Sandiettes Pick Up First District Win

Grapeland 47 Latexo 26

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Sandiettes welcomed the Latexo Lady Tigers to town on Tuesday afternoon for a matinee game in District 20-2A.

Even though it is way early in league play, the Lovelady Lady Lions are expected to take the top spot in district at the end of the regular season. The second, third and fourth seeds out of 20-2A are very much in play and will likely go down to the wire before the playoff field is set in February.

With that being said, both Grapeland and Latexo came into the game winless in district so a win would give one team a leg up in the race for the postseason.

The two teams started off slowly as Grapeland took a 23-5 lead at halftime. Latexo, however, came roaring back in the third quarter and only trailed by seven entering the final period of play. While they made a valiant effort, the Lady Tigers comeback bid came up short as they seemed to run out of gas in the fourth, which allowed the Sandiettes to pull away and win by a final score of 47-26.

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Once the game got underway, both teams struggled from the field. Latexo only managed two points in the opening eight minutes of play on a basket from Charlee Biano.

On the other end of the court, the Sandiettes didn’t fare much better as they could only muster seven points on buckets from Cyshia Black, Sa’Riah Davis and Te’Lia Jones. Jones also converted a free throw on an “and one” to help the Sandiettes take the early lead.

The Lady Tigers’ shooting woes continued in the second quarter as they were shut out from the field. Furthermore, Latexo’s only second quarter points came from Malley Moore who managed to convert a trio of free throws.

The Sandiettes saw Destiny Bolden come alive with 10 points in the second while Jones added another four. Davis chipped in a basket to close out the first half scoring and help the Sandiettes take a 23-5 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Following the break, Latexo came out and made a game of things. The Lady Tigers chipped away at the lead and got it down to 10 on a pair of Skyler Andrus free throws at the three- minute mark. They kept chipping away and when the horn sounded to end the third quarter, Latexo only trailed by seven, 29-22.

Andrus led the charge for the Lady Tigers with six third quarter points while Moore had five. Biano, Calli Duvall and Natali Smith all had two apiece.

The Sandiettes’ third quarter points came from Madison Files with three, Morgan Terry with two and Jones, who converted one of two from the line.  

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Coach Don Jackson must have said something between quarters because Grapeland came out ready to play in the fourth.

Latexo opened up the fourth quarter in a press which seemed to frustrate the Sandiettes until they figured it out. Once they did, Jones poured in 10 points while Bolden dropped in six. Davis added another basket in the fourth to help Grapeland pull away and win by a final score of 47-26.

Biano scored all four points in the final period for the Lady Tigers.

On the game, Latexo was led in scoring by Malley Moore with 10 points and Charlee Biano with eight. Skylin Andrus added six while Calli Duvall and Natalie Smith chipped in two apiece to close out the Latexo point production.

The Sandiettes were led in scoring by Te’Lia Jones with 18 and Destiny Bolden with 16. Sa’Riah Davis netted six and Madison Files had three. In addition, Cyshia Black and Morgan Terry had two apiece to help round out the Sandiettes’ scoring.

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