Okarche runs into Dutch, Spartan buzz saws at TOC

Okarche coach Haley Mitchel knew beating 6A’s second-ranked Bixby in the opening round of the 57th annual Tournament of Champions was a tall task.

The way the Lady Spartans shot the ball made it an almost impossible one.

Bixby made 13 3-pointers Wednesday - many during a dominant second-quarter stretch - to earn a 78-49 victory over the Lady Warriors at Tulsa’s BOK Center.

“They’re a great team with great shooters and they were unreal tonight,” Mitchel said.

Bixby went 9 of 14 (64.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half. That’s when the Lady Spartans used a 27-10 run to break open what was a six-point game.

Overall, Bixby was 54.2 percent from long range.

“It was very impressive, but we should still have done a better job of finding their shooters,” Mitchel said.

The main culprit was Gracy Wernli.

She was 7 of 11 from outside the arc en route to 31 points and eight rebounds.

Gentry Baldwin made 4 of 6 3-pointers and scored 21 to go with a game-high nine boards.

Bixby out-rebounded Okarche 44-21.

Last year’s 6A state runner- up, Bixby just the week before was coming off three losses in four games at a national tournament in Phoenix, Ariz.

Okarche, ranked ninth in Class A, saw its five-game win streak snapped.

The Lady Warriors were led by Tyson Endres’ 16 points. She was 8 of 12 from the field.

Emma Stover scored 10 and had a team-high five rebounds.

Jalie Rother added nine points and four assists.

The Lady Warriors kept up for much of the first quarter before Bixby closed strong for a 16-10 lead.

There was no keeping up in the second.

Okarche was 0 of 8 from 3-point range early and 2 of 13 for the game.

••• The trend of taking on a second-ranked team from a larger class continued for Okarche in Thursday morning’s consolation semifinal.

The Lady Warriors took on Class 4A’s Holland Hall, which started strong and held on for a 69-57 victory.

The loss put Okarche in Friday morning’s seventh- place game against the loser of Pocola and Norman. ( Ed. note: Friday’s games took place after press time of this early printed edition.) shooting.

“I thought Drake and Maddox (Mecklenburg) did a great job guarding him,” Reese said. “We did some things to try to make it hard on him, but they had to do a lot of the work and they made him work really hard.”

Aadhi Ayyappan scored 12 points for the Bruins.

He scored eight of Bartlesville’s nine points in the third quarter as the Jackets took over the game.

Sternberger scored five of his eight points during that decisive third quarter. He also had four rebounds and two big blocks.

“He was able to do a lot of things for us,” Reese added.

It was certainly a tale of two halves for KHS offensively.

The Jackets were just 9 of 24 from the field in the first two quarters. That included going 3 of 10 from long range and they didn’t attempt a free throw.

In the second half, KHS was beyond efficient as it went 9 of 11 and made all four 3-point attempts.The fourth-quarter free throws were their only ones of the game.

Bartlesville was limited to 6 of 19 shooting in the second half as it was outscored 31-20.

Xavier Ridenour scored seven while Friesen added six before fouling out.

Jud Birwell scored four points to go with five rebounds and Cash Slezickey scored four points while handing out three assists.

Mecklenburg scored two and had three assists.

“If you noticed, every single one of them came up with a big play - or more - at different times,” Reese said of his seniors. “Whether it was a big bucket, a block, a pass, important free throws…they all stepped up when they needed.”

Kingfisher moved to 5-0 with the win.

Memorial trailed Roff during much of its firstround game before pulling out a 44-38 victory.

This is the second straight time KHS has advanced to the TOC semifinals.

The Jackets beat Kingston in the first round in 2018 before losing to eventual champ Booker T. Washington in the semifinals.