Happy Endres

Okarche has won on its home court.

The Lady Warriors have won conference tournament championships.

But they’ve never won a conference title on their home court.

Until now. Top-seeded Okarche continued its dominance of the Three Rivers Conference Tournament on Saturday with a 61-54 victory against Oklahoma Bible Academy.

It’s the fourth straight year Okarche has won the tournament.

This one was being played - for the first time at the Okarche High School gym.

The school’s previous home gym was too small to host a full-fledged tournament and this year was the first for Okarche in the rotation since it built its new palace.

“Our girls really wanted to accomplish the goal of winning the conference championship for the first time on our court,” said coach Haley Mitchel.

But it wasn’t easy. The Lady Warriors outscored OBA in each of the first three quarters, but never by more than five.

They took a 50-41 lead into the fourth quarter.

Once there, Tyson Endres hit a big 3-pointer to cap a huge game and the rest of the team made just enough free throws - 6 of 10 - to hold off the Lady Trojans.

Endres scored a gamehigh 21 points. She netted six early on as Okarche staked a 13-12 lead.

She scored eight during Okarche’s best offensive quarter, the third, when it outscored OBA 19-14.

Jadyn Rother was 7 for 9 from the foul line and had at least one field goal in every quarter as part of her 19 points.

“Jadyn and Tyson were huge for us on the offensive end,” Mitchel said. “They did a great job getting us a bucket when we needed one.”

Emma Stover scored nine of her 13 points in the second quarter while Jalie Rother chipped in eight points. She was 3 of 4 from the charity stripe in the fourth.

The Lady Warriors were 11-4 after the tournament and sported a five-game win streak.

The conference tournament combined with the Tournament of Champions and a road trip to Cordell last Tuesday meant Okarche was playing its seventh game in 11 days on Saturday.

“I know tiredness was setting in, but they battled and fought through it,” Mitchel said. “I’m very proud of the hard work and effort.”

The Lady Warriors beat Cashion 54-29 in Friday’s semifinals.

Stover scored 18 and Endres 13 in that victory.

Cashion was led by Megan Shafer’s 14 points.

The Lady Wildcats settled for fourth place as they were beaten 49-36 by Thomas on Saturday.

Reese Williams scored 13 while Shafer and Lauren Jenkins had 10 apiece.

Hennessey took sixth place in the tournament.

The Lady Eagles knocked off Fairview 40-38 in the consolation semifinals, but were beaten 51-35 by Watonga in Saturday’s consolation championship.

Crescent finished eighth as it lost games to Okarche, Watonga and Fairview in the tournament.