Cashion teams reach regional title games

About the only thing better than Cashion’s defense in the first half was its defense in the second half.

Combined, the two halves saw the Lady Wildcats hammer Cordell 5422 Tuesday in a Class 2A regional semifinal in Watonga.

Cashion’s second straight win to open the playoffs sees it playing for a regional championship against No. 4 Merritt at 6 p.m. Saturday (after press time of this edition).

Cordell managed just three field goals in the first half against No. 15 Cashion, which improved to 17-10.

After its own sluggish start offensively, Cashion managed to double up the Blue Devils 20-10 by halftime.

And although Cashion gave up more total points in the second half, Cordell only made two field goals in those final 16 minutes.

The game was put away in the third quarter, which saw a 19-2 Cashion run.

Kate Nabavi, a sophomore guard, scored 10 of her 12 points in that frame.

Jaylee Harp scored 11 for Cashion, 9 in the first half.

Tinley Meyer made three of Cashion’s six 3-pointers for all nine of her points and Brooke Shafer scored 8. The win guarantees Cashion a spot in this week’s area tournament.

If Cashion downs Merritt, the Lady Wildcats will play Friday for an area championship. A loss sends them to the consolation bracket where they’ll need three wins to advance to state.

Merritt is 22-3 on the season and has won 14 straight. The Oilerettes beat Hobart 51-42 in a regional semifinal Tuesday.

Wildcats Play Way Into Regional Final With a modest lead yet a dominating first-half defense, John Hardaway told his team at halftime that a similar effort in the second half could conceivably see the team winning without scoring again.

During the second half, Hardaway wondered at times if the Cashion Wildcats were taking his words literally.

Regardless, Cashion did enough in the second half to hold off Mangum 44-36 Tuesday in a Class 2A regional semifinal in Watonga.

Cashion improved to 17-9 and now gets a crack at No. 2 Oklahoma Christian Academy in Saturday night’s regional championship game.

The Wildcats held Mangum to just 12 points on 20 percent shooting and led by 17 at the break in the semifinal game.

“I told them if we continued to defend and rebound, we didn’t have to score another point to win the game,” Hardaway said.

Cashion responded by shooting just 28 percent from the field and scoring 15 points in the second half.

“They just about took me at my word and wanted to see if I was serious,” joked Hardaway.

It was even worse at the free throw line. Cashion kept its lead despite making just 3 of 14 free throws in the second half.

For the game, the Wildcats were only 5 of 21.

Still, Mangum couldn’t close the gap.

Parker Mitchell scored 18 points to lead the 17thranked Wildcats.

Kyle Yowell added 8. Cashion got 6 points each from Brayden Stuemky, Brian Nabavi and Grayson Little. Nabavi and Little both had 8 rebounds.

OCA is also 17-9, but has played 15 games against ranked foes this year, including eight against teams ranked in the top five of their respective class.

The Eagles beat Hobart 79-57 in their regional semifinal game.