Sandiettes Open District 20-2A with Win
Grapeland 58 Leon 48
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
JEWETT – The Grapeland Sandiettes were on the road Tuesday night as they traveled to Jewett to take on the Leon Lady Cougars in their first District 20-2A game of the season.
Thanks to the loss of four starters to graduation last year and an abbreviated non-district schedule – thanks in large part to COVID-19 – the Sandiettes have struggled in the early part of the season. On Tuesday night, however, it appeared as if the girls found a little cohesion as they picked up a 58-48 road win.
As the game got underway, the two teams appeared to be evenly matched as both struggled to find any offensive continuity in the opening minutes of the contest. The Lady Cougars and the Sandiettes battled back-and-forth throughout the first quarter as Grapeland managed to take a 13-12 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
The Sandiettes were led by Christi Shepherd and Mary Jane Watson with four points apiece in the first quarter. Kyelan Beazley and Lila Munoz both had two while Teira Jones made one of two from the line.
The Lady Cougars first period point production came from Caitlyn Crane and Kassidy Cravey with six apiece.
The second quarter saw the teams racing up and down the court as Leon managed to take a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
Cravey continued to light it up for the Lady Cougars during the second as she poured in eight points while Bobbie Guyton drained a pair of threes. Lara Carrizales also had a three to round out the scoring for Leon in the first half.
Teira Jones
The Sandiettes were paced by Te’Lia Arthur who knocked down five while Beazley and Jones both had four. Shepherd also dropped in two as Grapeland trailed by a score of 29-28 at the break.
After halftime, Jones took over the game. She tied the game at 35 at the four-minute mark and gave the Sandiettes the lead when she canned two free throws with 2:10 left in the third. A lay-up by Arthur put the Sandiettes up by three at the end of the quarter.
Jones accounted for 10 of the 12 points scored by Grapeland in the third while Arthur picked up the other two as the Sandiettes led 40-37 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
Leon’s third quarter points came from Cravey with five and Guyton with three.
The fourth quarter saw the Sandiettes begin to pull away from the Lady Cougars. Beazley had a three-point play with 6:28 left in the quarter while Jones connected on a three-ball, followed by a steal and a lay-up to push the Grapeland margin to 10 with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Leon managed to whittle the lead down to five in the final minute, but the Sandiettes made a couple of adjustments to stymie the Lady Cougars comeback attempt as they picked up the 58-48 win.
The Lady Cougars fourth quarter scoring came from Cravey with five while both Guyton and Lauren Salley hit from behind the three-point line.
Jones showed why she has been selected as an All-State player the last two seasons as she poured in nine points in the final period of play. Beazley joined her in the scoring column with five while Munoz had three and Shepherd chipped in one.
On the game, Leon was led by Kassidy Cravey with 24 points while Bobbie Guyton dropped in four threes for 12. Caitlyn Crane added six while both Lara Carrizales and Lauren Salley had three apiece.
The Sandiettes were paced by Jones with 24 points and Kyelan Beazley with 11. Both Te’Lia Arthur and Christi Shepherd had seven apiece while Lila Munoz had five and Mary Jane Watson dropped in four to close out the Grapeland point production.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
