SAND SPRINGS — Courtney Jones’ career at Sequoyah is not quite over.

After being held scoreless in the Lady Indians’ 56-27 loss Friday night to the No. 2 Perkins-Tryon Lady Demons in the Class 3A area championship, Sequoyah’s lone senior scored 11 first-quarter points en route to a 64-49 consolation bracket victory over the Oklahoma Christian School Lady Saints, punching the team’s ticket to the state tournament.

With the win, the Lady Indians return to the Big House in Oklahoma City for the first time since 2010 — Jones’ freshman year.

“I have to give credit to my teammates for getting the ball to me,” Jones said of her first quarter scoring streak. “I was working on my shot since I didn’t hit anything in the last game. I knew I had to come back strong after the last game we had.”

The Lady Indians hit six 3-point shots in the first quarter alone to build up an early 25-10 lead that was not challenged until early in the fourth quarter, when the Lady Saints went on a 7-2 run to cut the margin to single digits.

Junior Audrey Ballou, who was held to just six points in Friday night’s loss, scored eight in final quarter to help seal the victory.

“I am so exited we made it,” Ballou said. “We had to come out strong and just jump on them right there.

“It (Friday night’s loss) was embarrassing. We had to forget about it and just come out stronger than we did last night.”

Sequoyah junior Loren Young led all scorers with 16 points. Senior Madeline Bown had 16 points for the Lady Saints (17-8).

The Lady Indians will be the No. 2 team from the western consolation side and will face the No. 1 seed among the eastern champions on Thursday. The full bracket will be announced Sunday afternoon.

“It means a lot for me, but it means a whole lot more to those girls right there,” coach Larry Shade said. “They’re the ones who deserve this. I’m just here to give them guidance. They’re the ones who have to step up and play day in and day out.”

Sequoyah joins Anadarko, Tulsa Booker T. Washington and Millwood, Cheyenne-Reydon and Sterling as schools to have both girls and boys basketball teams qualify for the 2013 state tournament.

“We are so proud of both teams and both of these coaches,” Sequoyah athletic director Marcus Crittenden said. “They’ve fought it through a lot of adversity to make it to this point and we’re just excited to be in the state tournament. We’re looking forward to making a splash while we’re there.”

In Friday night’s area championship game, the No. 2 Perkins-Tryon Lady Demons (26-0) held No. 11 Sequoyah to three second quarter points to set up the blowout victory. Led by senior McKenzie Stanford’s 17 points, the Lady Demons had four players score in double digits.

With 11 points, Young was the only Lady Indian to reach double digits Friday night.  



Sequoyah 64, OCS 49

Sequoyah            25    9    13    18    -    64

Oklahoma Christian    10    11    12    16   -    49

Sequoyah: Young 16, Jones 14, Ballou 10, Leach 8, Ratliff 7, Polk 4

Oklahoma Christian: Bown 15, Shuck 11, Fay 7, Duncan 5, Aparicio 4, Sanders 3, Gonce 2, LeBlanc 2