Lady Sandites Rout Bishop Kelley 50-33 in Tournament Semifinals

Freshman Aaliyah Simone had a breakout performance against Bishop Kelley. (Photo by Charity Emigh).

For the sixth time in the past nine years, the Lady Sandite basketball team (4-1) is headed back to the finals at the Bishop Kelley Invitational, but it came at a cost.

The defending tournament champions defeated the host team 50-33 Friday night, but lost Kiaryn Taylor to a potentially season-ending injury.

“We don’t know the severity of it yet, but anytime you get hurt in your senior season, it’s a tragedy,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’ve just got to pray for her, hope for the best, and see what happens.”

Fresh off a career-best 23-point performance on Thursday, the uncommitted senior was only just starting to scratch the surface of her potential, and she was a key piece of the Sandites’ State Championship aspirations.

“That means there’s got to be somebody else who steps up,” said Berry. “They’ve got to play harder. She did a lot for us talking and getting everybody in position, so somebody else is going to have to be in that role.”

The starting power forward had 6 points and 4 rebounds when she went down with 5:12 left to play in severe knee pain and had to be carried off the court.

The girls already owned a 44-26 advantage at the time of Taylor’s loss and held on to earn a rematch with No. 8 Owasso (4-1), who dealt Sand Springs its only loss of the season last week.

The Sandites never once trailed in the game, jumping out to a 12-7 first quarter advantage before taking a 25-12 lead into the locker room.

Aaliyah Simone hit her first career field goal from three-point range on an assist from Taylor to open the second quarter and went on to have a breakout game with 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 steals.

“She’s another one that’s a big-time freshman for us,” said Berry. “She’s got a lot of potential, she’s just got to keep getting better day by day. She’s going to help us out now, but she’s going to help us out tremendously down the stretch.”

In the third quarter the Sandites led by as mitch as 36-14 before a late 7-0 run from the Comets kept things interesting. A late trey from Simone gave the visitors a 41-21 lead to enter the fourth.

Sakauri Wilson used Thursday’s mismatch against Edison Prep as a rest and recovery opportunity but returned to the lineup Friday to lead the team with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 steals, and 5 assists.

“She’s always on one-hundred percent whether she’s hurting or not hurting, feeling sick or not feeling sick, so that’s the good thing about her,” said Berry. “You know you’re going to get a hundred every time she steps out there.”

Tiaona Morris also had 14 points for the Sandites to go with 4 steals and 3 assists.

Sand Springs will face off against Owasso Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to defend their last year’s tournament title. It will be a rematch of last year’s 51-49 title game, also against the Rams.

“They’re a good team, well coached, we’ve just got to see if we learned from last Friday,” said Berry. “They’re definitely going to give us everything they can and we’ve got to be able to withstand it and make runs ourselves.”

On Thursday, the Sandites got a pep talk from a Bishop Kelley staff member who has some experience winning titles at Sand Springs.

The Comets’ freshman basketball and varsity golf coach, Linda Garrett, spoke to the Sandites in their locker room following their 58-24 victory.

Garrett was the head coach at Sand Springs in the 1990s and led the Sandites to back-to-back State finals appearances, winning the program’s only gold ball in 1994.

“It was great,” said Berry. “It was just letting them see what a Sandite is from a Sandite coach that’s done it before, that’s been on championship teams.”

“They really like it, they responded well. I think it gave them a little boost of energy.”

Bishop Kelley (2-2) will play No. 15 Mustang (3-2) Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the third-place match. Mustang fell 47-38 to Owasso in its semifinal.

CPHS 50 BK 33

1Q: CPHS 12-7.
2Q: CPHS 13-5.
3Q: CPHS 16-9.
4Q: BK 12-9.
Free Throws: CPHS 3-of-5, BK 10-of-22.
Field Goals: CPHS 19-of-47, BK 11-of-37.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 5, BK 12.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 15, BK 16.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 20, BK 28.
Steals: CPHS 17, BK 11.
Blocks: CPHS 1, BK 3.
Fouls: CPHS 17, BK 11.

Sand Springs Statistics

Points: Wilson 14, Morris 14, Simone 9, Ti. Butler 6, Taylor 6, Ta. Butler 1.
Offensive Rebounds: Wilson 1, Morris 1, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Simone 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Wilson 4, Pearce 3, Taylor 3, Ti. Butler 2, Morris 1, Ta. Butler 1, Simone 1.
Total Rebounds: Wilson 5, Taylor 4, Pearce 3, Morris 2, Ta. Butler 2, Ti. Butler 2, Simone 2.
Steals: Wilson 7, Morris 4, Simone 4, Ti. Butler 2.
Assists: Wilson 5, Morris 3, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Ti. Butler 1.
Blocks: Taylor 1.
Fouls: Taylor 4, Morris 3, Ta. Butler 3, Simone 2, Pearce 2, Wilson 1, Ti. Butler 1, Crain 1.

Bishop Kelley Statistics

Points: Strandmark 10, Jolin 5, Rabb 5, Blankenship 5, Grisaffe 4, George 2, Weber 1, Dale 1.
Fouls: Grisaffe 3, Weber 3, Evans 2, Jolin 1, Strandmark 1, Rabb 1.

Kiaryn Taylor Leads Sandites to 58-24 Win over Edison Prep

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Walking pneumonia didn’t stop Kiaryn Taylor from walking all over the Edison Eagles Thursday morning in the first round of the Bishop Kelley Invitational.

Despite being just a day into her run of antibiotics, the uncommitted senior power forward put together a career-best performance with 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals to power the Sandites to a 58-24 victory.

“We’ve been needing her to do that all year long,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’re going to need her to be consistent on doing that and she will be. She’s really been under the weather since the start of the season.”

“She’s been battling through some things and for her to go ahead and have a game like that I think is good for her confidence and good for the team confidence.”

No Sakauri Wilson? No problem. The Sandites’ leading scorer rode the bench for some recovery time against the outmatched Eagles after taking some bangs and bruises over the past two weeks.

Her absence led to a slow start for the Sandites, who fell into a 12-0 deficit after missing their first 14 field goal attempts.

Taylor got the Sandites on the board with a free throw and a Patience Pearce putback ended the drought in the field, igniting a 29-0 run.

“We didn’t finish early and we didn’t play hard,” said Berry. “In the second quarter I guess we just decided we wanted to play harder.”

After ending the first quarter down 12-5, Taylor dialed in to open the second quarter, stealing three consecutive possessions away from the Eagles. In the second quarter alone she scored 13 points with 5 steals, picking off Eagle passes at will while dominating the paint.

“She had a big quarter,” said Josh Berry. “Somebody was going to have to step up with Kauri being out.”

“I thought (Taiona Morris)’s intensity on the defensive end and her disruptiveness kind of helped us with that, along with Kiaryn, and everyone else just kind of followed their lead.”

Micah Musick finally broke that streak in the final minute of the half but the Sandites didn’t slow down, taking a 34-16 advantage into the locker room.

Edison was equally outmatched in the third quarter as the Sandites extended their lead to 51-21, taking a 30-point advantage into the fourth quarter for the second time this week. Sand Springs finally eased off the gas in the final eight minutes.

Taylor’s 23 points were a career high and enough to lead the Sandites. Taiona Morris added 12 points with 6 rebounds, 8 steals, and 4 assists, and freshman Tianna Butler also had a career night with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

“(Tianna)’s one of the most talented freshmen in the state,” said Berry. “She’s offensively skilled and talented enough to do whatever she wants to do out there on the court.”

“She can really shoot it, she can get to the basket, and she can rebound and finish when she makes her mind up. As soon as she gets that part of it, that’s going to help us out too.”

Sand Springs had more offensive rebounds against the Eagles than they had in their first three games combined while also coming away with an impressive 21 steals.

“We’re not going to be able to out-rebound a lot of groups, but if we can get a lot of pressure, if we can get steals, deflections, and takeaways, then we can offset some of the rebounding problems that may occur,” said Berry.

Following a tough 53-45 loss at Owasso last week, the Sandites have responded by outscoring their last two opponents 118 to 55 even while severely shorthanded.

The Sandites are still waiting for OSSAA clearance for Claremore transfer Hope Bump. They also lost Abigaile Martin to a season-ending injury and they’re still waiting for Calla Fueshko to return from an ACL tear last season. When those two pieces work their way into the lineup, Sand Springs should be especially dangerous.

Edison was led by Musick with 14 points as the only Eagle in double digits. They will head to the consolation bracket Friday at 10:00 a.m. against Tulsa Central (1-3).

Sand Springs will play in the semifinals Friday at 7:00 p.m. against the host Comets (2-1) who defeated Tulsa Central 47-34 in their first-round game. Sand Springs defeated Kelley 51-44 last year en route to their fifth championship at the tournament.

CPHS 58 Edison 24

1Q: Edison 12-5.
2Q: CPHS 29-4.
3Q: CPHS 17-5.
4Q: CPHS 7-3.
Free Throws: CPHS 8-of-11, Edison 4-of-13.
Field Goals: CPHS 22-of-64, Edison 10-of-26.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 18, Edison 5.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 15, Edison 15.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 33, Edison 20.
Steals: CPHS 21, Edison 8.
Blocks: CPHS 3, Edison 1.
Fouls: CPHS 10, Edison 7.

Sand Springs Statistics

Scoring: Taylor 23, Morris 12, Ti. Butler 10, Pearce 6, Ta. Butler 5, Garrison 2.
Offensive Rebounds: Pearce 5, Morris 4, Ta. Butler 3, Taylor 3, Ti. Butler 2, Crain 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Taylor 5, Ti. Butler 5, Morris 2, Pearce 1, Garrison 1, Crain 1.
Total Rebounds: Taylor 8, Ti. Butler 7, Morris 6, Pearce 6, Ta. Butler 3, Crain 2, Garrison 1.
Steals: Morris 8, Taylor 6, Ta. Butler 2, Garrison 2, Ti. Butler 1, Pearce 1, Crain 1.
Assists: Morris 4, Ta. Butler 3, Ti. Butler 3, Taylor 1.
Blocks: Ta. Butler 1, Ti. Butler 1, Crain 1.
Fouls: Pearce 2, Garrison 2, Morris 1, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Ti. Butler 1, Crain 1.

Edison Statistics

Scoring: Musick 11, Lyons 4, Galbreath 4, Brown 3, Peel-Thompson 2.
Fouls: Lyons 2, Musick 2, Chatman 2, McIntosh 1.

Lady Sandites Dominate Pacers 60-31 on the Road

Sand Springs quickly overcame a slow start Tuesday night at Enid and steamrolled the Pacers 60-31 in a district battle.

It was the first meeting between Charles Page High School (2-1, 2-1) and Enid (0-2, 0-2) since 2010 and it was a memorable one as three different Lady Sandites scored in double digits while dominating the home team in almost every statistical field.

Sand Springs never trailed after a 4-0 start behind layups from Sakauri Wilson and Kiaryn Taylor. Enid got as close as 6-5 before the Sandites closed the quarter on an 11-2 run and never looked back.

By halftime the Sandites led 31-18 but they did the bulk of their damage in a 23-6 third quarter and scored 14 points in a row from the third into the fourth.

A free-throw from Tianna Butler gave them their biggest lead at 57-24 before a late rally against the Sand Springs’ reserves got the Pacers back within 30.

Wilson led the team for the third time this season with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists while shooting 6-of-9 in the field and 5-of-7 at the stripe.

Freshman Tianna Buttler had a breakout performance with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists, and 2 blocks and Taiona Morris had 13 points with 3 boards.

Sand Springs will return to action Thursday at 10:00 a.m. against Edison Prep (0-2) in the first round of the Bishop Kelley Invitational. The Sandites are the defending tournament champions and have won the invitational five times since 2015.

CPHS 60 Enid 31

1Q: CPHS 17-7.
2Q: CPHS 14-11.
3Q: CPHS 23-6.
4Q: Enid 7-6.
Free Throws: CPHS 14-of-19, Enid 8-of-13.
Field Goals: CPHS 21-of-54, Enid 10-of-56.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 7, Enid 11.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 29, Enid 18.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 36, Enid 29.
Steals: CPHS 10, Enid 9.
Blocks: CPHS 4, Enid 1.
Fouls: CPHS 13, Enid 21.

Sand Springs Statistics

Points: Wilson 18, Morris 13, Ti. Butler 11, Taylor 8, Ta. Butler 4, Pearce 3, Garrison 2, Simone 1.
Offensive Rebounds: Wilson 3, Ti. Butler 2, Morris 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Taylor 7, Ti. Butler 5, Wilson 4, Ta. Butler 4, Morris 2, Simone 2, Pearce 2, Garrison 2, Crain 1.
Total Rebounds: Wilson 7, Taylor 7, Ti. Butler 7, Ta. Butler 5, Morris 3, Simone 2, Pearce 2, Garrison 2, Crain 1.
Steals: Wilson 3, Ti. Butler 3, Morris 1, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1, Simone 1.
Assists: Wilson 3, Ti. Butler 3, Simone 2, Taylor 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Blocks: Taylor 2, Ti. Butler 2.
Fouls: Wilson 3, Morris 3, Ta. Butler 2, Ti. Butler 2, Taylor 1, Pearce 1, Garrison 1.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 to Bishop Kelley, Ends Season at Regionals

The Charles Page High School volleyball team wrapped up a 14-17 season Tuesday evening with a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Bishop Kelley (21-12).

“We prepared much better than we played,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “We know they run two different defenses…we worked on blocking well, we worked on attacking both defenses. We looked really sharp yesterday and we just didn’t play our best tonight.”

Sand Springs fell 25-13, 25-15, and 25-13 to the Comets, who went on to win a 3-0 sweep of No. 11 Mustang (22-8) for their 38th consecutive Regional Championship. The Sandites, meanwhile, have never won a Regional title, and haven’t survived the first round since 2017.

“We’re taking the right steps,” said Jackson. “We’ve just got to figure out our identity as Sand Springs Volleyball.”

The first game against the Comets was only as close as 7-6 before the home team went on an 8-1 run to put establish the tone of the sweep to come.

Sand Springs struggled to adjust to Kate Schneeberg, who doubled as middle blocker and setter, recording four blocks, 31 assists, and six kills, including tips and attacks.

Also posing a challenge was Indiana State-commit Curry Kendall, who amassed a game-high 17 kills as the most powerfully accurate hitter the Sandites have faced this season.

In game two the Sandites actually jumped out to an 8-4 lead with a seven-point run early in the game. Adelynn Ray scored three kills, Jayden Smith and Averi Tippit combined on a block, and Hannah McKelvey scored with a tipped ball during the exciting streak.

The Comets came surging back, however, with an 8-1 run, tying it up on an ace from Kate Strandmark before taking the lead on a pair of errors.

Sand Springs never led again, only getting as close as 13-12 before Schneeberg used a tipped ball to kick off a six point run. The Comets ended game two on a five point run to keep the momentum into set three.

The visitors got as close as 7-6 on a kill from Ray before a service error sparked a nine-point streak that put the game firmly in the Comets’ arena.

Alia DeBerry and Brooklyn Shope scored two kills apiece to make it 18-11 but it was too much of a deficit to overcome and Elle Miller put an end to the Sandites’ season.

Ray led the Sandites’ offense with 9 kills while Evyn Morrow led the defense with 13 digs. Hannah McKelvey had a team-high 10 assists.

The Sandites will be losing seven seniors next year, including four who saw significant playing time. Hannah and Faith McKelvey, Tippit, Morrow, Mikayla Bradford, Natalie Szabo, and Patience Pearce will all graduate in the spring.

“They’re strong at their positions for sure,” said Jackson. “They’re some of our stat leaders. Evyn’s definitely one of our energy leaders on the court. They’re going to leave a big gap next year for sure and our underclassmen are going to have to learn how to fill their shoes just like our current senior class did this year.”

BK 3 CPHS 0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-13)
Kills: BK 42, CPHS 21.
Blocks: BK 4, CPHS 2.
Aces: BK 7, CPHS 1.
Service Errors: BK 5, CPHS 5.
Total Errors: BK 17, CPHS 22.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Ray 9, Shope 4, DeBerry 3, Smith 3, Morrow 1, H. McKelvey 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 10, Ray 7, Morrow 2, DeBerry 1, Shope 1.
Digs: Morrow 13, Shope 7, H. McKelvey 7, Ray 5, Smith 2, DeBerry 1, F. McKelvey 1.
Blocks: Tippit 1, DeBerry 0.5, Smith 0.5.
Aces: H. McKelvey 1.

(Bishop Kelley Stats)
Kills: Kendall 17, Gentry 6, Schneeberg 6, Laubach, 5, Williams 3, Liechtl 2, Toon 1, Jackson 1.
Assists: Schneeberg 31.
Blocks: Gentry 3, Schneeberg 2.5, Toon 0.5.
Aces: Williams 2, Strandmark 2, Jackson 2, Johnson 1.

Sandites Sweep Muskogee 3-0 on Senior Night

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It was a Senior Night sweep for the Sandites Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The Charles Page High School volleyball team (14-15, 1-7) earned its first conference win of the season, 3-0 against Muskogee (16-13, 0-8) in a dominant performance.

“Our conference is tough,” said head coach Skyler Jackson. “The Frontier Valley is full of teams that are always contending for the State tournament. It’s good to get a win in the conference.”

The visiting Roughers took a 4-0 lead to open the match but Sand Springs soon surged ahead with a 14-point streak led by five aces from Brooklyn Shope and a trio of kills from Averi Tippit.

After losing game one 25-14, Muskogee hung much closer in game two. Muskogee led 9-8 till Adelynn Ray heated up with four aces to put her team out front for the remainder of the set.

The Roughers cut it as close as 15-13 before a kill from Shope kicked off an 8-1 run to put the comeback firmly out of reach. Shope capped the win with another ace at 25-16.

Sand Springs never trailed after 2-1 in the final game, though the Roughers never quite let the Sandites pull away.

It looked like Sand Springs would run away with things after going up 17-8 on kills from Ray, Mikayla Bradford, and Patience Pearce, but the Roughers responded with four in a row to make it 17-12.

Sand Springs finished strong, however, and Evyn Morrow capped off an exciting final rally with a kill at 25-18.

Morrow, a senior, set the tone on defense with 24 digs to accompany her kill and four aces.

“Always exceptional,” said Jackson. “Even her bad days are good days for everybody else. She’s always our spark plug. She just goes hard, loves the game, and loves her team.”

Shope ended the night with six aces while Morrow and Ray had four apiece with a team total of 17.

“We have kind of gone up and down on our serve game, so it was nice to see some consistent, tough serving today,” said Jackson.

Shope led the offense as well with seven kills, followed by Tippit with six. Ray and Hannah McKelvey had nine assists apiece and Jayden Smith had 14 digs.

Before the match, the Sandites celebrated their seven seniors: Hannah and Faith McKelvey, Tippit, Morrow, Bradford, Natalie Szabo, and Pearce.

“It’s exciting, but it’s sad,” said Jackson. “Senior Night means the end of the season is around the corner.”

“Last year’s seniors really left a big hole and these seniors really stepped up and filled the gap. They’ve evenly shouldered the weight and they’ve been real role models and great teammates.”

Sand Springs will look to ride the momentum of its first conference win into a Thursday regular season finale at No. 3 Jenks (27-5, 8-0), who has already clinched the conference title.

The girls also received their postseason assignment this week and will travel to No. 6 Bishop Kelley (18-9) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that match will play for the Regional Championship at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 11 Mustang (22-7) vs. Union (8-22).

“We’re just going to focus on us and continue to figure out how we can be aggressive and things that we can do to get better through that match and through our practices leading up to Tuesday.”

CPHS 3 Muskogee 0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-18)
Kills: CPHS 24, Muskogee 21.
Blocks: CPHS 2, Muskogee 1.
Aces: CPHS 17, Muskogee 5.
Service Errors: CPHS 8, Muskogee 5.
Errors: CPHS 21, Muskogee 32.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Tippit 6, Shope 6, Pearce 4, Smith 2, Morrow 1, Bradford 1, Ray 1, Egger 1, Szabo 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 9, Ray 9, Morrow 2, Tippit 1.
Digs: Morrow 24, Smith 14, Ray 11, F. McKelvey 5, H. McKelvey 2, Pearce 2, Taff 1, Bradford 1, Shope 1.
Blocks: Tippit 1.5, Szabo 0.5.
Aces: Shope 6, Morrow 4, Ray 4, H. McKelvey 2, Tippit 1.

(Muskogee Stats)
Kills: Essex 9, Rodriguez 7, Chyenne 2, Russel 2, Ficklin 1.
Assists: Ficklin 10, Moore 4, Doughty 1, Tremblay 1.
Blocks: Russel 0.5, Lewis 0.5.
Aces: Rodriguez 2, Essex 2, Rainbolt 1.

Sakauri Wilson Leads Sandites to 48-47 Win Over Owasso

Sakauri Wilson missed a floater with 14.3 seconds left in the game, but secured the rebound. After a brief timeout she was fouled by Kynlie Wilson and hit the go-ahead free throw to make it 48-47.

She missed the second three throw, but once again secured the rebound - her tenth on the night.

The junior earned her first career double-double with 13 points and helped propel No. 11 Sand Springs (10-4, 3-2) to a gritty conference win over No. 14 Owasso (6-5, 1-4).

All night long the 5’5” point guard came through in clutch moments due to her speed, ferocity, and fearlessness in matchups with players who easily outsized her.

“Our big needed help rebounding so it was my time to come in and help rebound, little or not,” said Wilson.

She also recorded three steals and five assists in a rematch of the Sandites’ 51-49 victory over Owasso in the Bishop Kelley Invitational finals.

“My mind was we can’t lose because if we lose, we’re not hosting (a Regional playoff),” said Wilson. “I really want to host and I want to make it to State with them. So that’s my goal. If I have to put my team on my back, then I’ll do it.”

“Once she understands how good she really is and how she can control the game, I think the sky's the limit for her,” said head coach Josh Berry.

Owasso stormed out to a 17-10 lead after the first quarter at the Ed Dubie Field House, but a trey from Kiaryn Taylor tied it up early in the second. The Sandites closed the half on a 9-1 run to make it 28-27.

Chrinasia Elbert put the Rams back on top to open the half and the Sandites didn’t regain the lead till Hailey Jackson hit a deep two to open the fourth on an inbound throw from Wilson.

The fourth quarter saw three tie scores and five lead changes but ultimately the Sandites held on for their 10th consecutive victory against the Rams. The Sandites are 4-0 in one-score games this season.

“I’ve been noticing we’ve got some resilience to us,” said Berry. “Early on, we didn’t fight like that when we got down. But now we’ve got a little resilience. I think they’re believing that we’ve got a chance to be a really good team.”

Jackson led all scorers with 21 points and is averaging 20.6 per outing this season. Makenna Yokley had 16 to lead Owasso.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday with a home game against No. 9 Jenks (7-2, 4-1).

Owasso 54, Sand Springs 45 (boys)

Owasso (4-6, 2-3) needed a win. The Rams entered the Ed Dubie Field House unranked after losing four of their last five, and they found it in a 54-45 battle with No. 18 Sand Springs (6-5, 1-4).

“(Eric) Savage does a great job with his guys,” said Owasso coach Brian Montonati.

“We knew it was going to be a tough battle, so we’re extremely happy to get away with a win. We needed one of these.”

Brandon Mann scored the first two buckets of the game en route to a 12-point performance and the Rams never trailed in the first half, though a pair of late treys from Kooper Kelly cut it as close as 22-20.

The Sandites opened the third on a 10-point run, however, and a free throw from Blake Johnson gave the home team the lead at 30-29 with 2:38 in the quarter.

“I think we lost a little bit of focus,” said Montonati. “Sometimes that will happen with a young team.”

“I thought as the game went on we got the shots that we needed to get, we were getting to the free throw line, and we locked up on defense. We made a couple of different coverages on the pick-and-roll and it seemed to help us.”

Owasso rode a 13-point streak from the third into the fourth quarter, though Sand Springs once again got as close as 42-41 on a trey from Alijah Roper.

Freshman star and coach’s son Jalen Montonati kept his team out front, however, with a game-best 23-point performance, including 7 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a blessing to be able to coach my son, but taking that away, he’s an extremely talented young man,” said Brian Montonati.

“When his shot gets going, it kind of changes the different coverages of our team. It was good to see him bounce back after being sick not playing for about a month, to finally start hitting some shots and playing the way we always thought he could play.”

The Rams will host 5A No. 16 Sapulpa (5-9, 1-4) Tuesday before traveling to the Bill Hanson Tournament in Pittsburg, Kansas over the weekend.

“I love the fight of this team,” said Brian Montonati. “I love the swagger of them.”

“We’ve been in some really big games against some really quality opponents and there hasn't been any fear in their eyes. So as long as we stay together, share the ball, play defense, and stay coachable, I think we could end this thing on a good note.”

Sand Springs 48, Owasso 47 (girls)
Sand Springs;10;18;10;10;--48.
Owasso;17;10;11;9–47.

Sand Springs: Jackson 21, Wilson 13, Morris 5, Taylor 5, Fueshko 2, Martin 2.
Owasso: Yokley 16, Austin 11, Elbert 10, McGarrah 8, Wilson 2.

Owasso 54, Sand Springs 45 (boys)
Owasso;15;12;10;17;--54.
Sand Springs;8;12;12;13;--45.

Owasso: Montonati 23, Mann 12, Williams 7, Lewis 5, McLemore 3, Harbaugh 2, Scott 2.
Sand Springs: Kelly 13, Roper 9, Allen 8, Foster 5, Johnson 5, Holland 3, Hooper 2.