Lady Warriors shock Calumet, avenge loss

With a little more health and a lot more determination, Okarche got its biggest win of the season.

The fourth-ranked Lady Warriors avenged one of their two losses Saturday by knocking off No. 3 Calumet 54-47 on the road in a showdown of two of Class A’s contenders.

Calumet won 53-46 at Okarche on Nov. 12 before the Lady Warriors rattled off 18 straight wins.

That streak came to an end last Tuesday when Crescent stunned a sluggish Okarche team 38-35 on the Lady Warriors’ senior night.

Between coaches and players, as many as eight Lady Warriors were afflicted with the flu or strep throat during the week.

“The loss was a combination of being completely worn out and just not hitting shots,” said Okarche coach Kelli Jennings.

Still not at 100 percent - in health or numbers - the shots fell for Okarche against Calumet.

The Lady Warriors knocked down 11 3-pointers.

Just one of those came in the first quarter, but the Okarche defense was swarming as it went up 13-4.

The spigot opened in the second as all 15 of Okarche’s points came from beyond the arc.

Rachel McDowell made two of the treys while Marlo Hunt, Jalie Rother and Madison Owens each made one. That helped the Lady Warriors to a 28-15 halftime advantage.

Calumet never could close the gap.

McDowell eventually led the team with 17 points.

Ryen Wittrock, who hit two big treys in the third quarter, added 12.

Hunt, who joined McDowell in making three 3-pointers, scored nine and Rother eight.

Jennings said Saturday’s win was a game her team, now 21-2, has had circled since early in the season.

“It’s been a goal from the moment we lost to Calumet to avenge it,” she said. “Our seniors never want to lose and they were going to do everything they could to not let it happen again to the same team.”

Okarche was still without Sage Griswold and Kelsee Brown for this go-around.

“To win with limited numbers was a huge testament to the perseverance of our team,” Jennings added.

OHS boys hang tough in defeat

For more than three quarters, Okarche was every bit as good as the second-ranked team in Class A.

That final stretch of the fourth finally caught up to the Warriors.

Calumet pulled away in the final minutes last Saturday to hold off Okarche 73-61 on the Chieftains’ home court.

The game was tied early in the quarter before a pair of 3-pointers by the home team and turnovers by the visitors sparked a 21-9 advantage over the final eight minutes.

“We made sure our guys knew they played toe-to-toe with the No. 2 team in the state on their home floor,” said Okarche coach Aaron West. “They really played their tails off and we had a chance.”

Okarche got out to the quick start and led 24-15 after a quarter before Calumet tied it up by halftime. The teams entered the fourth quarter again knotted up.

It was still a two-possession game just over midway through the final quarter.

“They hit a couple of shots, we missed some and had some turnovers,” West said.

Okarche got 17 points and 15 rebounds out of Joseph Schaefer in his most complete outing of the season.

Kaleb Harris scored 14 while Logan Kroener added 13.

Calumet countered with Ryen Island’s 19 points, then another 15 points and 11 rebounds from Gunner Snowden. Mark Castillo added 12.

The teams were mostly even across the board except turnovers and free throws. Okarche committed 16 miscues that Calumet turned into 17 points.

The Chieftains had just nine turnovers and also went 15 of 24 from the charity stripe. Okarche was 7 of 11.

The Warriors are now 13-10.

“Our guys are hungry,” West said. “This is the most-improved team I’ve been around in a while.”