Okarche dominates regional semis

Okarche’s defense smothered Laverne on Tuesday night and has the Lady Warriors within one win of a regional title.

The visiting Lady Tigers shot just 26 percent and committed 17 turnovers as No. 5 Okarche dominated the regional semifinal in a 55-29 victory.

That advanced Okarche to Saturday night’s regional championship game at home against No. 15 Mooreland and guaranteed the Lady Warriors a spot in this week’s area tournament.

After a feeling-out period in the first quarter that saw Okarche lead 9-5, Okarche turned it up in the second with an 18-4 run.

Katie Parham and Callie Cramer accounted for every Okarche point while the Lady Warriors limited Laverne to just one field goal.

Down 27-9 at the half, the visitors found some offense in the third quarter, but couldn’t close the gap.

Okarche extended its lead by three points with 3-pointers from Parham and Emory West - the team’s only treys of the game - and by going 6 for 6 from the foul line.

Overall, Okarche made 17 of 19 free throws in the game.

Okarche picked apart the Laverne defense while protecting the lead late by chewing time off the clock and then finding Ally Baustert for easy buckets underneath.

Baustert scored 6 of her 12 points in the fourth.

Cramer finished with 10 points.

Parham led all scorers with 22. She also had 7 rebounds - as did Baustert and 4 assists.

Okarche (21-4) shot 47 percent for the game while Laverne made just 10 of 38 attempts.

Record falls as Warriors advance

Some of the greatest players to wear a Warriors basketball uniform were in the Okarche gym on Tuesday night.

That included the opposing coaches in the Class A regional semifinal matchup.

No. 1 Okarche took the next step in its playoff quest with a 98-52 victory against Turpin.

The Warriors led by a modest 15 points at halftime, but outscored the Cardinals 48-17 in the second half to pull away.

“He did a great job with them,” said Aaron West of his counterpart on the other bench. “We had to make some adjustments and execute some things better in the second half.”

West was talking about Turpin coach Tyler Karr.

Both played for - and earned All-State honors - for West’s father, the late Ray West, at Okarche.

His Cardinals were less fazed than most teams with Okarche’s relentless pressure as well as the anticipated moment of the night.

That moment was seeing Okarche senior Jett Mueggenborg surpass the school’s all-time scoring record held for 35 years by Barry Schwarz (see related story).

That came just over halfway through the second quarter when Mueggenborg’s 3-pointer gave him 16 for the game. He needed 14 to break the record.

But the trey pushed Okarche’s lead to “only” 3926 with 3:45 left in the half.

It was 50-35 by halftime, a point when most teams are facing an insurmountable deficit.

Turpin was buoyed by the scoring of Jag Huffman, who poured in 13 in the first half.

He finished with 21, all through three quarters.

The third is when Okarche started to pull away.

The Warriors used a 23-2 run to do it. By the end of the quarter, the Warriors’ lead had swelled to 84-49.

Mueggenborg had heated up in the second quarter with 16 points. He kept it going in the third with 14 more.

That included two of Okarche’s five 3-pointers in the frame.

For the game, the Warriors were 14 of 41 from long range.

Mueggenborg made 4 of 9 while Ethan Kirby and Court Sumrall made three apiece.

Easton Roby had two in the game, including one just five seconds after tipoff.

Roby scored 17. Sumrall finished with 11 and Brett Carnott scored 10 while Kirby chipped in 9.

Mueggenborg ended his night with 34 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

Okarche (24-3) is set to play No. 17 Arapaho-Butler in Saturday night’s regional championship game at home.