Injury bug biting Okarche teams

Okarche got back one of its injured players, but won’t see the return of another.

Logan Kroener scored 27 points in his return to the Warrior lineup Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Watonga in a 58-50 loss on Okarche’s senior night.

Kroener had missed the team’s game the night before - a 54-46 loss at Thomas - as he’d been battling a tailbone injury from the week before.

Okarche was withoutJoseph Schaefer inboth losses and will be for the rest of the season.

Coach Aaron West said it was confirmed last week that the knee injury Schaefer suffered the previous week was a torn ACL and meniscus.

Evan Endres tried to fill the scoring void with them both out on Friday.

He scored 16 points, but the Warriors couldn’t work out of a deficit created by Thomas’ 16-9 run in the third quarter.

Braden Stover added nine points as Okarche was limited to 42 percent shooting overall.

Thomas out-rebounded the Warriors 32-21 and had 14 offensive boards.

The rebounding discrepancy was also wide against Watonga, which held Okarche to just 15 total.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were just 38 percent from the field while Watonga shot nearly 54 percent

Kroener was 11 of 18 in the game.

The Eagles outscored their hosts 35-18 in the middle two quarters to grab the lead.

Stover added nine points while P.K. Harris scored six and had seven rebounds.

The Warriors have lost three in a row and are 4-7.

They were set to host Hennessey on Tuesday, but quarantine protocol by Hennessey has postponed that contest.

Vallerand out for pair of Lady Warrior losses

Aubrey Bridges helped ruin Okarche’s senior night and also aided in the Lady Warriors collecting a twogame losing skid.

Bridges made four 3-pointers in a decisive third quarter stretch Saturday to help Watonga pull off a 4843 road win against Okarche.

It was the second loss in as many days for the Lady Warriors, who dropped a 52-43 decision Friday at Thomas.

In both instances, Okarche was without starting post player Karsyn Vallerand, who is recovering from a concussion injury sustained last week.

Coach Haley Mitchel said she hoped Vallerand was able to return to the lineup sometime this weekend in the Coyle Tournament.

Seven different Okarche players scored in the first half against Watonga, but the Lady Warriors still trailed by a pair of points.

Then Watonga extended the lead to 11 points on the strength of Bridges’ shooting.

She ended her night with 20 to lead all scorers.

Okarche was led by Emma Stover’s 13 points. Tyson Endres added nine.

Stover was huge for Okarche against Thomas, especially in the first half.

She poured in 14 points in the first two quarters as Okarche constructed a 27-22 advantage.

But the Thomas defense tightened up in the second half and the Lady Terriers began to pull away by outscoring Okarche 30-16.

Kyla Megli scored 13 points during that stretch and led the Lady Terriers with 17.

Stover led all scorers with 21 points.

Sophie Vandendriessche and Madison Owens scored six apiece.