San Antonio Bound!

Grapeland Defeats Woden, 48-44

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

BRYAN – The Grapeland Sandiettes are headed back to San Antonio after they hung on to defeat the Woden Lady Eagles in last Saturday’s Region III Tournament Finals by a score of 48-44.

The Sandiettes were looking to get back to the Alamo City while Woden was looking to pull off a major upset.

Grapeland came into the game having beaten the Timpson Lady Bears in Friday night’s Semifinals by a score of 59-42. Woden, on the other hand, had taken down the Crawford Lady Pirates, 42-30, to advance to the title game.

Woden took an early lead and the two teams were tied at halftime. A big third quarter from the Sandiettes, however, gave them just enough cushion to hold on for the 48-44 win and advance to the State Semifinals on Friday in San Antonio.

As the game got underway, the Lady Eagles managed to shut down Grapeland’s up-tempo offense, held the Sandiettes scoreless over the last 2:41 of the first period and took a 14-7 lead after the first period of play.

The Grapeland first quarter points came from Teira Jones with four and Jessie Payne who connected from behind the arc.

Woden was paced by Hannah Hawkins with seven points in the period while Shelby Brookshire drained a three. In addition, Chelsea Brookshire, along with Meagan Johnson, had two apiece.

The second quarter saw Jones pick up her third foul at the 6:48 mark and go to the bench. Three minutes later, Woden had pushed the lead to 17-9, but that was when the Sandiettes came alive.

Back-to-back buckets by Kenya Woods and a two from Tatiyana Bowie cut the lead to 17-15 with 2:17 left in the half.

A free throw from Woods and a three-point play from Payne tied things up at 19 as the first half came to an end.

Woods led the Sandies second quarter surge with five points while Payne added three. Bowie and KeKe Harris added two each to close out the Sandiettes first half scoring.

While the Sandiettes’ offense was starting to rev up, the Grapeland defense held Woden to five points in the second quarter on twos from S. Brookshire and Johnson while Hawkins converted one of two from the charity stripe.

Following the break, the Sandies took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. A three from Payne and a two from Woods put Grapeland up by five and when Jones worked free inside for two, the Sandiettes led 31-24 with 5:28 left in the third.

Grapeland eventually pushed the lead to 38-30 by the end of the quarter. Payne poured in eight while Woods had six and Jones powered in five.

Hawkins tried to keep Woden in the game with nine third quarter points but the only scoring help she received was a two from Johnson as the Lady Eagles trailed by eight, with one quarter left in the game.

The Sandiettes began to work the clock in the fourth and the strategy paid off as they would pass the ball around the perimeter until someone would spring free for an open shot. Jones paced the Sandiettes with six fourth quarter points while Payne added four as the Sandiettes hung on to win the Regional Championship by a final score of 48-44.

On the game, Woden was led in scoring by Hannah Hawkins with a game-high 19 points. Shelby Brookshire netted 11 and Meagan Johnson added 10. Chelsea Brookshire closed out the Lady Eagles scoring with two.

The Sandiettes were led in scoring by Jessie Payne with 18 points. Teira Jones worked inside for 15 and Kenya Woods dropped in 11. Both Tatiyana Bowie and KeKe Harris had two apiece to round out the Grapeland point production.

KeKe Harris, Teira Jones, Jessie Payne and Kenya Woods were selected to the All-Tournament team.

After the game, Coach Robert Payne spoke about his team’s performance.

“Woden did a really good job of getting out ahead early. One thing that helped us was we were able to come back at the end of the second quarter to tie the game up and take some of their momentum away,” he said.

In the second half, Payne said the team came out and ran a couple of plays where they felt they would have a good look at a three. The strategy worked as a pair of treys dropped to flip the momentum to the Sandiettes’ side of the gym.

Concerning the foul trouble Teira Jones was hit with, the coach said, “All the kids stepped up. We used a lot of bench players and they all stepped as well. Then, we took control of the game. When Teira came back in, she was in better control and didn’t feel like she had to do everything. The team stepped up and did everything. It’s just what we do.”

Asked if he thought when he took over the program at the start of the year, the Sandiettes would be back in the same position as last year, Payne smiled and said he felt they had a shot.

“They all stepped up. They played hard, they’re super-athletic and they are all very competitive,” he explained.

Grapeland’s next game will be on Friday in San Antonio at the UIL Class 2A State Tournament. The Sandiettes will face the Gruver Greyhounds in the first Class 2A Semifinal game of the day. The game will be held at the Alamodome and is scheduled to tip-off at 8:30 am.

Best of luck Sandiettes!!

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