Sandiettes’ speed was too much for the Lady Raiders and caused them to commit silly fouls. The end result was Winnsboro guard Taryn Davis picked up four fouls in the first half and was a non-factor throughout the game.

The other was the play of the Sandiettes down low. Grapeland’s Teira Jones and Tatiyana Bowie proved too much for the Winnsboro post players and also put Lady Raider Daryn McKee in foul trouble in the first half.

The Sandiettes opened up a 19 point lead in the first quarter behind 12 points from Jones, eight from Hannah Chipman, two three-pointers from Ragan Bowie and a free throw from Kenya Woods.

Defensively, Grapeland held Winnsboro to eight points behind four from McKee and four from Navy Briggs as the Sandiettes led by a score of 27-8 after the first period.

The second quarter saw the Sandiettes strike from the outside as Bowie hit three more three balls. Chipman added four and Jones chipped in three.

The Lady Raiders showed a little more offense in the second period as Davis hit for six while a trio of Lady Raiders – McKee, Abi Nichols and Rachel Pinnell – all had two. Despite the increased point production, Winnsboro fell further behind and trailed 45-20 at the break.

After halftime, the Lady Raiders tried to shoot themselves back into from behind the three-point line. Briggs, Darli Mabry, Kristen McMillen all had three while Pinnell dropped in seven points.

Grapeland maintained its composure, however, as they kept pace with Winnsboro. Bowie had five, Jones had four, Chipman had three while Woods and KeKe Harris both added two as the Sandiettes led by a score of 61-39 with eight minutes remaining to play.

Try as they might, the Lady Raiders couldn’t mount a comeback but did manage to get the lead under 20. Leah Ward led the way with seven points while Briggs and Mabry both had four. McKee added two and Sage Brown closed out the Winnsboro scoring with a two of her own.

Grapeland coasted in the final eight minutes and only scored 13 points. Jones dropped in seven while Harris and Woods both had two to close out the game with the final score 74-58, in favor of Grapeland.

On the game, the Sandiettes were led by Teira Jones with 26 points. Ragan Bowie had 22, Hannah Chipman added 15, KeKe Harris had six and Kenya Woods chipped in five.

The Sandiettes are back in action on Saturday, Nov. 10 as they tangle with the Brownsboro Lady Bears. JV tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. with varsity following at 2:30 p.m.

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