Dominant win over A-B allows Okarche to ‘C’ Vanoss again

Okarche has been savoring another crack at Vanoss

On Saturday night in front of a packed home gymnasium, the Lady Warriors assured themselves of that chance.

Dominating from the start, No. 7 Okarche took care of business against No. 9 Arapaho-Butler in a 66-44 win in their Class A regional title showdown.

That puts the Lady Warriors into the area championship game for the third time in as many years under head coach Haley Mitchel.

They’re 0-2 in those previous two trips, including last year’s 53-47 setback to Vanoss.

The two will meet up again at 6 p.m. Friday at Shawnee High School.

“Once we saw they were in our area, our girls really wanted to play them again,” Mitchel said of Vanoss (232), which is ranked third in the class.

“Immediately after our game with Arapaho-Butler, they were asking if Vanoss won, too.”

As badly as the Lady Warriors wanted Vanoss, they didn’t get caught looking ahead.

They scored the game’s first five points and were up 8-1 just 2:30 into the contest.

By the end of the first quarter, it was 23-8.

Emma Stover had nine in the quarter, a sign of things to come for the senior post.

While she dominated inside, it opened it up for Jalie Rother and Jadyn Rother to combine for a trio of 3-pointers.

“We did a good job of playing from the inside out on offense,” said Mitchel.“ Emma really sealed and finished well on that end.”

Stover had at least two field goals in every quarter and scored 32 points on her final appearance on her home court.

Jalie Rother scored 15 points in her home finale.

That included a 3-pointer at 5:55 of the second quarter to give the Lady Warriors a 30-10 lead.

It was a 40-22 advantage at halftime and 55-30 after three quarters.

Jadyn Rother scored five in that third quarter and totaled 14 on the night.

She was 9 of 12 from the foul line.

The Rothers along with Ruby VanDenDriessche played a big role in Arapaho- Butler’s 19 turnovers.

“Jalie and Ruby were great on defense,” Mitchel said. “And then Jadyn attacked on offense and read the middle of our press, picking up big steals for us.”

The Okarche-Vanoss winner will advance to next week’s state tournament while the loser gets another shot in Saturday’s area consolation championship.

Okarche (22-5) won that consolation title last season and eventually reached the state semifinals.

OKARCHE JUNIOR Jadyn Rother (00) puts up a shot against Arapaho-Butler in Saturday’s regional championship game.

[Photo by Russell Stitt/www.stitt.smugmug.com]