2009-10  BASKETBALL

    TAHLEQUAH-- The Sequoyah Indians got their 2009 basketball campaign off on the right foot Saturday, traveling to Riverside and knocking off the host Braves 79-40.

    The Indians used two big quarters in the blowout, a 30-12 first quarter and a 23-2 third quarter for the win. 

    The Indians were led by junior guard Terran Pettit, who poured in a game high 22 points, including five three pointers. Seniors Travis Sanders and Kiwah Gilbert were the other two Indians in double figures with 10 points apiece. 

    "We really shot the ball well," assistant coach Jay Herrin said. "The officiating was pretty tight and their free throw shooting kept them in it. But once we adjusted to that we played better team defense in the second half."

    The Braves made 16 free throws out of 28 attempts in the first half, accounting for just over half of their points as the Indians took a 44-30 lead into the half. 

The Indians' third quarter surge fueled a 35-10 second half to secure the rout. 

    On Monday, the Indians picked up their second win, this time over county rival Keys by a score of 68-50 in the first round of the Jerry O'Quin Invitational in Inola. 

    The Indians outscored the Cougars 16-6 in the first quarter and never looked back, taking a 31-18 lead at the half. 

    Travis Sanders led a balanced Sequoyah attack with 18 points. Terran Pettit added 17 while Ramsey Butler scored 12. 

    For the Cougars, Jackie Walker led the way with 16 points. Taylor Swanson was the other Cougar in double figures with 10. 

    "They [Keys] played really well," Sequoyah head coach Larry Grigg said. "They were especially tough defensively. They'll be a tough team to beat by the end of the season."

    The Indians were without guard Kialo Vann, who is nursing a bruised knee. He is expected to play Friday when the Indians face the winner of the Oologah-Verdigris matchup in the semifinal round at Inola. "We'll have to play better if we want to move on," Grigg said. 

    The Sequoyah Lady Indians bounced back from their opening-game defeat at Riverside with a blowout of Oologah in the first round of the Jerry O'Quin Invitational in Inola. 

    On Saturday, the Lady Indians were beaten by the host Lady Braves 76-74 despite a combined 35 points from Nikki Lewis and Anaweg Smith. Smith and Lewis scored 23 points in the second half, but Sequoyah could not come up with enough defensive stops to overcome Riverside.

    Last night's game against the Lady Mustangs was a different story, as Sequoyah held Oologah to a nine points total in the second and third quarter for the win. 

    After finishing the first quarter with a 14-13 lead, the Lady Indians (1-1) outscored Oologah by 23 over the next two period to build an insurmountable lead. 

    Taylor Johnson led the Lady Indians with 22 points, while Lewis added 18. Candace Maldonado came off the bench to chip in eight points. 

    "We played better defense than we did on Saturday," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "We played more like we should."

    The Lady Indians will next play in the semifinals of the O'Quin Invitational on Friday against the winner of the Keys-Verdigris matchup. 

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    TAHLEQUAH-- The Sequoyah Lady Indians ran into a buzzsaw in the Jerry O’Quin Invitational at Inola final Saturday night, losing to Siloam Springs 51-31.

    The Lady Indians managed only nine total points in the second and third quarters, as they were shut down by one of the best teams in the state of Arkansas.

    "They are a very good team", Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "We needed to play our best game and we didn't."

    Candace Maldonado led Sequoyah with 13 points. Lynsey Dry had eight points while Nikki Lewis added seven.

    "We played afraid on offense and made too many mistakes on defense," Nobles said. "But it's a long season and hopefully we can learn from this."

    On Friday night, the Lady Indians got a combined 43 points from guards Nikki Lewis and Taylor Johnson as they pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 55-47 win over a tough Verdigris squad on in the semifinals.

    Johnson scored 12 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Lady Indians (2-1) overcame a one-point deficit to advance to the finals. 

    “Taylor is really coming around,” Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. “She’s really attacking the basket.”

    Lewis had 23 points to lead Sequoyah, who built a 27-23 halftime before the No. 8 Lady Cardinals surged to the lead at the end of the third quarter. 

     “We played well,” Nobles said. “Verdigris is a quality team that should make the state tournament. The girls really turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and did a good job taking care of the ball.”

The Sequoyah boys’ team ended their tournament with a victory in the third-place game. 

    On Friday, the Indians lost to the Verdigris Cardinals 54-46. The Cardinals built a 13-9 lead after the first quarter and led 30-24 at the half.

    The Indians were led by Jarrett Travis's 14 points. Ramsey Butler and Travis Sanders were the other Indians in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.

"We didn't play bad, we just didn't shoot the ball well," Sequoyah head coach Larry Grigg said.

Friday's loss dropped the Indians into the third place game against the Fort Gibson Tigers on Saturday. 

While the Indians dropped 19 three's in the game, they needed every bit of it in an 81-71 overtime win.

    Cody Fourkiller and Terran Pettit each had 24 and a combined 15 three pointers. Ramsey Nofire added 9 points while Travis and Sanders added eight points each.

The Indians' Achilles Heel was a 7-for-21 effort from the free throw line. 

"It was a good win over a good team", Grigg said.

Sequoyah will take on Keys on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at The Place Where They Play. 

    The Keys basketball teams each found themselves in the seventh-place game after back-to-back losses in the first two contests of the tournament. 

The Cougars picked up their first win on Saturday with a 51-46 victory over host Inola. 

Senior Marcus Scavone broke a 46-all tie with a bucket and free throw with 46 seconds remaining. 

Keys (1-4) then hit a pair of free throws late to make the final margin five points. 

The Cougars dropped their first two games to Sequoyah and Oologah. 

    For the Lady Cougars, they dropped their third straight game on Saturday to Inola 53-50 in the seventh-place game. 

    The team was short several players who were taking the ACT exam. The Lady Cougars were also without senior Megan Alsenay, who injured her knee against Verdigris in the first game of the tournament. 

    LeeKelli Kennedy scored a team-high 15 points. Jami Guthrie and Ashtin Dudley each added eight for Keys. 

Both Keys teams will play at Sequoyah on Tuesday. The girls game will begin at 6:30 p.m. 

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    TAHLEQUAH -- The Sequoyah and Keys girls’ basketball teams enter tonight’s contest at The Place Where They Play looking to get back on the winning track. Both teams are coming off losses in their previous game. 

    For the No.5-ranked Lady Indians, that loss came in the finals of the Inola Tournament to Siloam Springs, Ark., 51-31. The loss came after Sequoyah beat Verdigris and Oologah earlier in the tournament. 

“We really need to work on the six inches between our ears,” said Lady Indians coach Bill Nobles.
Verdigris is a good basketball team and we played two and a half really good quarters against them. We’ve got to be able to put four together. That’s what we’re struggling with right now.”

    Sequoyah (2-2) is also dealing with the loss of one of their best players, Marist signee Lindsey Hammer, who will miss tonight’s game with an injury. She averaged 16 points and eight rebounds a game last season. 

    Keys is coming off three straight losses in the Inola Tournament, the final one was on Saturday to the host Longhorns 53-50. In that game, the Lady Cougars were without eight players, including Megan Alsenay, who was injured in the first game of the tournament, and Micah Henry, who was taking the ACT exam. 

    Keys (2-3) also fell to Oologah and Verdigris in the tournament after beating Hulbert and Gore in the first two games of the season. 

    With Alsenay out, Keys coach Leon Ashlock will look to seniors Micah Henry and Sidney Kimble for increased production. 

    “She [Henry] has the skills and we need her to step up and lead by example,” said Ashlock. “She needs to fill the scoring gap. Sidney Kimble needs to step up as well.”

    Junior Jamie Guthrie along with LeeKelli Kennedy, Jordan Whitekiller and CJ Alsenay, Megan’s sister, will be looked to for more production. 

    One of the main factors of Tuesday’s game will be how well the Lady Cougars can cope with the pressure defense of Sequoyah. 

    “We have to do a good job of not turning the ball over,” said Ashlock. “Defensively, I think we match up OK. A lot’s just unknown. I don’t know how the girls are going to react to playing over there.”

Game time for tonight’s contest is set for 6:30 p.m. at The Place Where They Play. 

    “Keys has always played hard,” said Nobles. “We better show up with the right attitude and mental state.”

    TAHLEQUAH-- In another renewal of their fierce cross-county rivalry, the Sequoyah basketball teams took both games from Keys in a basketball doubleheader Tuesday night at The Place Where They Play. 

    After leading by just two points at halftime, the seventh-ranked Lady Indians turned up the defensive pressure to pull away from the Lady Cougars for a 69-55 win. 

    Sequoyah (3-2) forced 32 Keys turnovers while holding the Lady Cougars to just 22 second half points after leading 35-33 at the break. 

    Playing without injured star Lindsey Hammer, who continues to recover from a preseason knee injury, the Lady Indians got 17 points each from guards Nikki Lewis and Taylor Johnson to help offset their own turnover troubles. 

    "We have to clean our game up," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "We didn't play very smart. That's an ongoing issue for us." 

The Lady Indians finished with 21 turnovers of their own.

Keys head coach Leon Ashlock had similar sentiments about his team's performance. 

    "Overall we played pretty good,” said Ashlock. “We played a tough ballgame, we just made too many mistakes."

    The first half was a back-and-forth affair as the Lady Cougars (2-4) answered every Sequoyah challenge, leading by as many as five in the first quarter. But Sequoyah battled back with a 15-2 run that lasted into the early part of the second quarter, highlighted by Johnson's three at the first period buzzer. 

    But after two free throws by Candace Maldonado with five minutes left in the half put the Lady Indians up 25-17, the Lady Cougars hung tough, taking advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line to stay in the game before a late surge pulled them within two. 

Keys made 10-of-12 free throw attempts in the first half, offsetting 

Sequoyah's six threes, including three by Johnson. 

    But in the second half the Lady Indians clamped down, forcing 12 turnovers in the third quarter alone as they outscored Keys 24-14 in the period. 

"We let the pressure get to us in the second half," Ashlock said. 

    "Our press gave them more trouble in the second half," Nobles said. "We mixed some things up. We started taking advantage of the turnovers we were getting."

    In the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians upped their lead to as much as 14, never letting the Lady Cougars get closer than nine the rest of the game. 

    Guard Jami Guthrie led Keys with 15 points, while Leekelli Kennedy added 11 points and five rebounds. Ashtin Dudley and Sidney Kimble also scored in double digits with 10 and 12 points, respectively. 

SHS 69, Keys 55 (boys)

    Though they won by nearly the exact same margin, the fourth-ranked Indians had a much easier time in a game in which neither team shot well from the field or the free throw line.    (See Boys . . .)

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    TAHLEQUAH  Dec.19th - Nikki Lewis and Taylor Johnson both had 23 points Saturday as Sequoyah defeated Frontier 69-47 at The Place Where They Play on Saturday.

    The Lady Indians (4-2) took control in the third quarter, spurred by Lewis. Ahead only 34-33 at halftime, Lewis scored 19 of her points in the third including four 3s and made it 61-39 going into the fourth.

   “We weren’t playing very good up to that point and I challenged them [at halftime],” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said.

    The Lady Indians, ranked No. 7 in Class 3A, take a short Christmas break before heading to the Nike Interstate Shootout in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 27, in a four-day tournament featuring teams from California, Oregon and Washington. Sequoyah gets Lake Ridge High School of Lake Oswego, Ore., at 3:30 p.m. CST.

Sequoyah boys 80  ~  Frontier 41 

Terran Pettit scored a team-high 16 points as 3A's fourth-ranked team routed Frontie at The Place Where They Play.

    She may have been the smallest player on the floor, but Sequoyah's Nikki Lewis came up big when her team needed her Saturday afternoon.

    The 5-foot senior guard scored 23 points as the Class 3A No. 7 Lady Indians used a big third-quarter run to cruise to a 69-47 win over Frontier at The Place Where They Play.

    Lewis, who tied for the team-high in scoring, scored 19 of her 23 points during Sequoyah's dominating third quarter. She even banked in a 3-pointer from the left corner, which drew laughs from her and her coach, Bill Nobles, on the bench.

    "I think I said something like, 'don't worry, it still counts, regardless,'" Nobles said while still chuckling about it after the game. "She had a sheepless look on her face. It was pretty good."

    The Lady Indians, who only led 34-33 at intermission, used a 13-0 run in the early stages of the third period to balloon the advantage to 47-33. By the end of the third frame, Sequoyah (4-2) was comfortably in the drivers' seat with a 61-39 edge.

    "At halftime, we challenged (our girls) to come out and play defense and play like they can," said Nobles, whose team forced Class B No. 5 Frontier into 10 turnovers in each the third and fourth quarters.

    Taylor Johnson, who scored 19 of her 23 points before halftime, tied Lewis for the team lead in scoring. The senior guard was 10-of-18 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from behind the 3-point line.

Lewis shot field goals at an 8-of-11 clip while knocking down four of her six 3-point attempts.

    "Offensively, they are becoming quite a duo," Nobles said of Lewis and Johnson who scored 66 percent of their team's points. "Nikki has always been there, but Taylor is finding some consistency on offense and she is becoming a lot more diverse."

    Leading the way for Frontier (5-2) was Hope Conneywordy, who scored 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor.

Sequoyah 80, Frontier 41 (boys)

    Terran Pettit scored a team-high 16 points as 3A's fourth-ranked team, Sequoyah, routed Frontier, 80-41 at The Place Where They Play.

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    TULSA - In their return to Oklahoma high school basketball, the Sequoyah Lady Indians triumphed in Tulsa Tuesday night with a 58-46 win over Victory Christian.

    Sequoyah’s Nikki Lewis scored a team-high 21 points as the Lady Indians played their first game on Oklahoma soil since returning from a 2-2 road trip in the Nike Interstate Classic at Lake Oswego High School in Oregon. The Lady Indians, who let a 13-point lead slip away late in the game, managed to bury Victory Christian (6-5) thanks to a 14-of-16 performance from the free-throw line.

    “We got sloppy with the ball,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. “We let Victory get within two points, so we held the ball and stalled for the remainder of the fourth quarter.”

    Lewis was the only Lady Indians’ player to score in double figures, but Candace Maldonado chipped in with nine points while Courtney Jones added eight. 

    Lewis tied for a game-high scoringwise with the Lady Conquerors’ Christian Key, who also had 21 points despite Sequoyah’s box-and-1 coverage on her all night.

“She’s a heck of a player,” said Nobles, whose team improved to 7-4.

But Lewis was able to match Key point for point.

“Nikki had a great night,” Nobles said. 

    Nobles added that playing in the Nike tournament - against mostly Class 5A and 6A schoolls in Oregon - helped his team in their return to playing here in their home state. 

“It couldn’t have hurt us,” Nobles said. “Our kids know by now that we can be a good basketball team.”

But Nobles addressed the same issue that has plagued his ball club for most of the 2009-2010 season.

“We just have to be more consistent,” he said.

    Up next for the Lady Indians will be back-to-back home games with Jay on Friday night and Muskogee on Saturday afternoon.

“This is a tough two-week stretch for us,” Nobles said. “The difficulty level goes up.”

Sequoyah 58, victory chr. 46 (girls)

SHS 17 12 9 20 - 58

VC 13 10 9 12 - 46

Sequoyah (7-4): Nikki Lewis 21, Candace Maldonado 9, Courtney Jones 8, Anaweg Smithh 5, Lynsey Dry 4, Skye Norwood 4, Samantha Peters 3, Andi Pickup 2, Megan Larney 2.

Victory Christian (6-5): Christian Key 21, Deerman 7, Graham 6, Thomas 6, Hill 4, K. Key 2.

    TAHLEQUAH -- At first glance, Jay’s record of 4-6 might not scare anyone on its schedule. But Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles knows his team will still have to its lunch pail against the Lady Bulldogs.

    “(Jay) is a blue-collar team,” said Nobles, whose team enters tonight’s game at The Place Where They Play with a record of 7-4. “They are a well-coached team, and they will be prepared for us..”

    The Lady Indians will tip off tonight at 6:30 in their first of back-to-back days with home contests. Sequoyah will also host Class 6A Muskogee, who has won seven games in a row entering tonight’s game at Owasso, on Saturday at 2 p.m. And before the Lady Indians can worry about the Rougherettes, who also just won the 30th annual Shriners Classic in Muskogee, they must first take care of business with Jay.

    “We’re worrying about Jay right now,” said Nobles, whose team is coming off a 58-46 win over Victory Christian on Tuesday.

    And Nobles knows that Jay is certainly a threat after the Lady Bulldogs knocked off 12th-ranked Wagoner, 62-42, recently.

    “They just work hard and that’s how they beat Wagoner,” Nobles said. “And they come here and play hard, I can promise you that.”

    As for the Sequoyah boys, who will tip off tonight at 8, they will look to build on Tuesday night’s last-second win over Victory Christian.

    The Indians needed a layup from Travis Sanders with 12 seconds remaining to pull off a victory on the road after enduring a 1-2 stretch in the Tournament of Champions over Christmas break.

Sequoyah will take on a Jay team that returns four starters from last year and is currently 6-3 this season.

“It should be a contest,” boys coach Larry Grigg said. “There are no cupcakes on our schedule.”

    And if the Sequoyah girls have it difficult not looking past Jay to Muskogee on Saturday, then it will be even more difficult for the boys, who upset Muskogee, 65-63, in the TofC.

But Grigg doesn’t think his time will cheat and look ahead on the calendar.

“I don’t think so, but you never know what high school kids are thinking,” he said.

But Grigg knows his team will benefit from being at home.

“That’s a plus,” said Grigg, whose team is unbeaten in two games at home this season.

Jay at Sequoyah (preview capsules)
When: Tonight with girls at 6:30 and boys at 8.
Where: The Place Where They Play at Sequoyah High School.
Nicknames: Jay Bulldogs; Sequoyah Indians.

Girls

Records: Jay 4-6; Sequoyah 7-4.
Rankings: Jay is not ranked in Class 4A; Sequoyah is ranked No. 8 in 3A, according to okrankings.com.
Coaches: Jay (Terry Sweeney); Sequoyah (Bill Nobles).

News to know: After opening the season 3-2, Jay has lost four of its last five games. ... Jay is 0-3 in true road games this season. ... Sequoyah is 2-0 at home this season with the last home game occurring on Dec. 19 against Frontier.
Players to watch

Jay: Hannah Ritter, Lauren Wilson, Carrie Kirby - Ritter (10.5 ppg) and Wilson (10) are the only two girls who have scoring averages in double figures for Jay. ... Kirby, who averages 7.8 points a game, pulls down an average of 9.5 rebounds a game.

Sequoyah: Nikki Lewis - Lewis scored a team-high 21 points Tuesday night in a win over Victory Christian. The senior point guard could also get help in the scoring department from Taylor Johnson, Candace Maldonado or Courtney Jones.

Boys

Records: Jay 6-3; Sequoyah 7-3.
Rankings: Jay is not ranked in Class 4A; Sequoyah is No. 3 in Class 3A, according to okrankings.com.
Coaches: Jay (Carl Scott); Sequoyah (Larry Grigg).
News to know: Jay is 4-2 away from home this season, but the Bulldogs are 1-2 in true road games. ... Sequoyah is 2-0 at home.

Players to watch
Jay: Josh Ramsey, Chas Wiliams, Parker Warner.
Sequoyah: Jarrett Travis, Travis Sanders, Terran Pettit - Sanders scored the game-winning basket in the Indians’ win at Victory Christian Tuesday night. Travis scored a team-high 11 points while Pettit had nine and Sanders had eight. 

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What Sequoyah’s defensive pressure didn’t do, Nikki Lewis finished.

    The 3A No. 8 Lady Indians helped create 18 turnovers in three quarters in building a 47-32 lead. Lewis added the exclamation point by scoring 12 of her game-high 25 points in the final eight minutes.

    “I was really happy with our first-half defense,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said, noting the 12 first-half turnovers. “We’re outmanned, out-athleted and outsized and we were still able to keep them to 20 points, which is our goal.”

    The younger sister of Kansas redshirt freshman Angel Goodrich was particular effective operating out of a wide set, creating off the dribble and going to the basket. 

    Muskogee led once, on Hy-C Stancle’s 3-pointer to open the scoring. The Lady Indians would force four turnovers over the first four minutes and led 9-3 on Lewis’ drive to the hoop with 4:02 in the quarter.

    It was led 18-9 when Muskogee made its last major surge. A 6-0 run greased by a field goal and two free throws made it a one-possession game with 5:25 to the half. But Taylor Johnson fed Lewis on the ensuing possession for a layup and a 20-15 lead.

    The Rougherettes (7-4) have lost two straight, including Friday’s loss to Owasso, after winning seven in a row.

    “We played a little better than last night but turnovers hurt,” MHS coach Doyle Rowland said. “They keep you out of synch but we should still be able to run our offense. Once we get across halfcourt the pressure’s over. They’re good, everyone knows that and we had to bring our A game to compete and didn’t.”

    Alexus Wilson led MHS, which goes to the Moore Tournament later this week, with 12 points, Kelsey McClure ended with 10 but eight of those points came on 10 trips to the free-throw line. She was 1-of-8 from the field. 

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    JAY - Nikki Lewis scored 18 points and Taylor Johnson chipped in 14 as the Sequoyah Lady Indians beat McDonald County (Mo.), 60-54, in the semifinals of the Tri-State Classic in Jay on Thursday afternoon.

    “Overall, that was a good basketball team we beat,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. “They were much bigger and more athletic, so I’m happy with the win.”

McDonald County was able to make a run in the fourth quarter, due in large part to Ryan Parsons.

    The McDonald County guard scored a game-high 24 points - 12 in the fourth quarter - and nearlyy got her team a come-from-behind victory.

    “We lost track of the Parsons kids,” said Nobles, whose team will play the winner of Kansas/Jay in the tournament finals at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. “We lost her in the press, and she went to work on us.”

    Laci Marsden also scored in double figures for Sequoyah with 11 while Sam Pierce scored 12 for McDonald County.

Sequoyah 75, Broken Arrow JV 59 (boys)

Terran Pettit scored 17 points as the Indians beat Broken Arrow JV to advance to the tournament finals at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

    JENKS- - Both Sequoyah basketball teams saw their recent winning surges thwarted by abysmal offensive performances in losses at Jenks Tuesday night.

    The 3A fourth-ranked Indians, fresh off a championship in the Tri-State Invitational over the weekend, saw a promising first half go up in smoke in a scoreless third quarter as they succumbed to the Trojans, 44-32.

Jenks 55, Sequoyah 40 (girls)

    The Sequoyah Lady Indians went into their game Tuesday night against the Jenks Lady Trojans with plenty of momentum, having won five of their last six with the lone loss coming to the 3A 2nd ranked Kansas Lady Comets in the finals of the Tri-State Classic on Saturday.

    That momentum ended with a thud as the Lady Indians were dominated in all facets of the game in a 55-40 loss.

    "We just didn't show up," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "That might qualify as one of our worst performances of the season."

    The Lady Indians (11-6) could only muster 13 first half points as Sequoyah was constantly out of sync. The Lady Trojans slowly pulled away, leading 14-8 after the first quarter before going on a decisive 13-2 run over the first six and a half minutes of the second in building a 27-10 lead. The Lady Indians were finally able to stop the bleeding when Laci Marsden hit a three with one minute left in the half. Marsden had nine of her game-high 21 points in the first half as Sequoyah trailed 27-13 at the break.

    Sequoyah finally found their offensive footing in the third quarter, as Nikki Lewis scored all eight of her points in the frame and the Lady Indians more than doubled their offensive output with 15 points in the period. Unfortunately, the Lady Trojans (12-4) used hot shooting from outside the arc to match the Lady Indians point for point and maintain their lead.

     The Lady Indians were unable to get any closer than 13 in the final frame. Freshman point guard Jessica Washington was the only Lady Trojan in double figures with 14 points but five other Lady Trojans scored at least five points in a balanced attack.

     "It's distressing to see the same problems popping back up at this time of the year," Nobles said. "Ultimately it's mine fault. Hopefully we can get our issues straightened out before the playoffs begin."

Jenks 55, Sequoyah 40 (girls)

Sequoyah 8 5 15 12 - 40
Jenks 14 13 15 13 - 55

Sequoyah: Sequoyah Laci Marsden 21, Nikki Lewis 8, Andi Pickup 3, Taylor Johnson 2, Samantha Peters 2, Tara Comingdeer 2, Lynsey Dry 2.
Jenks: Jessica Washington 14, Julia Dittus 9, Garrah Draper 7, Whitney Bjornson 5, Taylor Hurd 5, Taylor Newcomb 5, Avery Rains 4, Heidi Greeson 4, Amber Tamez 2.

Boys:
The Sequoyah Indians found their offense just in time. 

    Trailing Victory Christian by 11 going into the fourth quarter, the Indians put on a furious rally capped by Terran Pettit's desperation heave at the buzzer that gave Sequoyah a 45-42 win over the Conquerers. 

For the Lady Indians, defense also ruled the day in their 57-48 win over Victory Christian. 

    But the difference was Laci Marsden. Marsden, a senior guard from Alaska, scored 14 points in a row to open the second half, including four threes, as the Lady Indians opened up a 20-point lead in the third quarter.

     After leading 9-8 after the first quarter, the Lady Indians (12-6) used 13 Conquerer turnovers in the second quarter to outscore VC 15-4 in the frame and take a 24-12 lead into halftime. 

    The third quarter belonged to Marsden, who scored 17 of her game-high 22 in the third period as the Lady Indians blew the game open. 

    Victory Christian (11-7), behind star forward Christian Key, would make a late rally after Marsden left the game with a leg injury early in the fourth. Key scored nine points in the fourth quarter as VC went on a 14-2 run to cut the lead to 52-44 with 1:45 to play. But the Lady Indians, led by guard Nikki Lewis, made just enough free throws to secure the game. Lewis scored five of her 17 points in the fourth period after a 10-point first half. Key finished with 20 points for the Conquerers. 

    JAY- - Not even a 10-point deficit to begin the game could deter the Sequoyah Lady Indians from beating Jay Friday night.

    Class 3A No. 8 Sequoyah recovered from a sluggish start and knocked off Jay, 63-53, to up its winning streak to two games.

    “We got off to a slow start,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. “Baskets just wouldn’t fall for us. But we played a much better second quarter.”
After trailing 14-9 at the end of one period, the Lady Indians responded with a 18-9 second quarter to take 27-23 halftime advantage. And from there, it was all Sequoyah.

    Laci Marsden scored a team-high 19 points for the Lady Indians (13-6) while Courtney Jones and Nikki Lewis both chipped in with 10 points apiece.

    “Laci is starting to come into her own,” said Nobles, whose team pulled off a season sweep of Jay after beating the Lady Bulldogs 57-54 back on Jan. 15. 

    In the third quarter, Sequoyah built its lead up to 12 before allowing Jay to rally. However, the Lady Bulldogs never caught up despite 23 points from Hannah Ritter.

Lauren Wilson also scored in double figures for Jay with 10 points.

Nobles said that he was very pleased with the showing that Jones turned in.

    “It’s great to have a freshman show up on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor,” Nobles said. “I’m really happy with Courtney Jones.”

Sequouah 79, Jay 57 (boys)

    Fourteen Sequoyah players scored as the Indians pulled off a season sweep of Jay with a 79-57 win Friday night.

    The Class 3A No. 4 Indians (13-5) were able to put the game away early on with a 24-10 first quarter and a 21-9 second quarter.

     TAHLEQUAH- He might not admit it, but at this point, taking on Colcord in the district tournament might seem like a cake walk to Sequoyah girls basketball coach Bill Nobles. Especially with what the Lady Indians, No.8 in Class 3A, have on tap prior to postseason play, which gets underway next week.

Sequoyah will take on 4A No. 12 Wagoner -- twice -- and 2A No. 5 Oktaha.

"We will be very well tested in getting ready for the playoffs," said Nobles, whose team is 13-6.

    First up for the Lady Indians' will be tonight's game at Wagoner, which tips off at 6:30. The two teams will meet again on Saturday at The Place Where They Play.

    Nobles said the Lady Bulldogs (11-6) will present some different looks on the defensive end, thanks to their ability to fly around the court.

    "They are a very athletic team," Nobles said. "They will run several different traps and bring a lot of pressure. But there will be a lot of stuff we have to work on if we want to get to Oklahoma City."

As for the Lady Indians' defensive strategy, it will centered around Wagoner's Janea McJunkins.

"She's a superstar," Nobles said of Wagoner's senior leader. "She's just a solid, solid basketball player."

    As for Sequoyah's final three games of the regular season, Nobles said it's important to keep winning to build momentum with the playoffs right around the corner.

    "Having to see them (Wagoner) twice in five days is not always fun," Nobles said. "But we certainly don't want to be going into the playoffs on a losing streak."

    In the boys' matchup, the Indians (13-5) will take on a Wagoner team that has hit the skids lately. The Bulldogs (6-11) have lost eight of their last nine games, and Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg said that's due to injuries among other things.

    "They have been having trouble with injuries and some players quitting during the season," said Grigg, whose team is ranked fourth in Class 3A.

But Grigg knows Wagoner will still pose a serious threat.

    "They are pretty athletic," Grigg said. "And we picked them because they're a pretty good basketball school."

   Led by Travis Sanders, Ramsey Butler, Terran Pettit and others, the Indians will have to concentrate on one aspect of Wagoner's game: Its speedy play.

    "Playing them will be good because they have something that a lot of teams don't have -- and that's their quickness," Grigg said.

    The Indians' coach added that there will be another good thing about playing a Bulldog team that has been struggling lately.

He said: "We'll be able to play a lot of kids."

Sequoyah at Wagoner (preview capsules)

When: Tonight with the girls' game starting at 6:30 and the boys' game to follow at approximately 8.
Where: Wagoner High School (300 Bulldog Circle, Wagoner).
Nicknames: Sequoyah Indians; Wagoner Bulldogs.

Girls

Records: Sequoyah 13-6; Wagoner 11-6.

Rankings (as of Monday): Sequoyah is No. 8 in Class 3A; Wagoner is No. 12 in 4A - both rankings according to okrankings.com.
Coaches: Sequoyah (Bill Nobles); Wagoner (Jade Allison).

News To Know: Sequoyah is unbeaten in the month of February, beating Victory Christian (57-48) and Jay (63-53). The Lady Indians last loss was at Class 6A No. 8 Jenks (55-40) on Jan. 26. ... Since returning from Oregon over Christmas break, Sequoyah is 7-2 with the Lady Indians' only other loss to 3A No. 1 Kansas in the championship game of the Tri-State Classic in Jay. ... Wagoner is 3-2 in its last five games. ... The Lady Bulldogs are 4-1 at home this season.

Players To Watch:
Sequoyah: Laci Marsden, Nikki Lewis, Courtney Jones - All three players scored in double figures for the Lady Indians at Jay Friday night. Marsden scored a team-high 19 points while Lewis and Jones both tallied 10 points. Expect Marsden and Lewis to continue scoring while Jones will more than likely make her impact on the defensive end.

Wagoner: Janae McJunkins - When talking about the game tonight, Nobles described McJunkins as "a superstar."

    Last Games Played: Sequoyah claimed a 63-53 victory at Jay last Friday night while Wagoner lost to 4A No. 4 Fort Gibson, 57-47, on the same night.

    Looking Ahead: Sequoyah continues on the road Friday night at Class 2A No. 5 Oktaha before returning home on Saturday to take on Wagoner for the second time in one week. Wagoner will play Jay at home Friday night before the rematch at The Place Where They Play.

    WAGONER- - Laci Marsden may be new to the Oklahoma high school basketball scene. But she is no stranger to the importance of playing well as postseason play nears.

    The senior move-in from Ketchikan, Alaska, scored a game-high 25 points as Class 3A No. 7 Sequoyah wore out Wagoner in a 63-47 triumph at the Hughes Event Center.

    “I’m not real familiar with any of the teams around here because it’s all new to me,” said Marsden, who scored 22 of her points between the second and third quarters. “I just go out every game like it’s the same.”

    Marsden went 10-of-17 from the floor while senior teammate Nikki Lewis was 7-of-17 for 20 points in the Lady Indians’ third straight victory - and second straight on the road. Sequoyah will wrap up the road portion of its regular-season schedule at Oktaha on Friday night. 

    Sequoyah (13-6) knocked down 24-of-61 field goal attempts, including 10 3-pointers. But it was the constant defensive pressure that made the Lady Bulldogs crack.

    “This is what we do,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said talking about his team’s defense. “We’re not tall, we’re not big, we’re not extraordinarily athletic, so we have to turn it into a full-court game, and we got good pressure.”

    The Lady Indians turned up the heat defensively after they found themselves down through most of the first quarter and a half. Wagoner (11-7) led 13-9 through one quarter and held a 20-19 advantage midway through the second frame.

But from there, it was all Sequoyah.

    The Lady Indians forced Wagoner into nine second-quarter turnovers, which Sequoyah used to propel itself on a 13-2 run, which turned into a 32-22 edge going into the locker room.

    “We try to make people worry for 94 feet,” said Nobles, whose team went through three ties and seven lead changes before putting the game away in the second quarter. “And the kids did a great job of that tonight.”

    Sequoyah continued to torment Wagoner in the second half by forcing six more turnovers in the third quarter, which led to the Lady Indians’ largest lead of the game at 22.

    With the win, the Lady Indians became only the second team to beat Wagoner on its home floor this season. The Lady Bulldogs first loss at home was to Vinita (47-40) on Jan. 12.

    Wagoner, who was 17-of-49 from the field, was led by Jennifer Monk, the only Lady Bulldogs’ player in double figures with 10 points. The Lady Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Janae McJunkins, was limited to five points - all in the first quarter - thanks to a 2-of-14 night from the field.

    “We didn’t do anything real special,” Nobles said of guarding McJunkins. “We just concentrated on her because she is a dangerous player, who is really, really good. I’m just estasic on how we played defense against her.”

Sequoyah 80, 
Wagoner 43

Sequoyah handed Wagoner its fifth loss in a row on Tuesday night as they topped the Bulldogs 80-43. 

    Sequoyah (14-5) was led by Travis Sanders and Ramsey Nofire with 10 points each. Anthony Easiley led the Bulldogs with 12 points and nine rebounds. 

Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc. 

    Both Sequoyah basketball teams will have their hands full on Friday night. Both Indian clubs travel to Oktaha to close out the road portion of the regular-season slate.

    For the Lady Indians (14-6), a trip to Oktaha means taking on a team that has only lost one time this season - and that was to Hulbert (56-54) in the title game of the Shriners’ Classic in Muskogee. 

    Luckily for Sequoyah, the Lady Indians have Laci Marsden and Nikki Lewis, who becoming a formidable duo in the backcourt. Marsden and Lewis have top the Lady Indians in scoring since the they returned from the Nike Interstate Shootout in Oregon over Christmas break.

    For the Sequoyah boys, who are 14-5 and ranked fourth in Class 3A, the Indians will square off against an Oktaha team that has only four losses to its credit this season.

    Behind senior guard Cale Elam, the Tigers (17-4) are primed for another run at the 2A state tournament this season. In 2009, Oktaha was beat out by Pawnee (65-57) in the 2A state semifinals.

    The Indians, also semifinalists in the 3A state tournament last year, enter tonight’s game on a three-game winning streak, which includes victories over Victory Christian, Jay and Wagoner.

    Following tonight’s game at Oktaha, Sequoyah closes out the regular season at The Place Where They Play against Wagoner on Saturday.

Sequoyah at Oktaha (preview capsules)

When: Tonight (Fri. Feb. 12) with the girls tipping off at 6:30 p.m. and the boys to follow at approximately 8.
Where: Oktaha High School (531 East Prairie, Oktaha).
Nicknames: Sequoyah Indians; Oktaha Tigers.

Girls

Records: Sequoyah 14-6; Oktaha 19-1.

Rankings: Sequoyah is No. 7 in Class 3A, according to okrankings.com; Oktaha is No. 5 in 2A.

Coaches: Sequoyah (Bill Nobles); Oktaha (Chester Pittman).

    News To Know: Sequoyah is on a three-game winning streak. ... Tonight's game is Sequoyah's last road game of the regular season. ... Oktaha's only loss of the season was to Hulbert (56-54) in the championship of the Bedouin Shrine Classic in Muskogee.
Players To Watch:

    Sequoyah: Laci Marsden, Nikki Lewis, Lynsey Dry - Marsden and Lewis are quickly becoming Sequoyah's dominate 1-2 punch. Marsden and Lewis - both senior guards - scored 25 and 20, respectively, against Wagoner on Tuesday. Dry was the Lady Indians' other double-digit scorer with 10 points against Wagoner.

Oktaha: Chloe Nichols, Haley Logan, Whitney Brown.

    Last Games Played: Sequoyah dominated Wagoner in a 63-47 victory on Tuesday night. The Lady Indians' pressure defense caused Wagoner to turn the ball over more than 20 times. Oktaha beat Weleetka, 68-25, on Tuesday night for Pittman's 501st career win.

    Looking Ahead: Sequoyah will play at home against Wagoner on Saturday while Oktaha will host Warner in the District 8 of the Class 2A playoffs on Feb 19.

    After playing one of their best games of the season Friday night at Oktaha, the Class 3A No. 7 Sequoyah Lady Indians played one of their worst on Saturday against Wagoner, turning the ball over 21 times and getting outrebounded 35-24 in a 63-43 loss. 

    "That was a clunker," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "Hopefully it was a one-time thing and we got it out of our system."

    The loss came on the heels of Tuesday's win by Sequoyah at Wagoner, in which the Lady Indians dominated with their press and 3-point shooting. 
But on homecoming and senior night, the Lady Indians had neither, as the Lady Bulldogs, repeatedly, broke the Sequoyah press for easy baskets. 

"I wasn't happy with our rotation, I wasn't happy with how we pressed the passing lanes," Nobles said. 

    With Sequoyah up 4-0 early in the game, the Lady Bulldogs (13-9) went on a 12-0 run to take command, taking a 16-12 lead into the second period. 

    In the second quarter, the Lady Bulldogs turned up the defense, using their own pressure to limit Sequoyah to just four second quarter points as they took a 28-16 lead into halftime. 

    The second half proved to be more of the same. With 6-2 Laura Reel 
controlling the paint, and guards Janae McJunkins and Callie Jones hitting outside shots, the Lady Bulldogs remained in control. On two different occasions, the Lady Indians got the margin to single digits and both times Wagoner had an answer, taking a 44-31 lead into the fourth and cruising to the win. 

    McJunkins led all scorers with 17 points, along with 14 rebounds while Reel finished with 15 points and nine rebounds and Jones added 14 points. Guard Landyn Fulps also had 12 for Wagoner - 10 of those in the second half. 

    Nikki Lewis led Sequoyah with 12 points along with six rebounds and six assists, while Laci Marsden finished with 11 points.

- In their second matchup with Wagoner in a week, the Sequoyah Indians had no trouble, cruising to their fifth straight win in a 72-39 triumph Saturday night. 

    If Oklahoma high school basketball was divided into three segments - pre-Christmas break, post-Christmas break and the playoffs - well then it’s time to begin the finaal phase.

    Both Keys and Hulbert begin postseason play tonight while Sequoyah will begin district-tournament play at home on Saturday.

    The Sequoyah boys, despite owning a 16-5 record, enter postseason play with some bad recently received bad news. The Class 3A No. 4 Indians found out they would be without the services of Terran Pettit, a junior guard, for the entire postseason.

    “He dislocated his pinkie finger on his left hand,” Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg said. “We were hoping they could just pop it back in, but he’s going to end up having surgery on his hand on Monday.”

    Grigg said Pettit sustained the injury in the Indians’ 78-59 victory at Oktaha last Friday. But Grigg, in his ninth season as Indians’ head coach, is confident that other players will fill the void left by Pettit.

    “The injury will hurt us,” Grigg said. “But other will have to step up. And I challenged the players to pick up the points that Pettit usually scores.”

    On the first round matchup with Colcord, which will tip off at approximately 8 p.m. at The Place Where They Play on Saturday, Grigg said he expects  Colcord to challenge the Indians more than it did in the first meeting.

    “We had a pretty easy time with them the first time,” said Grigg, talking about his team’s 73-31 victory over Colcord on Jan. 19 in the Tri-State Classic in Jay. “But they have some pretty good players, and I’m sure they’ll come to play.”

    The Sequoyah girls, ranked No. 7 in 3A, will take Colcord (5-10) in the first game Saturday night with tip time at 6:30.

Also in Class 3A Area IV are both Keys’ basketball teams.

    The Lady Cougars (13-8) will put their five-game winning streak on the line when they take on Westville (10-12) at 6:30 tonight. The Keys boys will follow at 8 p.m.

    If both Keys’ teams win, it could potentially set up a first-round regional matchup between Keys and Sequoyah at The Place Where They Play on Feb. 25.

    The Lady Indians (16-7) did it with defense, forcing 37 Colcord turnovers, 21 of those in the first half as Sequoyah took a 30-13 lead at the break. 

    Offensively, the Lady Indians were sparked by Taylor Johnson. The senior guard had 12 points in the first quarter on her way to a game-high 17. 

    The Lady Indians picked up where they left off in the second half, outscoring Colcord 22-7 in the third period. Anaweg Smith had all 10 of her points in the period, as Sequoyah stretched its lead to more than 30 points. 

    Despite the lopsided win, head coach Bill Nobles, with an eye toward tougher opponents down the road, was not entirely happy with his team's performance. 

    "The degree of difficulty is going up," Nobles said. "Next Thursday we play a tougher opponent. Then next Saturday we play an even tougher opponent. We need to work on some little things. We wanted a little cleaner execution, a little more effort tonight."

    The Lady Indians will open the regional portion of the playoffs at home against Westville next Thursday at 6:30.

Sequoyah 77, Colcord 28 (boys)

    The Sequoyah Indians used a big second quarter to blow open their district playoff game against the Colcord Hornets in a 77-28 win. 

    Coming into the 2009-2010 season, it was supposed to be the Nikki Lewis and Lindsey Hammer show for the Sequoyah Lady Indians. 

However, Hammer’s season-ending knee injury derailed those plans from the get-go.

Lewis, though, is still part of a dominant duo - only this time it’s with Laci Marsden.

    “She came down and she stepped up from the beginning,” Lewis said talking about Marsden, who moved from Ketchikan, Alaska, and became eligible at the beginning of the spring semester. “She knows how to play and she helps us a lot.”

    Since Marsden’s emergence, the Class 3A No. 10 Lady Indians have won nine of 12 games on the 2010 side of the calendar. 

    Included in Sequoyah’s nine victories was a district championship over Colcord with a 65-30 triumph on Friday. The Lady Indians (15-6) will look to continue their postseason success when they take on Westville in the first round of the regional tournament tonight at The Place Where They Play with tip off at 6:30.

    “Our degree of difficulty goes up a bunch,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. “Westville is a solid, solid basketball team, and I was impressed with what they did against Keys.”

    If Sequoyah is to reach the Class 3A state tournament in Oklahoma City, the Lady Indians will need Lewis and Marsden to step up and lead the way. And the example that Nobles kept using on how the two seniors need to play was the Lady Indians’ 63-47 win at Wagoner on Feb. 9. Marsden scored a game-high 25 points on a 10-of-17 shooting performance while Lewis wasn’t far behind with 20 points.

    “If we go out and play like we did at Wagoner and go out and play like we did at Oktaha, we’ll be OK,” Nobles said.

    For Marsden, who is now more than 3,000 miles from where she grew up, it’s all been a work in progress ever since she moved to Oklahoma.

    “It was a huge adjustment,” Marsden said. “Just because, where I was from, I was born and raised there for 17 years.”

The good thing for Marsden was she joined a team that welcomed her with open arms.

“All the girls here have made it extremely welcoming,” she said.

As for Marden’s thoughts on teaming up with Lewis, she said it’s been a very enjoyable experience.

    “I’ve never played with anyone like Nikki,” Marsden said. “It’s been a lot of fun because she is so quick and she has such skill and such speed.”

    And when Marsden and Lewis were asked about postseason expectations, the answer was obviously simple.

They echoed each other’s sentiments when they said it’s the state tournament or bust.

    TAHLEQUAH- With a berth in Saturday's regional championship game on the line, the Sequoyah Lady Indians looked like a team intent on getting back to the Class 3A state tournament in Thursday night's game against Westville.

    Led by a combined 40 points from senior guards Nikki Lewis and Laci Marsden and by a defensive effort that forced 26 Lady Yellowjacket turnovers, the Class 3A No. 10 Lady Indians rolled to a 76-44 win.

    The Lady Indians (17-7) came out blazing, making 18 of 29 first half shots and shooting 51 percent for the game. But Westville (10-12) answered the bell early on, as the two teams traded punches to the tune of three ties and seven lead changes in the first six minutes of the game. 

    The Lady Yellowjackets consistently cut their way through Sequoyah's pressure defense for easy baskets, while the Lady Indians struggled with turnovers, committing six in the first quarter.

    But with the score tied at 13 with two minutes remaining in the opening frame, the Lady Indians found their rhythm, going on a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 30-15 lead.

    After Westville's Christina Hammer got the Lady Yellowjackets back into the game with a 3 to make the score 30-20, the Lady Indians went on a 17-4 run to end the half up 47-24.

    "When you come out with your hair on fire like we did in the first quarter you have a tendency to make some hustle mistakes," Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. "We were out of position at times defensively. I was ecstatic with the way we played in the second quarter.”

    Lewis led the way for the Lady Indians with 14 points in the first half, while Marsden added 11, including three 3-pointers. In all, the Lady Indians were 9-of-17 from beyond the arc.

With the game in hand, the Lady Indians slowed the pace somewhat in the second half. 

    "We did what we wanted to do in the second half," Nobles said. "We didn't want to rush things and we wanted to execute. We did a good job executing in the second half."

    Westville was held to just 44 percent shooting for the game, including just 2-of-17 from three-point range. Hammer was the only Lady Yellowjacket in double figures with 13 points. 

    In addition to Marsden and Lewis, Taylor Johnson also cracked double figures for Sequoyah with 11 points.

    The Lady Indians will await the winner of the Pocola-Heavener matchup for Saturday's championship game. That game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. at the Muskogee Civic Center.

Sequoyah 76, Westville 44 (girls)

Westville HS    15       9    10    10    -      44

Sequoyah HS    22    25    15    14    -      76

Sequoyah HS: Nikki Lewis 23, Laci Marsden 17, Taylor Johnson 11, Lysney Dry 9, Anaweg Smith 6, Tara Comingdeer 5, Megan Larney 2, Andi Pickup 2, Dee Adair 1.

Westville HS: Christina Hammer 13, Brianna Wilson 7, Kenzie Hampton 6, Whitney Reece 4, Suzanna Shewmaker 4, Camillia Weaver 2, Elizabeth Hernandez 2, Jewel Yell 2, Felicia Manning 1.

     In front of a near-capacity crowd that made a regional semifinal feel more like a state championship game, a poised and senior-led Keys Cougars squad pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the basketball season, taking down the fourth-ranked Sequoyah Indians 48-47 on Sequoyah’s home floor.

Keys 48, Sequoyah 47 (boys)

Keys           11    12    10    15    -    48
Sequoyah     9    15    14      9    -    47

Sequoyah HS: Ramsey Nofire 11, Cody Fourkiller 9, Travis Sanders 8, Kialo Vann 7, Riley Sevenstar 5, Ramsey Butler 4, BJ Ketcher 2, Kiwah Gilbert 1. 

Keys HS: Taylor Swanson 10, Dillon Springwater 10, Ross Robbins 9, Derek Keys 6, Jacky Walker 5, Marcus Scavone 4, Christian Daugherty 3, Copper Hall 1.

MUSKOGEE - The Sequoyah Indians may be in unfamiliar territory, but they seem to be adjusting just fine.

    Faced with going through the consolation bracket to earn an eighth-straight trip to the state tournament, the Indians rolled to their third straight double-digit win, this time blowing out the Eufaula Ironheads by a score of 77-51.

    MUSKOGEE-- For much of Friday night’s Class 3A Area IV final at the Muskogee Civic Center, No. 10 Sequoyah looked to be the equal of top-ranked Kansas, but an 11-3 run to start the second half by the Lady Comets was the difference as SHS fell 48-41. 

    Kansas (25-1) outscored Sequoyah 15-6 overall in the quarter and took a 36-28 lead into the final quarter.

“The third quarter really hurt us,” Sequoyah coach Bill Nobles said. “We couldn’t get anything to go in.”

    Sequoyah climbed back to within five points, 43-38 with 2:03 remaining after a Tara Comingdeer 3-pointer. The Lady Indians sent Kansas’ Kortni Kendrick to the free-throw line and she hit the first of two attempts to push the lead back to six points. 

    Seq. HS (18-8) failed to score on their next two possessions which allowed Brooke Panther to hit three of four free throws to put the game out of reach at 47-38 with 42.9 seconds left. Lynsey Dry hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to cut it to 47-41, but the Lady Indians would get no closer. 

    Early in the game, Kansas came out strong as they used an 8-0 first quarter run to open up a 10-2 lead. Sequoyah rallied to cut the deficit to two points, 13-11, early in the second quarter. 

    The Lady Comets used a 6-0 spurt to push their lead to eight points at the 3:35 mark. The Lady Indians refused to go away as they closed the half with a 9-2 run capped with a Lewis 3-pointer with six seconds left. 

    Laci Marsden, who battled foul trouble for much of the game and picked up her fifth with 2:40 left, led Sequoyah with 11 points. Lewis and Dry each added nine for the Lady Indians. The 41 points scored as a team were the fourth-lowest total of the season.

    “Everybody struggled with consistency as far as that (scoring) goes,” said Nobles. “You do that when you play teams that are good.”

    Panther finished with a game-high 16 points and 17 rebounds for Kansas, which outrebounded Sequoyah 35-12 as a team. Kendrick added 12 points and six rebounds.

    Sequoyah plays Heavener, which beat Keys 48-43 Friday, today (Sat.Mar 6th) with the winner advancing to state. Seq. HS beat Heavener 46-42 in a regional matchup on Feb. 27. 

“We’ve got another tough one against Heavener,” said Nobles. “We’ve got to get ready for that.”

Sequoyah 68, Spiro 36

    Ramsey Butler had 18 points and Kiwah Gilbert had 10 points as the Indians (21-6) reached today’s consolation finals against Keys with their fourth straight win through the back side of the bracket.
The game was never in doubt. Sequoyah led 19-8 after one quarter and the lead reached 30 by the end of the third quarter. Spiro post player Alonzo Releford was out for disciplinary reasons Spiro, led by Shane Hobson’s 10 points, finishes at 15-13. 

Girls:

Heavener   48,
Keys           43

    Keys led 40-38 in the fourth quarter and Skylar Cooper hit back-to-back 3s, the last with 2:12 to play, to give Heavener the lead to stay and a ticket to the regional consolation finals.

    Skylar Cooper had 14 and Taylor Collins had 13 and Megan Bottoms had 11 Heavener is 24-3 and will play the Sequoyah-Kansas loser.

    Micah Henry had 14 points for the Lady Cougars, who finish at 17-10. Sidney Kimble had 12 and Jami Guthrie had 12. 

Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc. 

    MUSKOGEE - What looked to be an easy win for the Sequoyah Lady Indians in the Area Consolation championship turned into a tight affair that the Lady Indians just squeaked out 54-45.

    Laci Marsden's knee injury at midcourt with 3:33 left in the second quarter left the Lady Indians adrift offensively, allowing Taylor Collins and Heavener to fight their way back into the game.

    The Lady Indians were leading 29-16 at that points, having opened the game with a 22-8 first quarter. Taylor Johnson lit up the Lady Wolves to the tune of 10 points in the first quarter and 17 by halftime, with Marsden assisting on five baskets.

    But without their point guard, the Lady Indians struggled against the Heavener press, committing 16 second half turnovers. "Any time you lose a major cog like that it's going to hurt you," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "We had girls stepping into roles they weren't accustomed to."

    Nikki Lewis put the Lady Indians on her back in the second half, scoring 11 of her 17 points in the final two quarters and keeping Sequoyah afloat. Collins finished with 22, 13 of those in the second half.

    An 11-2 run by the Lady Wolves to open the second half made the score 39-34 with 1:40 left in the third quarter. But Lewis and Sequoyah maintained a seven-point advantage for much of the fourth quarter, holding Heavener to just nine points in the final frame and making enough free throws to put the game away.

    "I'm proud of the way our girls played," Nobles said. "We showed a lot of toughness."

    The Lady Indians landed in Saturday night's contest thanks to the defense of the Kansas Lady Comets and the inside dominance of senior post player Brooke Panther in the Area Championship.

    The 5'9" Panther thwarted Sequoyah on both ends of the floor, pouring in 17 points and grabbing 16 rebounds while anchoring the Lady Comets' sticky 2-3 zone that limited the Lady Indians to  six points each in the first and third quarters.

    Trailing 11-6 after the first period, the Lady Indians roared back int he second with a barrage of three-pointers in the final 3:30. The Lady Indians went on an 11-2 run during that span, turning a 19-11 deficit  into a 22-21 halftime lead.

    Kansas would come back in the third with their defense, which limited Sequoyah to just two three-pointers in the quarter.

    The Lady Comets would stretch their lead to eight before back-to-back baskets by Lynsey Dry and Laci Marsden got Sequoyah witin four with 2:22 left. But Sequoyah would get no closer, as the Lady Comets made 12/21 free throws in the quarter to seal the win.

    "Our kids played great," Nobles said. "The third quarter really hurt us. We just couldn't get anything to go in."

    Marsden was the lone Lady Indian in double figures with 11, while Lewis and Dry finished with nine points each. Kortni Kendrick had 13 points and five rebounds for Kansas.

    An interesting matchup in Class 3A girls has No. 10 Sequoyah (17-7) hooking up with No. 4 Millwood (23-5), the school that ended the Lady Indians’ quest for a record fourth straight state championship two seasons ago, in a  3:30 p.m. tipoff at Choctaw High School. 

    Sequoyah could go into the game minus Laci Marsden, the move-in from Alaska who began play in January, who injured a knee against Heavener in Saturday’s consolation final at Muskogee Civic Center. She’s scheduled to have an MRI on Monday to determine her status for the tournament.

    Sequoyah’s boys, winners of five straight postseason games after a regional loss against Keys, take their No. 4 ranking and 22-6 mark against No. 18 Holdenville at  8:30 p.m. at Moore High School.

     CHOCTAW- - Despite a valiant efforrt, a shorthanded Sequoyah Lady Indians squad fell to the Millwood Lady Falcons 56-45 in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament at Choctaw High School on Thursday.

    After trailing most of the game, the Lady Indians used a 13-4 run to trim what had been an 11-point Millwood lead to just two after Taylor Johnson hit a jumper with 3:15 left in the game. But the Lady Indians (19-9) would only manage one more point on a Megan Larney free throw the rest of the way.

    It was a game of contrasts in which a shorter, slower Sequoyah squad tried to use its pressure defense and outside shooting to overcome the Lady Falcons' height advantage. And despite shooting just 6-of-29 from beyond the three-point arc, the Lady Indians stayed with the fourth-ranked team in the state most of the way.

    Nikki Lewis led the way early for Sequoyah, scoring five of the Lady Indians' first six points, including a three at 4:30 mark of the first quarter that gave Sequoyah a 7-6 lead.

    With Sequoyah trailing 14-10 early in the second quarter, it was senior guard Taylor Johnson who took over on the offensive end, hitting back-to-back shots to give the Lady Indians a 15-14 lead.

    Unfortunately that would be the last time the Lady Indians would lead in the game, as the Lady Falcons (23-5) scored six quick points to retake command before a late Sequoyah surge made it 22-21 Millwood at the break.

    Millwood would take command for good, in a decisive third quarter. Taking advantage of their dominance on the defensive glass, the Lady Eagles consistently turned missed Sequoyah shots into easy baskets at the other end. Teanna Reid and Dayla Threatt were especially effective for Millwood. Reid, a 5-3 freshman guard, finished with a game-high 22 points, most of them around the basket, while the 5-11 Threatt finished with 17, 13 of those coming in the second half, along with 10 rebounds. For the game Millwood outrebounded Sequoyah 33-20.

    "When you don't block out that's what happens," Sequoyah head coach Bill Nobles said. "We did too much standing and watching."

    After trailing 42-31 with 6:30 to go in the game, the Lady Indians were finally able to hit some shots from long range to get back in the game. Threes from Lewis, Johnson and Tara Comingdeer sparked the fourth quarter run that got the Lady Indians back into the game, but another cold-shooting stretch from the field ended any hopes for an upset. The Lady Eagles helped Sequoyah by going 6-of-20 from the free throw line, including all seven of their attempts in the first half. 

    Johnson finished with 17 to lead Sequoyah, with Lewis chipping in 10 points and six assists. Lewis was forced back into the point guard position because of Laci Marsden's knee injury in the Area Consolation final against Heavener. Without Marsden and Lindsey Hammer, who averaged over 15 points a game last season but missed all of this season with a torn ACL, the Lady Indians were too short-handed to overcome last year's state runners-up.

    "When you consider that we had 39 points sitting on the bench, I'm pretty happy with how we did," Nobles said, referring to Marsden and Hammer. "We could've done a lot of things better, but I'm really proud of how our kids played. I thought we gave a great effort."

Millwood 56, Sequoyah 45 (girls)

Sequoyah HS     10    11      8    16    -      45

Millwood HS      14     8     16   18     -      56

Sequoyah HS: Taylor Johnson 17, Nikki Lewis 10, Lynsey Dry 7, Megan Larney 5, Tara Comingdeer 3, Courtney Jones 2, Anaweg Smith 1.

Millwood HS: Teanna Reid 22, Dayla Threatt 17, Quira Demery 11, Lauren Fonteno 5, Alicia Grigler 1

    CHOCTAW- - Thursday afternoon was Teanna Reid's first trip to the girls' Class 3A state tournament, but it didn't show.

    Reid led Millwood to a 56-45 win over Sequoyah-Tahlequah in the quarterfinals at Choctaw High School. She scored 22 and played a part in almost every Lady Falcon score.

    Millwood used a double-team trap in the corner to force the ball-handler to pass back to center court, where Reid would be waiting. The freshman with quick hands and quick feet intercepted the pass time after time and either zipped to the basket for a break-away layup or dished it to junior Dayla Threatt, who finished with 17.

    Sequoyah couldn't find an answer to the defensive set and struggled from the field, missing 24 of 30 3-point attempts. Junior guard Taylor Johnson led the Lady Indians with 17 points, including three of the team's six 3-pointers.

    Millwood advanced to the state championship game with a 55-48 win over Sequoyah-Tahlequah in the semifinals of the Class 3A Boys State Tournament at Moore High School on Friday night.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The top-ranked Kansas Lady Comets used a quick start combined with a dominant inside performance by Brooke Panther and some lethal outside shooting by Courtney Cowan and Kelsey Barnwell to outlast the OKC Millwood Lady Falcons 66-57 in the girls Class 3A state championship game at the State Fair Arena on Saturday night.