What’s old was new again at the Three Rivers Conference Tournament.

The Okarche girls and Cashion boys brought home championship trophies Saturday night from the Stride Bank Center in Enid.

Both were No. 1 seeds and experienced a bit of deja vu with the championship victories.

For Okarche, it was a third straight championship and seventh overall in the tournament’s two-decade history.

The Cashion boys had never won a conference crown before 2019. Now they have won four titles in a row.

63 is enough for the Lady Warriors The Lady Warriors dou

The Lady Warriors doubled up second-seeded Watonga in the second half to pull away for a 63-49 victory in Saturday’s title tilt.

Sixty-three proved to be the number for Okarche all three days.

The Lady Warriors opened with a 63-25 victory against Crescent in the quarterfinals and then beat Oklahoma Bible Academy 63-45 in the semifinals.

Watonga led 31-27 at halftime, but was limited to just nine points in each the third and fourth quarters.

Just as it was throughout the tournament, Okarche’s comeback was due to a number of contributors.

“We had several who stepped up at different times and played well,” coach Haley Mitchel said. “It really was a team effort.”

The Lady Warriors took the lead with a 19-9 run in the third.

Jalie Rother hit two of her three 3-pointers and Emma Stover scored seven in the frame.

“Both of them did some great scoring when we needed it this tournament,” Mitchel said.

The fourth belonged to Tyson Endres.

Endres scored eight of her 10 points in the fourth as she spelled Stover, who was battling foul trouble.

“She came in and brought us a big lift when we needed it,” Mitchel said.

Jadyn Rother scored five points in the fourth.

She finished with 10. “She didn’t just score for us, but provided us with a lot of assists, especially those last two days,” added Mitchel.

Stover led the way with 23 while Jalie Rother added 13.

Watonga’s numerous turnovers included 13 steals by Okarche.

On Friday, Okarche outscored OBA 23-14 in the fourth.

Stover scored 10 of her 15 points in that quarter. Jalie Rother notched eight of her 17, which included going 4 for 4 from the foul line.

Okarche was 9 of 11 as a team from the charity stripe in the fourth.

Jadyn Rother added five in the fourth and scored 12 overall.

Sophie Vandendriessche led the team with 16 points in Thursday’s victory. Jadyn Rother scored 11 and Stover 10.

Okarche moved to 16-1 on the season and has won seven straight.

Saturday’s win broke a tie with Thomas for the most conference tournament titles.

Wildcats overcome injury bug to win again

The quality of Cashion’s balance and depth was on full display as the Wildcats kept their stranglehold on the tournament crown.

Despite not having starting point guard Jonah Jenkins for much of the three days, Cashion extended its conference tournament win streak to 13 games.

The most recent was its 51-24 domination of Watonga in the finals.

Cashion held the Eagles to 23 percent shooting, dominated the boards and closed out with a 19-6 run.

Meanwhile, Jenkins, a senior guard, watched from the bench.

He’d been battling an ankle injury since the opening round of the Tournament of Champions and aggravated the injury multiple times, including last Tuesday against Oklahoma Bible Academy.

Coach John Hardaway kept Jenkins out of Cashion’s tournament opening win over Thomas. in the semifinals against Okarche, but had to leave after spraining the AC joint in his shoulder.

Enter Nick Nabavi, who is normally Cashion’s “enforcer” inside and more prone to set picks and grab rebounds.

“We basically made him a guard on Friday and Saturday,” Hardaway said. “And he was incredible.”

Nabavi scored seven points against the Eagles and notched a team-high three assists while still managing seven rebounds.

Austin Frazier took over the bulk of the scoring load with a game-high 21 points. He also had seven rebounds.

Cashion out-rebounded Watonga 38-18.

Landon LaGasse grabbed 12 of those rebounds, half on the offensive end, to go with his nine points.

Vance Raney added 10 points.

“Literally everyone picked up the slack in some regard,” Hardaway said.

That included Trey Tichenor, who filled out the stat sheet.

Another senior, Tichenor had four points, two assists, six rebounds and two steals.

He also helped save the day on Friday.

Cashion had to scratch and claw to get past rival Okarche 50-47 in the semifinals.

Tichenor swiped the ball from Caden Schieber and then made 1 of 2 free throws with 3.1 seconds left.

Hunter Mueggenborg’s long 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed the mark for Okarche.

The Warriors stayed within striking distance thanks to Cashion’s inability to make a free throw in the final 49 seconds.

LaGasse, Frazier and Raney all missed the front ends of one-and-ones during that time and Tichenor missed his first of two free throws.

Down five, Okarche got within one possession when Trenton Neiderer buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 16.2 seconds left.

Cashion managed to burn nine seconds before Raney was fouled.

After he missed, Okarche was headed downcourt to attempt to tie or take the lead when Tichenor came through with his steal.

Hunter Mueggenborg led the way with 15 points for Okarche, which trailed by 12 points after the first quarter.

Brayden Stover added 13.

Frazier scored 19 for the Wildcats and LaGasse 15 to go with his nine rebounds.

“Landon and Austin obviously asserted themselves in scoring throughout the week,” Hardaway said.

Frazier averaged 23.2 points and 7.6 rebounds over the three days. LaGasse contributed 11 points and 9.3 boards.

But Hardaway also pointed to the likes of Jackson Vandruff, Mason Manning and Bryce Burke for their contributions off the bench.

Essentially, it was too much for anyone to overcome.

“Our guys stepped up big time,” Hardaway said.

Cashion is now tied with Okarche for the most conference tournament titles. Hennessey and Watonga own three each.

GIRLS BRACKET

Cashion’s girls settled for fourth place after a 50-40 loss to OBA in Saturday’s third-place game.

The Lady Wildcats erased most of an early deficit and trailed by just two points entering the fourth.

OBA closed with a 16-8 run.

Lauren Lamb and Lauren Jenkins scored 11 apiece for Cashion.

Brook Shelly added 10.

Cashion was sent to the consolation bracket with Friday’s 54-43 semifinal loss to Watonga.

Lamb led the team with 16 in defeat.

The Lady Wildcats opened the tournament with a 46-38 victory over Fairview.

Lamb scored 20 in the victory while Shelly contributed 12.

The Hennessey girls were knocked off 52-44 by Thomas in the consolation championship game.

The Lady Eagles led 31- 30 at halftime, but Thomas used a 12-3 run in the third quarter to take command.

Senior Harlee Dowell led the way with 17 points.

Kassidy Amburn added nine and Yuridia Rios eight.

The Lady Eagles on Friday avenged one of their earlier losses by beating Fairview 52-39.

Hennessey built the bulk of its lead with a 14-4 burst in the second quarter.

Amburn and Dowell combined for nine of those points and ended with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Julianna Macy carried the load in the second half when she scored all 16 of her points, including nine in the third quarter.

BOYS BRACKET

Okarche erased a ninepoint halftime deficit to defeat Hennessey 47-41 for third place.

The Warriors did it with a 15-3 run in the third quarter and held the Eagles to 14 second-half points.

Trenton Neiderer led the way with 14 points and made four of Okarche’s eight 3-pointers.

Hennessey, meanwhile, was just 5 of 24 from long range.

The Eagles got 18 points and 17 rebounds from Miguel Torres. Cristian Rodriguez added nine points.

Evan Endres scored nine for Okarche while P.K. Harris added eight.

Brayden Stover chipped in seven points and eight rebounds.