TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — MUSKOGEE — The Sequoyah Lady Indians went into the Bedouin Shrine Classic in Muskogee as the three-time defending champions. Unfortunately for the Lady Indians, poor shooting and costly errors led to two weekend losses and a fourth place finish in this year's tournament.

On Friday, the Lady Indians struggled from the field in a 42-34 loss to the class 4A Wagoner Lady Bulldogs.

After beginning the second half with an 11-10 lead, Wagoner had a 10-0 run in the third quarter that Sequoyah could never recover from. Nikki Lewis, the only Lady Indian to score in double figures, led Sequoyah with 13 points.

"The third quarter really killed us," head coach Bill Nobles said. "We had some defensive breakdowns that really cost us. Our girls showed a lot of heart in coming back."

Saturday was much the same story, as a fourth quarter comeback fell just short against the Enid Pacers in the third-place game. After falling behind by as much as 11 points early, the Lady Indians rallied to within one point late in the game before falling, 35-32.

Sequoyah (4-6) struggled all game offensively, committing five turnovers in the first quarter alone. Nikki Lewis' two free throws with 2:41 left in the first were the first points of the game for Sequoyah, who trailed 11-2 at the end of the quarter.

The lead was 13-2 when steals by Lewis on back-to-back possessions, followed by a Lewis 3-pointer, cut the lead to 15-9 halfway through the second quarter. Lewis finished the first half with nine points as Sequoyah trailed 19-11.

In the second half, the Lady Indians turned up the defensive pressure on Enid, forcing several turnovers that led to fast break opportunities for Sequoyah. The end of the third quarter found Sequoyah down, 28-22.

Lewis' steal to begin the fourth led to a Lindsay Hammer layup that cut the lead to 28-24. Taylor Johnson then drove baseline on the next possession for a layup that made the score 29-26 with just under five minutes to play.

The Lady Indians ultimately tied the game at 32 with 47.8 seconds remaining. Unfortunately Sequoyah could not get another basket and three Enid free throws provided the winning margin.

Lewis again led Sequoyah with 18 points.

"Nikki was really the leader on the floor for us the past two days," Nobles said. After going scoreless for almost three quarters, Hammer finished with 8 points and 12 rebounds.

"I'm proud of the way our girls played this weekend," Nobles said. "They showed a lot of heart. We probably won't shoot that badly all year. Our execution at times was not good, but we've got a really young team and they're still learning."

Indians place fifth

On the boys side, the Indians won their second consecutive game, this one over the Hilldale Hornets, to claim fifth place in the Shrine Tournament.

The Indians jumped on the Hornets early, leading 40-27 at halftime on their way to a 79-64 victory.

In the second half Hilldale could never get closer than 9 points as the Indians improved their record to 6-4 on the season. Cody Fourkiller, who made 4 three pointers in the second half, answered every Hornet challenge. Garrett Drapeau chipped in 8 second half points in a contest marred by fouls.

Both Sequoyah basketball teams will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Victory Christian to take on the Crusaders. On Friday both teams will travel to Eagletown before returning home for Saturday contests with Riverside.