Sandiettes Finish Second in Chapel Hill

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

MT. PLEASANT – Despite a loss in the finals of the Chapel Hill Tournament, the Grapeland Sandiettes served notice over the weekend that they will be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.

The Sandiettes took on the Chapel Hill Lady Devils in the tournament’s finale and for a long stretch of the game it looked as if the guests might take down the hosts. Ordinarily, in tournament play, that isn’t a big deal.

However, when you’re a smaller school and your host was the undefeated 2019 Class 3A State Champs and they’re currently ranked #2 in the polls, it’s a pretty big deal.

Grapeland came within four points of bringing home the championship but fell to the Lady Devils in the Championship Game by a final score of 56-52. Along the way, however, the Sandiettes opened some eyes about just how dangerous they can be.  

During pool play on Thursday, the Class 2A Sandiettes took on the Class 4A Gilmer Lady Buckeyes and blistered them by a final score of 60-24.

The Sandiettes were led in points by Jessie Payne with 22 while KeKe Harris netted 14 and Teira Jones had nine.  

Grapeland’s next game was against the Class 3A Commerce Lady Tigers on Friday. The contest tipped off early but regardless, the #10 ranked Sandiettes blew out the Lady Tigers by a final of 76-32.

Their second game of the day was against the Class 4A Celina Lady Bobcats and once again the Sandiettes obliterated their opponents by a score of 70-25.

Teira Jones led all scorers as she poured in 23 points. Kenya Woods and KeKe Harris joined Jones in double figures Woods had 18 and Harris dropped in 15 to help lead Grapeland to the win.

It should be noted that while the Sandiettes’ offense is pretty good, their defense ain’t too shabby either. In the win against Celina, Grapeland held the Lady Bobcats to a single basket in the first quarter and shut out the team in the fourth.    

In the semifinals of the tournament, Grapeland took on the Class 4A Kilgore Lady Bulldogs.

Grapeland built an early lead in the first quarter thanks to their defense holding the Lady Bulldogs’ to only four points in the period from Alexis Anderson.

Teira Jones put up five while both Tatiyana Bowie and Kenya Woods dropped in four apiece. Jessie Payne added a bucket to help give the Sandiettes a 15-4 lead after eight minutes of play.

The second quarter against Kilgore saw the Lady Bulldogs get their offense going and pour in 19 points while holding the Sandiettes to 13.

Key’deriana Roy did the most damage for Kilgore with eight while Anderson was right behind her with seven. Jada Abercrombie and Kaleeia Johnson both had two pints as the Lady Bulldogs cut the Sandiettes lead down to five at the break.

The Grapeland second quarter points came from Payne, Woods and Ja’Miyah Bowie with three apiece. Jones and KeKe Harris added the other four as the Sandiettes led at halftime by a score of 28-23.

While it was close at halftime, Grapeland opened up the second half on fire from the field while holding Kilgore to five points on three from Abercrombie and two from Aniya Williams.

Jones singed the twine for eight while both J. Bowie and Payne had six apiece. Woods had four and Harris hit from downtown to give the Sandiettes a 55-28 lead after the third quarter.

Kilgore appeared to be shell shocked after the third quarter barrage and only added four to their total on buckets from Anderson and Jayla Thomaschaske.

Payne dropped in seven of her game-high 18 points in the final period of play. Aeriannia Granderson got in the scoring column with a three-pointer, while T. Bowie, Harris, Jones and Christi Shepherd all had two.

The Sandiettes were back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 10 against the Emory-Rains Lady Bobcats, but as of press time, the score was unavailable.

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

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