Preston earns sweep at Okarche

Preston spoiled Okarche’s season opener for the second straight year.

The visiting Lady Pirates rode a strong start Friday night to a 64-57 victory against Okarche.

“We weren’t very good on offense or defense to start the game and that’s not a very good combination,” said Okarche head coach Haley Mitchel.

Preston scored 24 first-quarter points and led by 11 by the end of the quarter. It was a 14-point advantage by halftime.

Part of the big early barrage was due to Savannah King and Anistyn Garner.

King made three first-quarter treys and Garner two more.

Garner ended her night with five 3-pointers and a team-high 23 points.

King cooled off, but still scored 13 points.

The visitors were 9 of 16 from 3-point range.

Okarche, meanwhile, was just 7 of 27.

The Lady Warriors were down 51-33 entering the fourth before cutting their deficit to single digits in the final frame.

Jadyn Rother was held to just two field goals through three quarters, but scored 17 points in the fourth.

She led all scorers with 25 overall.

Scout Payne scored all nine of her points in the second half and all on 3-pointers.

But Preston did enough to hold off Okarche.

Garner made two big treys in the fourth while the team was 5 of 7 from the foul line.

Okarche also got eight points from Katie Parham, who helped keep her team in it early. She scored all of her points in the first quarter.

Cold shooting dooms Warriors

The familiarity of the home gym didn’t pay off for Okarche in its season opener.

The Warriors were plagued by rough 3-point shooting Friday in a 75-55 home defeat to Preston.

The visitors outscored Okarche 30-6 from long range in a game that was otherwise statistically even.

The Warriors made just 2 of 23 (8.7 percent) while the Pirates shot 10 of 24 (41.7 percent).

Preston is coming off a run to the Class 2A semifinals and returned two of its top scorers from last season in Giorgio Dunn-Spencer and Jervais Goree.

Spencer scored 20 points to lead the Pirates, including all three of his 3-point attempts.

Goree added seven points while Tanner Young poured in 17 and Jermaine Bolden 13.

Okarche fell behind 2215 in the first quarter and trailed by 16 at the break.

Jett Mueggenborg, who made both of the Okarche treys, scored 20 in the game and also grabbed a teamhigh 10 rebounds.

The Warriors, coming off their own run to the Class A quarterfinals last season, also got 11 points from Hunter Mueggenborg.

Easton Roby and Caden Schieber added eight points apiece.