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SEQUOYAH — All things are coming up Laylie Schiesel right now.
The Sequoyah sophomore guard celebrated her 16th birthday Monday by earning her driver’s license, and — thanks to some impressive family negotiations — a new 2025 Nissan Sentra.
She drove herself to school for the first time Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, she was driving home with a new career-high.
Schiesel poured in a personal-best 19 points to lead the Lady Eagles past Inola 51-31 in the Rogers County Rivalry at Olan Graham Field House.
“I’m definitely feeling older, for sure,” Schiesel said. “I’ve had a couple of rough games, and I just knew I needed to get my mindset right for the whole team. We’ve all been kind of going through a rough patch, so it’s good to see us all playing together and everyone playing good, not just one person.
“Coach [Lee Ott] was telling me that I also need to be a scoring threat,” she added, referring to a more defense-focus first half of the season. “I was working on my defense a lot at the beginning of the year because that’s something that I struggled with last year. Then I realized everyone needs to score.”
The only thing that didn’t go Schiesel’s way came late in the fourth quarter, when a missed free throw denied her a clean 20-point night.
That miss capped a bizarre stretch at the line for Sequoyah, which saw it miss five in a row down the stretch after starting the game 8-of-8.
“I was mad at myself because I knew [I was close to 20],” Schiesel said.
Still, the result never wavered.
The Lady Eagles [8-10] jumped out early behind perimeter shooting and never relinquished control.
Sequoyah led 16-10 after one quarter and pushed the margin to 30-15 by halftime, with Schiesel knocking down multiple 3-pointers as part of a balanced first half.
She finished with 4 3-pointers, accounting for nearly half of the Lady Eagles 10 makes from deep.
“It feels good to see stuff start falling because I kind of went through a shooting slump,” Schiesel said. “It’s really good to see the 3s falling, that’s for sure.”
Kristen Holt added 10 points and 3 rebounds, while Emmyn Gibson chipped in 9 points — all from beyond the arc — and 7 rebounds. Lexis Breshears contributed 8 rebounds to go with her early 3-pointer that helped spark the opening run.
Lanie Thompson hit a pair of triples in the first quarter as well but did not score again because of foul trouble, finishing with 6 points.
The Lady Eagles stretched the lead to 40-25 by the end of the third quarter, then closed the door in the fourth with timely shooting and defensive stops.
“Shots were falling, so that made it easier,” Ott said.
Inola’s effort on the glass told one of the night’s most striking stories, but it didn’t translate to points.
The Lady Longhorns [8-12] managed just 31 points despite grabbing 26 offensive rebounds. Inola actually finished with more offensive rebounds than defensive [26-21], but repeated second-chance opportunities failed to turn into baskets.
Of the six Lady Longhorns to record a rebound, five had at least 5 boards, and three finished with 6 or more. Izzy Helling led the way with 14 rebounds — 11 on the offensive end — while scoring 10 points.
Megan Bell added 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, while Brynlee Pratt finished with 6 rebounds and 5 points.
“That’s been our Achilles heel, rebounding,” Ott said. “It was nice to know that it didn’t hurt us as much as I thought it would.”
Sequoyah’s defense forced tough shots and long possessions, causing 18 turnovers while allowing just 3 3-pointers on the night.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Lady Eagles and kept the Rogers County Rivalry trophy in Sequoyah for a second-straight year.
The Lady Eagles now won four-consecutive meetings against Inola, with only the second matchup each season officially counting toward the rivalry trophy.
For the Lady Longhorns, the loss marked their sixth defeat in the past eight games, despite controlling the overall rebounding battle 47-32 and 26-5 on the offensive glass.
As for Schiesel, it was a night that fit perfectly with the week she has been having — a new license, a new car and now a new career-high to drive home with.
“She shot the ball with confidence, anticipated well on defense and she’s had one of two games like that this year,” Ott said. “She kind of had a little slump the last couple of weeks, but maybe [things turned around] because of her 16th birthday.”
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The Sequoyah sophomore guard celebrated her 16th birthday Monday by earning her driver’s license, and — thanks to some impressive family negotiations — a new 2025 Nissan Sentra.
She drove herself to school for the first time Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, she was driving home with a new career-high.
Schiesel poured in a personal-best 19 points to lead the Lady Eagles past Inola 51-31 in the Rogers County Rivalry at Olan Graham Field House.
“I’m definitely feeling older, for sure,” Schiesel said. “I’ve had a couple of rough games, and I just knew I needed to get my mindset right for the whole team. We’ve all been kind of going through a rough patch, so it’s good to see us all playing together and everyone playing good, not just one person.
“Coach [Lee Ott] was telling me that I also need to be a scoring threat,” she added, referring to a more defense-focus first half of the season. “I was working on my defense a lot at the beginning of the year because that’s something that I struggled with last year. Then I realized everyone needs to score.”
The only thing that didn’t go Schiesel’s way came late in the fourth quarter, when a missed free throw denied her a clean 20-point night.
That miss capped a bizarre stretch at the line for Sequoyah, which saw it miss five in a row down the stretch after starting the game 8-of-8.
“I was mad at myself because I knew [I was close to 20],” Schiesel said.
Still, the result never wavered.
The Lady Eagles [8-10] jumped out early behind perimeter shooting and never relinquished control.
Sequoyah led 16-10 after one quarter and pushed the margin to 30-15 by halftime, with Schiesel knocking down multiple 3-pointers as part of a balanced first half.
She finished with 4 3-pointers, accounting for nearly half of the Lady Eagles 10 makes from deep.
“It feels good to see stuff start falling because I kind of went through a shooting slump,” Schiesel said. “It’s really good to see the 3s falling, that’s for sure.”
Kristen Holt added 10 points and 3 rebounds, while Emmyn Gibson chipped in 9 points — all from beyond the arc — and 7 rebounds. Lexis Breshears contributed 8 rebounds to go with her early 3-pointer that helped spark the opening run.
Lanie Thompson hit a pair of triples in the first quarter as well but did not score again because of foul trouble, finishing with 6 points.
The Lady Eagles stretched the lead to 40-25 by the end of the third quarter, then closed the door in the fourth with timely shooting and defensive stops.
“Shots were falling, so that made it easier,” Ott said.
Inola’s effort on the glass told one of the night’s most striking stories, but it didn’t translate to points.
The Lady Longhorns [8-12] managed just 31 points despite grabbing 26 offensive rebounds. Inola actually finished with more offensive rebounds than defensive [26-21], but repeated second-chance opportunities failed to turn into baskets.
Of the six Lady Longhorns to record a rebound, five had at least 5 boards, and three finished with 6 or more. Izzy Helling led the way with 14 rebounds — 11 on the offensive end — while scoring 10 points.
Megan Bell added 8 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, while Brynlee Pratt finished with 6 rebounds and 5 points.
“That’s been our Achilles heel, rebounding,” Ott said. “It was nice to know that it didn’t hurt us as much as I thought it would.”
Sequoyah’s defense forced tough shots and long possessions, causing 18 turnovers while allowing just 3 3-pointers on the night.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Lady Eagles and kept the Rogers County Rivalry trophy in Sequoyah for a second-straight year.
The Lady Eagles now won four-consecutive meetings against Inola, with only the second matchup each season officially counting toward the rivalry trophy.
For the Lady Longhorns, the loss marked their sixth defeat in the past eight games, despite controlling the overall rebounding battle 47-32 and 26-5 on the offensive glass.
As for Schiesel, it was a night that fit perfectly with the week she has been having — a new license, a new car and now a new career-high to drive home with.
“She shot the ball with confidence, anticipated well on defense and she’s had one of two games like that this year,” Ott said. “She kind of had a little slump the last couple of weeks, but maybe [things turned around] because of her 16th birthday.”
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