Cherokee no match for Okarche
Balanced scoring and a dominant defense landed Okarche a district championship.
Six players scored 8 or more points and the Lady Warriors held Cherokee to 22 percent shooting in a 61-23 win at home on Saturday.
The victory claimed a Class A district title and kept Okarche in the winner’s bracket moving into this week’s regional.
The fifth-ranked team in the class never trailed in its playoff opener and dominated the final three quarters.
The Lady Warriors were up 10-4 after the first quarter, but outscored Cherokee by at least 10 points in each of the final three quarters.
Cherokee couldn’t score more than 7 points in any quarter as it shot 15.8 percent (3 of 19) in the first half before improving modestly in the second half.
The Lady Chiefs were also undone by 22 turnovers.
Okarche was 21 of 46 (45.7 percent) for the game.
The Lady Warriors were led by Logan White’s 11 points.
Ally Baustert added 9. Katie Parham, Reese Robinson, Emory West and Callie Cramer scored 8 apiece.
Okarche improved to 20-4.
The Lady Warriors hosted Laverne Tuesday night (after press time) in the regional opener.
An Okarche win advances the Lady Warriors to the regional championship at home at 6 p.m. Saturday. A loss puts them in the consolation semifinals at 1 p.m. Friday.
Laverne defeated Turpin 57-31 in their district championship.
No. 1 Okarche cruises
The group of seniors on the Okarche boys basketball team will go down as the most successful in school history.
The Warriors can only add to their legacy over the final four months of the school year.
One of the first steps was Saturday when they began their defense of the last two Class A basketball state championships. It started with visiting Cherokee, which fell prey 99-36 in a district title game.
The Warriors, ranked No. 1 all season, will host Turpin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a regional tournament semifinal.
Cherokee stood little chance coming in and all hope was dashed well before the end of the first quarter when the Chiefs were staring at a 41-11 deficit.
Okarche’s lead swelled to 62-22 by halftime and was 52 points going into the fourth.
Turnovers - as is usually the case for an Okarche foe - were part of the issue for Cherokee. The Chiefs committed 36 of them which led to 43 Okarche points.
Jett Mueggenborg led a quartet of Warriors in double figures with 24 points. He was 10 of 13 from the field.
Court Sumrall nailed 5 of 8 3-pointers to finish with 17 points.
Colin Hendrickson poured in 16 points and also had a team-high 6 assists while Kysen Avila made three 3-pointers as part of his 13 points.
Okarche carries a 24-3 record into the regional. Turpin is 13-11 and has won five of its last six, including 50-42 over Laverne in the district championship game.
The Cardinals are coached by Tyler Karr, one of the best players to wear an Okarche uniform. He earned All-State honors playing for the late Ray West in 2007.
A four-year starter, Karr guided the Warriors to the Class A state tournament in both 2006 and 2007.