Lady Sandites Topple Trojans 50-33 in Playoffs, Play Choctaw Saturday

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The No. 8 ranked Charles Page High School girls basketball team (20-7) used a balanced team effort and an explosive second half to take down No. 15 Jenks (15-12) in the first round of the Area consolation playoffs Thursday night in Sapulpa, winning 50-33 in a game they controlled from start to finish.

Sand Springs never once trailed, though the Trojans hung fairly close through the first half, only down 21-17 to start the third and 36-25 entering the fourth.

Back-to-back-to-back three pointers from Taiona Morris, Tianna Butler, and Aaliyah Simone early in the fourth put the game firmly out of reach.

“We made shots,” said head coach Josh Berry. “That third quarter we finally made some shots and made a couple threes, got a couple layups in, so it kind of opened up for them.”

It was the Sandites’ first meeting of the season with their former conference foes and their 20th consecutive victory over the Lady Trojans in a streak dating back to 2013.

The teams traded buckets to a 4-4 tie before a three-pointer from Sakauri Wilson gave Sand Springs the lead for the remainder of the game. Wilson also scored the Sandites’ first two buckets, on putbacks, and had 11 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter alone.

Sand Springs dominated the boards early on but Jenks boxed out better after the first quarter and the two teams matched up fairly well in that regard.

Sand Springs had the better defense, however, and came away with 11 steals on the night while holding Rice-commit Jill Twiehaus to only 11 points.

“She’s a great talent,” said Berry. “We just wanted to make her work for every single shot that she gets.”

While Wilson was limited offensively in the second half, her teammates stepped up and four different Lady Sandites finished in double digits.

Freshman Tianna Butler had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks while Hope Bump had 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals.

“We have multiple people that can score the basketball so that’s a good thing,” said Berry. “Hopefully they all score the ball come Saturday.”

Morris started the night 0-of-9 on first-half field goals but dialed it in for the second half to score 10 points.

“She’s gotten so much better,” said Berry. “She just keeps getting better and better as the year goes on. I just tell her ‘keep playing hard, focus on that part of it, the ball’s going to find the hole eventually.’ She’s too good for it not to find the hole.”

Sand Springs will return to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the Area consolation finals at Sapulpa against No. 3 Choctaw (24-1), who suffered its first loss of the season 34-31 against No. 5 Owasso (21-5) in the championship game.

“Great team, good coach,” said Berry. “It’s gonna be a battle. You go out there and you fight from start to finish. Whatever happens happens.”

CPHS 50 Jenks 33

1Q: CPHS 14-8.
2Q: Jenks 9-7.
3Q: CPHS 15-8.
4Q: CPHS 14-8.
Free Throws: CPHS 5-of-9, Jenks 6-of-17.
Field Goals: CPHS 19-of-52, Jenks 13-of-42.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 9, Jenks 10.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 14, Jenks 14.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 23, Jenks 24.
Steals: CPHS 11, Jenks 4.
Blocks: CPHS 4, Jenks 6.
Fouls: CPHS 14, Jenks 9.

Sand Springs Statistics

Points: Wilson 16, Ti. Butler 11, Bump 10, Morris 10, Simone 3.
Offensive Rebounds: Wilson 3, Ti. Butler 3, Bump 2, Morris 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Bump 4, Ti. Butler 4, Simone 3, Wilson 2, Morris 1.
Total Rebounds: Ti. Butler 7, Bump 6, Wilson 5, Simone 3, Morris 2.
Steals: Bump 6, Ta. Butler 2, Wilson 2, Simone 1, Ti. Butler 1.
Assists: Bumps 2, Morris 2, Wilson 1, Ti. Butler 1, Ta. Butler 1.
Blocks: Ti. Butler 3, Bump 1.
Fouls: Bump 3, Wilson 3, Simone 3, Ti. Butler 3, Morris 2.

Jenks Statistics

Points: Ifeoma 12, Twiehaus 11, Dodder 4, White 3, Anderson 2, Jones 1.
Fouls: Jones 3, Ifeoma 2, White 1, Dodder 1, Sykes 1, Zhang 1.

Hot Streak Continues for Sandite Boys Basketball

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A 61-49 victory over Raymore-Peculiar (6-8) in the Jenks-Union Invitational opener Thursday evening gave the Charles Page High School boys’ basketball team its ninth consecutive victory, their longest win streak since the 2019-2020 season.

That streak came to a close on Friday in a close 76-72 loss to No. 4 Union (13-2) in the semifinals, but the boys bounced back with a 60-37 upset of No. 12 Jenks (10-5) for third place.

After opening the season 0-3, Sand Springs is now 10-4 and ranked for the first time this year at No. 14. Next up for the Sandites is a rematch with Union Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. at the UMAC, this time in district play.

Winter weather postponed two of the Sandites’ recent games. A January 9th home game against U.S. Grant (0-10, 0-6) was rescheduled for February 3rd and a January 16th road game at No. 5 Edmond Memorial (10-4, 5-2) will be rescheduled for a later date.

In between the two, Sand Springs improved to 2-3 in district play with a 77-50 romp at Bartlesville (2-9, 1-6) on Friday the 12th.

Deke Thompson III led the Sandites for the tenth time this season with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals.

Kason Evans scored 16 points with 9 rebounds and Khalil Allen matched his career high with 14 points, shooting 6-of-7 from the field.

Against Raymore-Peculiar on Thursday the Sanditse had four in double-digits: Thompson with 16, Allen with 12, Evans with 11, and Alijah Roper with 10.

It was the Deke Thompson show against Union on Friday with the junior going off for a career-high 33 points, followed by Evans with a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds.

On Saturday the team took a more balanced approach with Evans scoring 12, Roper and Kooper Kelly scoring 11 apiece, and Thompson scoring 10 to defeat the Trojans.

Zander Grigsby Leads Sandites to Jenks Tournament Title

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Sand Springs took home its 11th tournament title from the Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks on Saturday, furthering its lopsided reign as the most dominant team in the tournament’s 51-year history.

“If you want to win a tournament during the regular season, this is the one,” said second-year head coach Ty Bowling.

“This is kind of like a little pregionals, Regional preview. It’s a good win for our team, especially going into districts.”

The Sandites sent three to the finals and crowned one champion with 12 top-six placers. They scored 208 points to defeat Westmoore with 194 and Melissa, Texas with 192.

Zander Grigsby pinned all four of his opponents to win the 165 pounds bracket and remain undefeated on the season.

“I’m feeling good,” said Grigsby. “Winning Mid-America definitely helped my confidence and then winning this as well, I’m feeling great.”

Grigsby outscored his opponents 17-4 without giving up a single takedown and is now 16-0 in his senior campaign. In the quarterfinals he pinned Kansas State runner-up Brady Martin and in the finals he pinned Jenks junior Joshua Henderson.

“That was big,” said Bowling. “It was one of those tricky matches where if something could go wrong, that would be the match. We had a good talk with him, me and coach TeDon (Fleischman), to make sure he kept his mind right. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. It was a good experience for him to win this tournament.”

It was the third tournament title of Grigsby’s varsity career. In addition to the Enid tournament earlier this year, he also won the Cabot tournament during his sophomore campaign.

“I feel like the energy that we bring in the practice room has really changed everything,” said Grigsby. “The way that we go about practice, the way that we lift each other up, helps everybody to work harder, which is resulting in more success.”

Mason Harris (18-2) was runner-up at heavyweight after clawing his way back through the consolation bracket. The senior pinned his first three foes before falling 6-0 to two-time Sallisaw State Champion Maverick Williamson in the semifinals.

In consolation he pinned two more opponents to clinch third, then pinned Southmoore’s Jacob Clay in the second-place challenge match for his 100th career win.

“He’s tough,” said Bowling. “He’s a returning State placer, we’ve got big expectations for him this season.”

David Ritchey (4-2) took third place at 120 pounds, losing a close 6-4 sudden victory decision to Civic Memorial’s Bradley Ruckman in the finals before forfeiting the second-place challenge match.

“In the preseason he kind of tweaked his knee,” said Bowling. “He felt like he might be ready towards the end (of last year) but we decided to go ahead and give it another two weeks, Christmas break, and make sure we’re at 100 percent.”

The junior made his return to the mat in Thursday’s duals and entered the Jenks tournament as a non-scoring wrestler, while Kase Skaggs (16-3) placed fifth as the scoring wrestler in the same weight class.

Bowling made the decision to list Skaggs as the scoring wrestler “based on just what I know from a year and a half of getting to know the team and who is showing what, whether it’s in the room or on their own time, or on the mat out here.”

The Sandites were without a 113 wrestler as they sent both Ayreson Reiss (3-2) and Caden Rodriguez (1-3) to the Inola tournament with the JV team.

“They’re both kind of younger guys,” said Bowling. “We’re just trying to get them a few more matches and a little bit of confidence.”

“It was a possibility (that Ritchey or Skaggs might cut to 113) but I think now it’s probably off the table. We’ve got three duals this week, we’ve got our home tournament this weekend, so I think both of them will get plenty of matches this week and we’ll try to figure out what we’re going to do with them.”

Freshman Kasen McAffrey (8-1) was runner-up at 138 pounds, suffering his first loss of the season in the finals. He pinned his first four opponents before falling 6-0 to Westmoore senior Gannon Morales, who he actually defeated 7-4 in the dual just two days earlier.

“We have a returning (State) qualifier at that weight who’s a senior,” said Bowling.

“We asked McAffrey to step up and fill in for him over the past month and he’s done an excellent job. He’s someone’s who’s wrestled well and he’s looking to try and keep that spot. One of those situations where we’ve got all these matches this coming week and we’ll just see how that plays out.”

Dawsen Briscoe (3-5) placed sixth at 106, Colt Hood (7-6) placed sixth at 126, Matthew Moore (14-6) placed fourth at 132, Jesse Moore (12-2) placed fourth at 144, Brody Ensten (14-6) placed fifth at 157, Jaxon Trotter (17-5) placed sixth at 175, and Peyton Callis (17-5) placed fifth at 190.

The JV team took 14th place at the Inola tournament. Reiss took third palce at 113, Hunter Spencer placed fourth at 126, and Ryley Kester placed third at 285.

The wins over Westmoore in both dual and tournament action launched the Sandites to No. 5 in the 6A rankings released Monday.

Sand Springs will look to move to 10-0 in duals for the first time since 2017 when they host a district quad on Thursday at 2:00 p.m., followed by its home tournament over the weekend.

Sandites Top Westmoore and Ponca City on Homecoming

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The Charles Page High School boys wrestling team is 7-0 for the second straight year after picking up a pair of ranked wins Thursday night on Homecoming.

The No. 7 ranked Sandites won 57-13 against No. 15 Ponca City (0-4) and 48-19 against No. 6 Westmoore (1-1) and crowned Homecoming Queen Laila Mirza between the duals.

“Ponca City’s always a good tough opponents, they’ve got good tough kids,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

“Westmoore, they’re top (six) in the state right now. Will Evans does a good job over there. So it was two good wins tonight.”

In the first dual the Sandites trailed through the first four matches against Ponca City who was stronger at the light weights.

Dawsen Briscoe (1-2) suffered a third-period fall against Garrett Short and Caden Rodriguez (1-3) fell 9-0 to Blake Parker before David Ritchey (1-0) got the home team on the board with a 7-5 decision against returning State qualifier Jimmy Swenson in his first match of the season.

Jaxon Grigsby (11-3) pinned Connor Cox in 59 seconds and Matthew Moore (9-4) won a 9-7 decision against State qualifier Cameron Kiser in sudden victory overtime to give the Sandites their first lead at 12-10.

Ethan Pappan put the Wildcats back on top one last time with an 8-3 decision against Jayden Pait (6-1) but the Sandites responded with eight consecutive wins to close out the dual.

Jesse Moore (7-0) took a 7-0 lead against Braden Perciful before pinning him in 4:20 to continue his undefeated season and Isaac Sensintaffar (7-3) pinned Axel Tucker in 1:16.

Brody Ensten (9-4) won a 9-6 decision against Anderson Bivins and Zander Grigsby (12-0) pinned Lance Arbona in 50 seconds to remain undefeated on the season.

Jaxon Trotter (13-2) took an 8-0 lead on Jaxon Goodard before pinning him in 3:14 to clinch the dual and the remaining Sandites all pinned their foes in the first period.

Peyton Callis (12-3) pinned Jose Herrera in 34 seconds, Ali McCoy (6-7) pinned Cesar Jiminez in 37 seconds, and Ryley Kester (1-0) made his varsity debut by pinning Blaze McGehee in 1:21.

Sand Springs only trailed for one match against Westmoore after returning State placer Eric Casula pinned Briscoe at 106. Rodriguez picked up his first varsity victory by pinning Eli Archer in 3:22 to tie it.

Kase Skaggs (11-1) pinned State qualifier Brayden Kelly in 1:11, Jaxon Grigsby won a 5-0 decision against Jackson Yeatman, and Matthew Moore pinned Woodley Johnson in 4:46 after opening the third period on top of a 4-4 tie to make it 21-6.

Undefeated freshman Kasen McAffrey (4-0) earned a 7-4 decision against State qualifier Gannon Morales at 138 and Jesse Moore pinned Artak Khachatryan in 2:36.

State qualifier Trae Rios pinned Sensintaffar at 150 and Sam Gibson eked out a 3-1 decision against Ensten to cut it to 30-15.

Zander Grigsby got the Sandites back on track by pinning Chris Steele in 2:11 and Trotter clinched the dual with a 5-2 decision over Cole Olguin at 175.

The teams traded wins from there. Callis added a 10-5 decision against Jordan Cox, McCoy fell 13-4 to Devin Lacroix, and Mason Harris (12-1) wrapped things up by pinning Gavin Gagnon in 1:11.

“Seven duals in and seven different lineups,” said Bowling. “That’s good depth and that tells you we’ve got good youth, a good junior high that helps push those guys up, so next man up.”

“We got to kind of showcase junior high, girls, and boys all at the same time. It’s probably the first time we’ve ever done that up here. I wish it wasn’t so late but it was good to get a couple of matches in.”

Sand Springs will get some rematches with both teams at this weekend’s Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks.

“That’s kind of why we put this together was everybody was going to the Jenks tournament,” said Bowling.

It will be the Sandites’ first appearance at the Jenks tournament since winning it in 2015. The Sandites have won the tournament ten times in school history.

Sandites Defeat Jenks on Senior Night, Ryley Kester Wins Joe Cole Classic

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The No. 9 ranked Charles Page High School boys wrestling team is undefeated at Christmas break for the third year in a row, wrapping up the semester with a 59-15 win over Jenks (1-1) Tuesday on Senior Night.

Sand Springs (5-0) never trailed, trading pins to open the dual before the Sandites went on a nine-match win streak and clinched the victory early.

“We’re on a break, so we had to come in today and get a little practice in and try to keep somewhat of a normal routine so we weren’t laying around all day,” said head coach Ty Bowling. “They responded well and I thought we looked really good.”

Dawsen Briscoe (1-0) made his season debut at 106 pounds and reversed for a pin against Cale Lawson late in the first period. It was the first time this season that the Sandites had a wrestler at the lightest weight.

“He took a little hiatus there for a couple of months but when he figured out that we didn’t have a six-pounder, he said ‘I’m going to do my best to get down and get there for you,’” said Bowling.

Seattle Lindsey won a first-period fall against Ayreson Reiss (3-2) to tie the dual, but Kase Skaggs (10-1) got the Sandites back on track with a 7-3 decision over Isaac Newton.

The next few Sandites decided to play with their food before they ate it.

Colt Hood (5-3) worked up a 9-1 lead on Reggie Bombita before pinning him in the first period.

Jaxon Grigsby (9-3) took a 10-0 lead on Holden Brolick before pinning him in the third.

Then Kasen McAffrey (3-0) won a 12-0 major decision against Bradley Hamilton, with the buzzer sounding just a second before he was about to either get the fall or a set of back points.

Jesse Moore (5-0) pinned Creek Shavney in 1:22 and Preston Reyna (10-2) pinned Pau Khai in 38 seconds. Brody Ensten (8-3) clinched the dual with a 9-1 major decision against Kade Hodges at 157 then Zander Grigsby (10-0) and Jaxon Trotter (11-2) received forfeits.

The Trojans finally snapped their losing streak when Peyton Callis (10-3) was disqualified after a big slam knocked the wind out of Alex Dombrow. Owens Jones added a 9-5 decision against Ali McCoy (5-6).

Mason Harris wrapped up the dual with a 14-second pin of Zay Goodman at heavyweight.

“Really top to bottom, we’re tough,” said Bowling. “We’ve wrestled five duals and we’ve not had the same lineup for five duals. We’ve had guys out injured or ineligible or whatever it may be and it’s next man up.”

The Sandites will return to action on January 4th with home duals against Ponca City (0-2) and No. 5 Westmoore (1-0).

Over the weekend, the junior varsity boys took eighth place out of 35 mostly varsity teams at the Joe Cole Classic in Cleveland, led by Ryley Kester with a first-place finish.

Kester (6-0) won a 10-1 major decision against Stillwater’s Jacob Mohler before earning a 3-0 upset against Cleveland State qualifier Brock Powell. From there he pinned Pawnee’s Connor McClendon in 5:19, Bristow’s Marley Branscum in 2:39, and Pawnee’s Anthony Stewart in 2:40.

Logan Childers placed third at 126, winning his first match by decision before falling to Perkins-Tryon State qualifier Cadyn Burns in the quarterfinals. He bounced back in a big way with four consecutive falls to win the consolation bracket, pinning Elk City’s Lake Hargrove in the finals.

Moore placed third at 150, winning his first three matches before falling to Blackwell State qualifier Grant Rowe in the semifinals. He bounced back with a pair of consolation wins, including 5-3 decision over Bristow’s Hank Powell in the finals.

Reiss took fourth place at 113, winning his first two matches via pin and major decision before falling to undefeated Blackwell State qualifier Jaxon Brown in the semifinals. He bounced back with a 2-1 decision over Berryhill’s Malaki Venetoff before falling to Chandler State qualifier Landon Earp.

Lady Sandites Defeat Jenks on Senior Night, Place Second at Cleveland Tournament

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The Charles Page High School girls wrestling team (4-1) rolled to a 54-24 victory against Jenks (0-1) Tuesday on Senior Night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The two teams split 4-4 in matches that were actually wrestled, but the Sandites had the deeper roster and picked up five forfeits.

“The fact that we finally have a full girls dual lineup here at Sand Springs, it’s just been thanks to all these coaches helping to get these girls out,” said head girls assistant coach Trent Cleveland, who left the head coach position at Glenpool to lead the Lady Sandites this year.

“We’ve still got girls that are taking interest in it. This is year two, we started with four girls last year and the girls are just taking off with it.”

Bailey Copeland, Ambrielle Chambers, and Caryss Upton all received forfeits to start the dual 18-0 and the home team never trailed.

Addi Thompson pinned Trinity Owens at 115 to get the Trojans on the board and the teams double forfeited 120.

Gracie Gifford easily handled Brook Albyn at 125, taking an 8-3 lead into the the third period before pinning her in 5:14, then Zoe Butler and Audree Robinson received forfeits.

Kelsi Hilton clinched the dual at 140, taking a 9-1 lead against Mazzy Conley in the second period, reversing for a pin at 3:52 to go up 42-6.

Maddi Wilke pinned Kayla Arnold at 145 but Tessa Urrey responded with a pin of Nevaeh Maldonado with 13 seconds left in the match.

Jenks’s Mariah Jones pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and Elaine Kenny received an injury forfeit from Addily Shotwell in the first period, but Emily Ambriz capped the dual off by pinning Nylah Blackwell in 1:06 at heavyweight.

The victory is the latest sign that the girls wrestling program at Sand Springs is the real deal as the girls have put together a remarkable record in their first-ever dual season.

“We’ll be seeing these girls later down the road at Regionals,” said Cleveland. “Picking up a win over Sapulpa and now Jenks, we’re definitely making headway in 6A and trying to make some noise.”

The girls also took second place out of 30 teams at the Joe Cole Classic in Cleveland this past weekend, finishing only 13 points behind champion Bentonville West.

Hilton took first place at 140 pounds while Chambers, Laila Mirza, and Urrey finished as runners-up.

Hilton (16-2) pinned Bristow’s Abigail Jones in 1:17, Cleveland’s Zoe Zucca in 3:36, and Bentonville’s Samantha Graciano in 1:19.

Chambers (8-3) pinned her first two opponents at 105 before falling to Warner’s Rachel Torres in the finals.

Mirza (15-4) recorded two first-period falls at 120 and a 6-0 decision over Mannford’s Roseline Baker before falling to Bristow State qualifier Zoey Freeman in the finals.

Urrey (7-8) pinned her first two foes at 155 before falling to Henrietta’s Lily Haywood in the finals.

Shotwell placed fourth at 190 and Grant was fifth at 170.

Next up for the Lady Sandites will be a trip to Springdale, Arkansas for the Diamond State Lady Invitational on December 29th.