#13 Lady Sandites upset #8 Owasso 51-48
/By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
Photo: Morgan Miller, Staff
Heavy defense and a dominating second quarter were enough for the Charles Page High School varsity girls team (7-2) to hold off the #8 Owasso Lady Rams (12-3) Tuesday night.
The scoring started off slow for both teams. Neither team scored for the first three minutes, then they exchanging the lead five times in the first period before Terryn Milton tied things up 9-9 shortly before the buzzer.
Then, in the second quarter, Sand Springs exploded. Season scoring-leader Sydney Pennington scored 5 of Sand Springs's 16 points, but the true power lied in their defense. Pennington and Destiny Johnson each had 5 defensive rebounds for the night and Gloria Mutiri was especially impressive with a double-double, scoring 10 points with 13 rebounds.
By the end of the first half, the Sandites held a powerful 25-14 lead. Despite being outscored in each of the next two periods, their 11-point second-quarter advantage was enough to ward off the attempted Ram-rally.
Johnson was the star of the second half, scoring 10 points and going head-to-head with Milton and Mya Bhinhar who combined for 20 in the second half. Bhinhar, Milton, and Leiloni Culley each scored 11 to tie for team-lead.
Owasso closed the gap to 39-33 by the end of the third, and tied things up at 45-all with 2:10 left, but Johnson and Pennington tacked on a couple of field goals for a 4-point lead. Bhinhar hit a three, but Cierra Scott added two and Johnson hit a free throw for a final score of 51-48.
The Lady Sandites move up to fifth in Frontier Valley Conference standings with a 2-2 record, while Owasso drops to sixth with a 2-3 record.
Next, the Sandites will travel to Jenks (4-7, 2-5) Friday night to take on the unranked Lady Trojans.
In JV action, the girls were tied up 36-36 when a Lady Sandite sank a free throw with 1 second left for the win. The girls improve to 4-1 for the season.
