Hydro-Eakly upset beyond Okarche’s reach

The final score of the final game is not what will define the Okarche Lady Warriors’ season.

Second-ranked Okarche saw its campaign come to an end Friday with a 63-42 loss to No. 1 Hydro-Eakly in the Class A semifinals at State Fair Arena.

The Lady Bobcats’ win was their 48th straight before the streak was ended by Seiling in Saturday’s state final.

For Okarche, though, playing on “semifinal Friday” was a big deal, even for a program with more than two dozen state appearances and five gold balls in the trophy case.

The team just missed out on reaching the 2021 tournament despite reaching the area title game.

Back-to-back losses denied Okarche that bid in Haley Mitchel’s first year as head coach of the program.

“After falling short of their goal last year to make state, they were determined to get back,” Mitchel said.

“They all put the time and work in to achieve that goal of returning the Okarche Lady Warrior program to the state tournament.”

The season started with nine straight wins, including an overtime victory at Lomega that snapped the Lady Raiders’ 56-game win streak.

After a loss to 2A No. 7 Hooker, Okarche won 10 in a row, a streak that saw the Three Rivers Conference championship stay in town.

A defeat to Watonga in the finals of the Coyle Invitational was followed up with two wins to close out the regular season.

Three more victories after that pitted them against No. 5 Vanoss in the area title game.

Despite losing and despite a near-disastrous start in the area consolation final against Ripley, Okarche didn’t let the ghosts of last season haunt its destiny.

Each defeat, Myers said, created an opportunity.

“I felt like every game we lost this year, we learned from our mistakes and worked to get better,” she said.

It was on display in the state quarterfinals as Okarche dominated the final 6:10 to defeat Garber, which entered the game having won 17 in a row.

Hydro-Eakly, though, had too much firepower.

The two-time defending champs went on a 14-2 run over the final 4:00 of the first quarter to lead 22-7.

Then they outscored Okarche 16-6 in the second quarter.

Rees Berkey scored 22 and Kira Berkey 16 for the Lady Bobcats.

Okarche, which had 29 turnovers, was led by Emma Stover’s 19 points.

Jalie Rother added 11 while Sophie Vandendriessche scored six.

The loss gave Okarche a 26-4 record.

Vandendriessche joined Adyson Arms, Savannah Mingus, Ryen Wittrock and Karsyn Vallerand (who missed the season with a knee injury) in taking part in their final game in an Okarche uniform.

“I’m proud of my five seniors and the leadership they displayed all season,” Mitchel said.“They embraced the tradition of being a member of the Okarche Lady Warrior family and demanded the best from all our players.”