Lady Warriors win big

Okarche has been able to lean on its defense all season.

The Lady Warriors’ regional semifinal was no different.

Class A’s fourth-ranked Okarche surrendered just five field goals Thursday as it pummeled Soper 58-14 in Moss to advance to Saturday’s regional championship.

The Lady Warriors (24-3) will play Crowder (23-4) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Moss for the title. Regardless of that outcome, Okarche has locked up a spot in the area tournament later this week.

“We could have played better,” said Okarche coach Kelli Jennings of Thursday’s win. “Soper’s best player didn’t play in the second half, so that helped. We’ll have to be a lot better Saturday.”

Rachel McDowell scored 12 points in the first quarter as Okarche got out to a 14-4 advantage. The Lady Warriors then pitched a shutout in the second quarter to push their lead to 20 points.

Okarche’s offense picked up in the third with a 24-5 run.

Emma Stover scored 10 and McDowell added six more.

A senior, McDowell led all scorers with 19 points.

Stover finished her night with 13.

Jalie Rother, Ryen Wittrock, Sage Griswold and Kelsee Brown scored five points apiece.

Crowder is ranked 11th. It defeated Fort Cobb-Broxton 69-65 in overtime Thursday in its regional semifinal.

Crowder has won seven straight games entering Saturday.

Big third quarter helps Asher knock off Warriors

A third quarter scoring drought has sent the Okarche boys to the brink of elimination.

Asher broke open a tight game with a 20-4 run after halftime to pull away for a 57-42 win in their regional semifinal in Moss.

“We just didn’t execute enough and went cold,” said coach Aaron West. “We’ve got a tough road now.”

The loss means Okarche had to return to Moss for a Friday afternoon elimination game (after press time) against Wetumka, which survived Earlsboro 66-64 in overtime Thursday in a consolation matchup.

The winner of Friday’s game will advance to Saturday’s regional consolation championship.

Asher’s size was a concern for West going into the game.

Okarche countered it nicely in the first half and was within 26-24 at the break.

But the Warriors struggled offensively in the third quarter and Asher began to pull away.

“We drove in and drew their defense in like we were supposed to,” West said. “But we didn’t kick it out enough. We kept trying to shoot it over their 6-5 guy.”

Okarche closed the gap in the fourth, but not enough to make a serious push.

The size advantage helped Asher out-rebound Okarche 43-19. The Indians got 22 second-chance points.

“That was our No. 1 key to winning,” West said of rebounding. “That hurt us bad because they’re so much bigger.”

Asher had two players with double-doubles. Jake Dobbs had 23 points and 12 rebounds while Trevor Martin added 11 points and 12 boards.

Okarche was paced by Logan Kroener’s 17 points.

Kaleb Harris scored 14 before fouling out.

Okarche (14-13) was limited to 30 percent shooting while Asher shot 51 percent.

Wetumka enters Friday’s game with a 15-10 record. The Okarche-Wetumka winner plays the Moss-Crowder winner at 3 p.m. Saturday.