Canton no match for Okarche in district
Okarche stepped on the accelerator early, then put it in cruise control to arrive at a district championship.
ClassA’sseventh-ranked Lady Warriors took the first step in returning to the state tournament Saturday with a 58-24 win at home over Canton in a district title game.
They led 23-6 after a quarter and were up 25 points by halftime.
Jalie Rother was a big part of the early push as she went 4 of 5 from the 3-point line in the first quarter.
She shared the scoring lead with Emma Stover as both finished with 16 points.
Stover had seven points in that first quarter.
Rother made five of Okarche’s nine 3-pointers. Ruby VanDenDriessche collected two of them for her six points.
Jadyn Rother scored nine as Okarche improved to 20-5.
Okarche will host Coyle Thursday in the opening round of the regional tournament.
Coyle beat Wellston 4436 in that district final.
Warriors pull away for easy win
Okarche out-classed Canton over the final three quarters to dominate their Class A district championship game.
The Warriors outscored their guests by double digits in each of those last three periods Saturday to pull away for a 78-31 victory.
That keeps the fifthranked Warriors in the winner’s bracket as they move into the regional this week…one that they’ll also host.
Okarche plays Coyle in Thursday’s opening round.Canton was within 16-10 of the Warriors after the first quarter, but things went downhill from there for the Tigers.
Okarche outscored them 44-14 over the next two periods.
Canton struggled with Okarche’s relentless pressure and turned it over 34 times.
The Warriors turned those into 46 points.
Okarche limited the Tigers to 34 percent shooting, including just 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, the Warriors knocked down 10 from long range.
Jett Mueggenborg led that charge.
The freshman was 4 of 6 from outside the arc as part of his game-high 28 points.
He also had a gamehigh six rebounds.Cooper Bomhoff was 3 of 7 from 3-point range for his 11 points.
Wyatt Pinkerton also scored 11 for Okarche, which will go into the regional with a 23-2 mark.