Short-handed Lady Warriors win again

As injuries continue to pile up, the remaining Okarche Lady Warriors have to continue to step up.

So far, so good.

The fourth-ranked Lady Warriors are just one win shy of returning to the state tournament after claiming a 42-39 win over No. 11 Crowder Saturday in their Class A regional championship at Moss.

That first chance to qualify for state comes Friday when Okarche takes on No. 9 Velma-Alma at 6:30 p.m. at Bethel.

The Lady Warriors will have to do it without junior Madison Owens, who injured an ankle prior to the team’s district tournament over a week ago.

Okarche managed to get through the regional without her, but coach Kelli Jennings was admittedly worried entering Saturday.

“They’re a really good team,” she said ahead of time. “We’ll have to play well to beat them.”

Among the two Crowder players most concerning to Jennings was Haili Bailey.

“Our goal was to not let her get an open 3-point shot,” Jennings said.

Open or not, Bailey sunk five of them in the game, including two in the first quarter when Crowder got out to an 11-6 lead.

Okarche was able to hold her to a single twopoint field goal in the second, but that ’s when Crowder’s other weapon - Maggie Sockey - stepped in to contribute five points.

But Okarche was able to cut into its deficit by holding the rest of the team scoreless and got two big 3-pointers from Raegan Robinson.

Down three at the half, Okarche made its biggest move in the third.

Rachel McDowell scored eight points and Robinson and Marlo Hunt each knocked down 3-pointers to go with four points from Kelsee Brown.

The Lady Warriors’ deficit turned into a 33-27 lead.

Robinson added another big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter as Okarche held onto its lead.

That happened despite the team making just 1 of 4 foul shots, including missing two front ends of 1-and-1’s.

“We missed a couple of big foul shots, but I really felt Raegan played great defense and made some huge 3-pointers,” Jennings said after her team improved to 25-3.

Robinson and McDowell scored 12 points apiece. Hunt added seven more.

Bailey did score a gamehigh 19 points, but Sockey was limited to the five she scored in the second quarter.

Crowder made 14 field goals all night. Ten of them were 3-pointers.

The 39 points was the fewest - by five points - Crowder has scored this season. It had been limited to the 40s just twice this season.

“Overall, I thought our press really caused them some trouble,” Jennings said.

Velma-Alma (24-2) knocked off sixth-ranked and previously-unbeaten Strother, 56-50, in their regional final.

“They’re like Crowder in that they have two really good players with good role players,” Jennings said of Velma-Alma. “Plus with Coach (Kenny) Bare, they’ll run a ton of sets and be so well-prepared.”

The winner of the area title game advances to state. The loser plays at 6:30 p.m. Saturday for one more chance to move on.