Okarche squads handle Coyle, earn spots in regional finals

Coyle shot the ball well enough to beat Okarche.

The Bluejackets just couldn’t get any stops on the defensive end.

Okarche rolled into the Class A regional finals Thursday night by running away from Coyle 92-60 on the Warriors’ home court.

They’ll host No. 11 Velma-Alma at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in that regional title game. Velma-Alma knocked off No. 15 Arapaho- Butler 55-48 in their regional semifinal.

Coyle shot 54 percent in the game and managed multiple leads on Okarche in the early going.

But, as most teams find out, it’s tough to keep up with the Warriors’ pace.

While the Bluejackets did hit their shots, they also had 26 turnovers. The empty possessions allowed Okarche to get off 70 shots in the game to Coyle’s 43.

The extra possessions were made to count as Okarche scored 37 points off the turnovers and shot 56 percent overall.

Freshman Jett Mueggenborg was a prime example.

He was 11 of 20 overall and scored a game-high 25 points. He also had a game-high 10 rebounds as Okarche won that battle by 18.

Easton Roby was also better than 50 percent from the floor for his 17 points.

Wyatt Pinkerton made all three of his 3-pointers as part of his 14 points.

As a team, fifth-ranked Okarche (24-2) was 10 of 20 from long range.

P.K. Harris added 10 and Hunter Mueggenborg nine points for the Warriors.

The game featured seven lead changes and three ties, but Okarche was up 10 after the first quarter.

Coyle managed to cut it to eight by halftime, but Okarche put 48 points on the board in the second half.

Miguel Howell led the Bluejackets with 19 points.

Lady Warriors win big

As expected, Coyle proved no match for Okarche in their Class A regional semifinal.

The seventh-ranked Lady Warriors dominated their guests 84-37 on Thursday to earn a spot in Saturday night’s final.

Okarche hosts No. 9 Arapaho-Butler at 6 p.m. for a spot in the area championship game.

And it will be a famil- iar face on the other end of the court.

Arapaho-Butler is coached by Christy Edelen, a former Kingfisher girls coach who was first an assistant under Cherie Myers.

Myers, of course, is the mother of Okarche coach Haley Mitchel.

Arapaho-Butler (22-4) beat Velma-Alma 45-27 on Thursday.

Okarche’s contest wasn’t even that close.

The Lady Warriors (215) scored 54 points in the first half alone and led by 36 points by that time.

Jadyn Rother and Emma Stover scored 19 points apiece.

Stover scored 10 of her’s in the first quarter as the Lady Warriors took a 29-12 lead.

Rother added nine of hers in a second quarter that saw a 25-6 run.

Tyson Endres added 14 points and Jalie Rother 12.