Sydney Pennington finishes third straight season with 300+ points

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School junior Sydney Pennington finished her third-straight season as the leading scorer for the varsity basketball team and crossed the career 1,000 mark midway through the season in a 12-point loss to No.2 Muskogee. 

The 2015-2016 school year was actually Pennington's lowest-scoring season of her career, due to sharing the ball with a team of incoming freshman stars who had just gone undefeated to claim the Frontier Valley Conference title. 

That didn't stop her from running up another 300+ point season en route to an Area playoff performance.

The Oklahoma State University softball-commit doubled in 19 of 26 games this season, led her team in ten of them, and scored a season-high 22 points in three of them. Her career-high remains a 32-point game against Muskogee during her sophomore year.

Starting all 26 games this season, Pennington averaged over 51% on both field goal attempts and free throws and made off with about 3 steals and 5 rebounds per game. With 1,106 total points over 74 starts, she's averaged just under 15 PPG and (between basketball and softball) is easily one of the most impressive athletes in school history. She was twice named Sandite of the Week.

The Lady Sandites amassed a 17-9 record, their best since the 2011 team made the State Tournament, and finished the season 5th in conference standings while ranked 11th in 6A.

Stay tuned for more highlights on CPHS athletes in the week-to-come! 

Lady Sandite basketball stays alive in playoffs with close victory over Union

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Freshman Destiny Johnson scored a team-high 15 points in a 41-32 playoff win over Union Thursday night.

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photography by: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director

The No.11 Lady Sandites (16-7) will play at least two more games after defeating Union (8-15) Thursday night at the Sapulpa Chieftain Center. The way the playoffs are structured, they'll now get to play in the Regional Championship game Saturday at 1:30, but even if they lose that game they still get to advance to the Area tournament. 

Whatever was going on with the girls against Union isn't going to fly against the No.4 Chieftains (20-3). The basket seemed to have a lid on it Thursday night as the girls experienced their lowest scoring win of the season.

The Lady Sandites only had a 10-4 lead to start the second period, and Selena Hitchcock would be the only Sandite to score in that quarter as they barely held their lead 13-11 at the half. The first basket wouldn't even be scored 4:00 minutes into the period when Taylor Malham sank a pair of free throws. 

Both teams kicked it up a notch in the third period as sophomore Gloria Mutiri started things off with a pair of back-to-back two-pointers, followed by a two from Sydney Pennington. Union's Michaela Bethel followed with a pair of twos of her own, but then Sandite freshman Isabella Regalado followed suit with two more. The two teams scored as many points in the third period alone as they did in the entire first half, and the Sandites held the lead 26-22. 

This time it was freshman Destiny Johnson who kicked off the period with back-to-back two-pointers and she added four more baskets before the quarter was over to tie her career-high and lead the game with 15 points, shooting at 55% on field goals and 80% on free throws. 

The lone Sandite senior, Cierra Scott, also had a solid night, scoring 6 and leading the team in rebounds with 8. 

The Sandites brought home the victory 41-32, their third over Union this season. The first time was a 59-39 runaway, but two weeks ago the Redskins narrowed it to 51-41. 

It's fitting that the Regional Championship is also a Highway 97 rivalry game and a chance to play back the Chieftains for losses of 54-43 and 54-40 earlier this season. It won't be easy, however. Sapulpa ravaged Jenks 73-49 in their battle Thursday and will have the home court advantage. 

Photo gallery for this event can be found at:
http://www.sanditepride.com/photo-galleries/160225unionbball

Lady Rams fend off fourth quarter rally attempt by Lady Sandites, 53-48

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No.11 ranked Sand Springs Lady Sandites (14-7) just can't seem to catch a break. After winning eight straight earlier in the season, they've now dropped five of their last seven matchups and haven't defeated a ranked opponent in nearly a month.

It's not due to a lack of effort, however. All of their last  three losses were contested to the final moments and were to top-ten teams. 

The girls defeated the Union Redskins (8-13) by double digits Friday night after eight Sandites got on the board and Gloria Mutiri and Sydney Pennington each doubled with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Tuesday night the girls battled valiantly against the No.9 Owasso Lady Rams (17-5) and returned from multiple double digit deficits to as close as 49-48 before the Rams finally got the edge and the 53-48 win in the final moments.

This time Pennington was the top scorer for the Sandites, followed by freshman Destiny Johnson, and each put up 8 points in the final stanza that saw the home team outscore their opponents 17-9.

The Sandites spent the entire night in the hole after giving up four straight turnovers to start with a 9-0 deficit. Johnson finally interrupted to onslaught with a layup, followed by Owasso's top-scorer, Rachel Skalnik, then the girls came alive. 

Pennington missed her first shot of the game, but rebounded herself and sank the second attempt to cut it to 11-4. Sophomores Terryn Milton and Mya Bhinhar put up a basket each for the opposition, but Gloria Mutiri hit her lone basket of the night soon after. Mutiri's next attempt would fall short but Pennington fought for another rebound and hooked the ball out to senior Cierra Scott in the corner for a three.

Johnson snagged a steal off the Ram's subsequent possession and handed it off to Scott for yet another three to make the game 16-12.

Some sloppy Sandite work gave up the next five points to Owasso but Pennington responded with five of her own to cut the gap to 21-17 at the buzzer.

The next two periods were far closer but Owasso carried a 33-26 advantage into halftime and worked it up to 42-31 by the final quarter.

After a Loni Culley layup put the Sandites in the hole by 13 points it looked like the hotly contested game would begin to work itself further in favor of the visitors, but then our two heroes of the night went on a run.

Holly Kersgieter went 1-of-2 from the line, then Johnson hit a two before Pennington went on a 6-0 run and the girls were right back in it at 44-40. Milton hit a two pointer and added the extra penalty shot, but Pennington responded with a two followed by a pair of free throws by Johnson. 

Milton added her 13th point of the night to make the advantage 49-44. Mutiri missed a two point attempt that Owasso rebounded but Scott snagged a steal and sent it to Johnson for two.  

Both teams were in the bonus as Mutiri fouled Culley on the floor with 1:22 left, but the Ram missed her first shot and Pennington rebounded and passed it to Johnson who sent it to Kersgieter in the corner. The freshman had zero coverage and it looked like the Sandites were about to tie the game, but the shot hit rim and there were no Sandites there to rebound it.

Culley was bringing it up court when Johnson managed to slap the ball away and into the ready hands of Isabella Regalado who sent it back to Johnson on her way for the layup to close it down to 49-48 with 0:53 left.

Culley got payback with a layup of her own 21 seconds later and the return was in the hands of Cierra Scott, one of the best three-point shooters in the game. Owasso applied a full court press and Skalnik made off with the ball for a game-clinching two-pointer and despite being outscored 17-9 in the last period, the Rams held on to enough of their lead for a 53-48 final score. 

Sand Springs has but one game left in the regular season and is currently fifth in Frontier Valley Conference standings with a 6-7 record in the talent-packed league. The girls will take on Jenks Friday night whom they already have a 64-43 road win over from a month ago. After that it's Regionals next Thursday as the Lady Sandites travel to Sapulpa to take on the Union Redskins who they have two double-digit wins over this season. If they add a third win they'll advance to the Area tournament regardless of the outcome of the Regional finals. 

Mutiri scores 15 but Sapulpa runs away with 54-40 rivalry win over Lady Sandites

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Story and Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No.11 ranked Charles Page High School girls’ basketball team (13-6) got a rematch against Highway 97 rival No.4 Sapulpa (17-3) Tuesday night at Sapulpa High School Chieftain Center. Earlier this season the Sandites hosted Sapulpa and lost 54-43 after leading till there was less than four minutes left. Unfortunately for the Lady Sandites, things would be no better this time around.

The game was a shootout from the start with senior guard and University of Oklahoma signee Chelsea Dungee returning the tip off for a layup in the first ten seconds. Sandite junior Sydney Pennington was fouled on a layup of her own and shot one-for-two with Sapulpa controlling the rebound and scoring a three-pointer off senior Bailey Mader for a 5-1 lead.

The teams combined for 16 points in the first two minutes alone. Things began to slow down from there and Pennington tied things up at 9-9. Senior Whitney Kameis briefly took the lead back for Sapulpa but 6’1” sophomore Gloria Mutiri hit back to back layups for a 13-10 Sandite lead going into the second period.

From there it belonged to the home team. Pennington had a layup blocked, Sandite freshman Holly Kersgieter rebounded it and sent it to Johnson, but Johnson’s corresponding layup was nullified for charging.

Mader, Dungee, and Brice Calip went on a 5-0 run for the lead. Mutiri hit a pair of free throws, but it was Sapulpa with the next four-straight baskets. Mutiri hit another field goal to put her in double digits for the first half, but Kameis iced the cake for her team with a 27-17 halftime break.

Dungee fouled Johnson to start the half and the Sandite sank both of her free throws, then Calip sent Mutiri to the line after accidentally slapping her in the face on a block attempt. Mutiri was clearly phased as she only made one of two, then was sent right back by Isabella Bacon and missed both. The Lady Sandites trailed 27-21 and it was the closest the two teams would be for the remainder of the night.

This time it was Sapulpa on the receiving end of a pair of fouls and Calip went three-of-four, then added back-to-back field goals. By the end of the third period Sapulpa had a staggering 42-24 lead.

The Lady Sandites wouldn’t go down without a fight. Senior Cierra Scott hooked a steal and sent it to junior Jessica Collins for a layup attempt. Mader fouled her and Collins missed both freebies, but Johnson got the ball back for the Sandites and sent it to Mutiri for two.

Dungee scored next but sent Johnson to the floor soon after with an elbow and fouled out of the game.

Penalties continued to define the fourth quarter, leading the Sand Springs student section to chant “you can’t do that,” to which the Cheiftains responded “you still suck.” Sand Springs retaliated with “let’s play football,” for which Sapulpa had one word. “Bixby! Bixby!”

I’m sure Sand Springs can live with barely losing one of two games to the State Champions, but nevertheless, Highway 97 Rivalry continues to show itself alive and well.

Ultimately Sapulpa would earn back the bragging rights with a final score of 54-40.

The Lady Sandites will return to action Friday night at Union (8-12) whom they have already defeated 59-39 earlier this season. 

Lady Sandites win five straight games by 20+ points, win Interstate Classic tournament

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff

The Charles Page High School varsity basketball girls have been having one heck of a season. They're certainly the best squad since the 2010-2011 Regional Championship team, and possibly even better. With eight regular season games left before Regionals, the ladies only need to post one more victory to beat last year's record and officially claim their best season since 2011. 

How did they get to this point?

From 2011-2013 the Lady Sandites went 3-42 under Head Coach Bob Banfield. 

In 2012, the ladies added freshman Cierra "CJ" Scott who was an immediate scoring threat with well over 100 points, setting a career-high in her sixth game with 16 points--an amount she would repeat a month later.

For the 2013-2014 season, Dustin Morrow took over Head Coaching duties and led the team to a 10-14 overall record, 5-9 in Frontier Valley. Sydney Pennington, Jessica Collins, Amari Grant, Bailey Boaz, Lee Leslie, and Maddie Ward were the freshman additions to the team. 

Pennington erupted on the scene with 373 points, only failing to double in three games, and set a personal best of 22 points against Muskogee. Scott scored 101. 

Last season the Sandites added Selena Hitchcock and major inside scoring threat Gloria Mutiri. Pennington led all scorers with 412 points and set a new career-high with 32 points against Muskogee once again. Mutiri made an incredible debut with 200, Scott added 150,  Collins scored 69, and Hitchcock had 31. 

That year the 8th grade girls went a perfect 28-0 and secured a Frontier Valley Conference Championship. In 2015 those girls became freshmen. 

The first game of the 2015-2016 season saw a 59-39 rout of the Green Country Defenders home school team. Pennington scored a team-high 22 points, and eight other girls scored including four freshmen.

The next game was a 61-51 loss to Bixby, but Pennington had a double-double with 19 points, followed by Scott with 18. 

Next came the Bishop Kelley Invitational. The ladies swept the tournament, dominating Cascia Hall 59-37, Norman North 52-38, and 5A #4 Shawnee 49-40. Freshman Destiney Johnson had her break-out game against Cascia with 14 points. Collins added 12, Pennington 11, and Scott 10. Pennington led against Norman North with 15. The Shawnee game proved a defining night for two different freshmen. Isabella Regalado led with 17, followed closely by Holly Kersgieter with 14. Johnson, Pennington, and Scott were named to the all-tournament team and Pennington was named MVP.

The next game was against then #6 Sapulpa, who would go on to be ranked #1 for weeks before dropping to their current position at #2. The Sandites led for nearly the entire game before a series of fouls gave the Chieftains a 54-43 win. Johnson and Pennington both doubled with 14 and 11 respectively.

From there it's been nothing but wins, and most of them were big ones.

Mutiri, Kersgieter, Pennington, and Johnson all doubled in a 59-39 win over #14 Union. 

Pennington and Kersgieter doubled in a 57-28 doubling of Green Country. 

Johnson, Pennington, and Mutiri doubled in a 51-48 upset of #8 Owasso.

Mutiri scored 20, aided by Pennington and Johnson with 11 each in a 64-43 extermination of Jenks.

Scott scored 17, and Pennington and Mutiri each added 10 in a 67-46 smothering of Bishop Kelley.

Currently the ladies are ranked 11th with a 12-2 record, sitting at 4th in Frontier Valley Conference standings. 

Thursday night the girls arrived in Coffeyville, Kansas for the 43rd Harold Thomas Interstate Classic, where they went undefeated last year. 

In Thursday's round one matchup with Field Kindley High School (Coffeyville), the Lady Sandites continued their dominating streak with a 64-33 smack down. Gloria Mutiri led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Collins with 9, Pennington with 7, Hitchcock with 7, Regalado with 6, Johnson with 6, Kersgieter with 4, Ward with 4, Scott with 2, Presnall with 2, and Grant with 2. 

Friday night was even more impressive, as they outscored Nathan Hale 60-16, led by Hitchcock with 10, Ward 8, Grant 7, Pennington 7, Taber 6, Presnall 5, Collins 5, Leslie 4, Kersgieter 3, Regalado 3, Mutiri 2.

Saturday saw an end to their streak of 20+ point wins, but not an end to their overall winning streak. The Ladies took down Life Prep Academy 51-49 to defend their Interstate Classic Champions title and add to their eight-straight win streak. Pennington scored 22, aided by Johnson with 8, Kersgieter 6, Scott 5, Hitchcock 4, Regalado 3, Collins 2, Mutiri 1. Mutiri and Pennington made the All-Tournament team and Pennington was named the tournament's Most Inspirational Player. 

The girls return to action Tuesday night at #4 Broken Arrow (14-2) in a Frontier Valley Conference battle. 

Sandite of the Week: Gloria Mutiri

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief, with Morgan Miller, Staff Writer

Photo: Morgan Miller

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize CPHS Sophomore Gloria Mutiri as Sandite of the Week for her outstanding season-high 20 point output in a 67-46 rout of Jenks Friday night at Frank Herald Field House. She was 8-of-9 on field goals and also put up multiple rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. 

She also had a double-double against Owasso last Tuesday, scoring 10 points with 13 rebounds. 

Mutiri is currently fifth in Lady Sandite scoring output for the season with 75 points over ten games. 

The Sandites return to action Thursday night at the Coffeyville Interstate Classic.