Sandiettes Open District Play with a Win

Grapeland Powers Past Slocum, 87-26

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

SLOCUM – Wow. It wasn’t a surprise that the Grapeland Sandiettes defeated the Slocum Lady Mustangs on Tuesday, Dec 11. After all, the Sandiettes and Lady Mustangs have developed quite a rivalry over the years and usually the games can go either way. But for Grapeland to beat Slocum by 61 points, that was a shocker – to say the least.

At least on paper, the game appeared to be evenly matched as the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) had the Sandiettes ranked at #16 while Slocum was a spot behind at #17.

Slocum made it to the state semifinals in Class 1A last season and brought back several starters from that squad. Grapeland – on the other hand – made it to the Regional Quarterfinals, lost to La Poyner, but brought everyone back.

Unfortunately for the Lady Mustangs, three of their normal first-team five were sidelined by injury. That factor alone certainly didn’t help the Slocum cause as the Sandiettes went on a 12-3 run to start the game and never looked back.

Grapeland’s Teira Jones and Hannah Chipman got off to fast starts as Jones dropped in 14 while Chipman netted eight in the first quarter. Ragan Bowie and KeKe Harris connected from behind the three-point line. In addition, JaMiyah Bowie and Tatiyanna Bowie added two apiece as the Sandiettes raced out to a 32-10 lead.

The Lady Mustangs points came on a pair of threes from Courtney January and Gina Lively. Jalyn Fletcher netted two and Gabi Skelton knocked down a pair of free throws to round out Slocum’s first quarter offensive output.

The second quarter didn’t get much better for the Lady Mustangs as they continued to struggle from the field. Lively hit her second three of the game but two free throws – one by Fletcher and the other by Skelton – were the only other points Slocum could muster before halftime.

Grapeland continued to run-and-gun as they dropped another 14 points on the host team to make the score 46-15 at the break. Jones added another six to her total while Harris had five and R. Bowie nailed a three.

The third quarter was just ugly for Slocum as they didn’t score a single point.  The Sandiettes, meanwhile, put the game on ice as they dropped in 27 points to take a 73-15 lead into the fourth quarter.

Chipman took over in the third as she pumped in 13 points. Harris had seven, Jones netted another four and R. Bowie hit her third three of the game to close out the period.

The fourth quarter was basically garbage time. Skelton scored five for the Lady Mustangs while Libby Kessel had three, Fletcher had two and Bella McNeill hit one of two from the charity stripe.

Tori Woodford paced the Sandiettes in the fourth with a pair of three-pointers. Jones put in four more, R. Bowie hit a pair from the line and Kenya Woods broke into the scoring column with two as the Sandiettes rolled the Lady Mustangs by a final score of 87-26.

On the game, the Lady Mustangs were led in scoring by Gabi Skelton with eight, Gina Lively with six and Jalyn Fletcher with five. Both Courtney January and Libby Kessel had three while Bella McNeill chipped in one.

Grapeland was led by Teira Jones with a game-high 28 points. Hannah Chipman went for 21 and KeKe Harris had 15. Ragan Bowie knocked down 11, Tori Woodford had six and a trio of Sandiettes – JaMiyah Bowie, Tatiyanna Bowie and Kenya Woods – all had two.

 

 

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