Lady Wildcats lose 2A regional title, still in area

Cashion ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Merritt.

The Lady Wildcats were dealt a 68-36 loss by No. 3 Merritt in a Class 2A regional championship game in Fairview.

The defeat puts Cashion in the consolation bracket entering this week’s area tournament in Enid. It plays No. 5 Oktaha in the first of what will need to be three straight wins to advance to state.

Tipoff for the quarterfinal game is 1 p.m. Thursday.

Merritt has lost just twice all season once to 5A Carl Albert in the semifinals of the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic and the other to Class A No. 1 Seiling.

Against Cashion, the Oilerettes jumped to a 17-5 lead after a quarter and pushed it to 38-9 by halftime.

Four different Oilerettes scored in double figures, led by Addison Hartman’s 21 points.

Chloe Stout chipped in 16 while Ella Porter scored 12 and Marlie Mong 11.

Lauren Jenkins was the lone Lady Wildcat in double figures with her 10 points.

Madison Westerhoff scored eight. The loss dropped Cashion to 19-7. Oktaha is 23-5. The Lady Tigers were upset by KIPP, a charter school out of Tulsa, in the opening round of their regional.

Oktaha bounced back with wins against Haskell and Central Sallisaw to advance to area.

No. 3 Hooker too much for Cashion boys Cashion’s hopes of getting out of the regional tournament took a big blow on Thursday night, some 110 miles away from where the Wildcats were playing.

On the same day Cashion beat Newkirk in a 2A regional consolation game in Fairview, third-ranked Hooker was dealt an upset loss at Merritt.

That put Cashion squarely in Hooker’s path on Friday… a path that put an end to the Wildcats’ season.

Hooker used a big second quarter to begin to pull away in a 56-36 victory.

The Bulldogs beat No. 12 Fairview the next day to move on to area.

The loss completed Cashion’s season with a 10-16 mark.

The Wildcats were within three points after a quarter, but Hooker closed the half with a 22-9 run.

Kamden Miller led Cashion with 10 points while Nathan Nabavi scored nine.