Okarche title propelled by Jett milestone
Mueggenborg scores 28 against PC-H, hits 1,000 for career; Lady Warriors win 2 to advance to area
OKARCHE SOPHOMORE Jett Mueggenborg (left) was recognized after Okarche’s regional championship game for surpassing 1,000 career points. He is pictured with Superintendent Josh Sumrall. [Photo provided]
A championship and a milestone.
Okarche got both on Saturday night and now sets its sights on an even bigger prize.
The fourth-ranked Warriors outlasted No. 11 Pond Creek-Hunter 68-54 to win a Class A regional championship on their home floor.
Along the way, sophomore Jett Mueggenborg surpassed the 1,000 point barrier for his still young career.
Needing 15 points to reach the mark, Mueggenborg scored 28 as Okarche improved to 23-4 on the season.
But it wasn’t necessarily easy.
The Warriors and Panthers changed leads five times early before Okarche started to build some cushion.
It was 20-13 after a quarter and 42-31 at halftime.
The lead got to as many as 19 in the second half.
The teams were fairly even in most categories except free throws.
Okarche went 24 of 29 while PC-H made just 12 of 21.
Mueggenborg spent a lot of time at the stripe, connecting on 13 of 15 attempts.
He also led the team with seven rebounds.
Easton Roby added 15 points and was 6 of 6 from the foul line.
Caden Schieber contributed 10 points.
The Panthers were led by Micah Westrope’s 15 points and eight rebounds.
The win puts Okarche within one more victory of a second straight trip to the Class A state tournament.
The Warriors play No. 8 Seiling at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Woodward for an area title.
The winner moves on to state while the loser gets another crack at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Seiling is 19-6, but has won 15 of its last 16 games.
Lady Warriors grab leads, don’t let go
In its last two games of the regional tournament, Okarche had a combined two field goals in the fourth quarter.
And that’s all the Lady Warriors needed.
That’s because they chewed enough time off the clock and made enough free throws to win two straight elimination games and get back to a Class A area tournament.
The wins were 45-35 over Glencoe on Friday and 37-26 against Pond Creek-Hunter in Saturday’s consolation championship game.
In that game, Okarche used a 17-3 run over the final stretch of the second quarter and the entirety of the third.
That turned a tie game into a 30-16 lead entering the fourth.
Once there, the Lady Warriors essentially played keep-away from PC-H and made 7 of 12 free throws to keep a comfortable margin.
Jadyn Rother made 3 of her 4 attempts and continued her stellar play throughout the regional.
The senior - playing with an injured knee scored 20 points.
Scout Payne, who made a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the third quarter, added six while Ruby Van-DenDriessche scored five.
Rother scored five points as part of a 7-0 run in the third quarter Friday that allowed Okarche to build a 30-20 lead against Glencoe.
The Lady Panthers never got closer than seven the rest of the afternoon.
That margin was at the end of the third, but Rother buried a 3-pointer 50 seconds into the fourth.
She scored all 11 of her points in the second half.
Katie Parham also scored 11, six of which came in the fourth.
She made all four of her free throw attempts. The team was 10 of 12 from the charity stripe in the final quarter.
Payne added nine points for Okarche, including two 3-pointers to help the team build a 13-6 lead in the first quarter.
The Lady Warriors (1910) will play No. 15 Texhoma at 6 p.m. Thursday in an area consolation quarterfinal at Woodward.