Okarche sweeps Coyle crowns

Okarche’s played in three tournaments this season and lost just one game.

That came in the semifinals of the Three Rivers Conference gathering earlier this month when Crescent dealt the Lady Warriors a 50-45 defeat.

Since that loss, Okarche has rattled off six straight wins, including Saturday’s 64-33 dismantling of Crescent in the finals of the Coyle Invitational.

Three different Lady Warriors made three 3-pointers each and the team made 13 altogether as they improved to 17-5 on the season.

“They did a good job of shutting down our attackers,” said Crescent coach Karl Butt, whose own team dropped to 13-6.

“We couldn’t hit a thing from outside and they couldn’t miss. Once we got down big, we started taking a lot of shots out of desperation.”

Okarche jumped on Crescent 26-13 in the first quarter and, after leading by 20 at the half, used another 20-6 run in the third frame.

The Lady Warriors shot 56 percent from 3-point range.

Madison Owens was 3 of 5 from long range and led all scorers with 19 points.

Rachel McDowell and Kassidy Rother also made a trio of treys. McDowell scored 13 points and Roth-er 10.

Jade Owens had nine points and six rebounds.

Crescent got 10 points from Meghan Wilson.

It was the Lady Tigers’ second runner-up finish this season as they lost to Cashion in the finals of the conference tournament.

The two teams met for the third time Tuesday when Crescent hosted Cashion (after press time for this edition).

Warriors get stingy for 2nd tourney title

Defense led the Okarche boys in their successful quest for another tournament title.

The Warriors held Southwest Covenant to three fourth-quarter points Saturday to win the Coyle Invitational, 58-54.

Okarche gave up 24 points in the first quarter, but just 30 the rest of the game.

Still, they trailed 51-47 entering the fourth before erupting for an 11-3 run.

The Patriots had no answer for Tucker Neuenschwander, who scored a game-high 35 points and also led the team with six rebounds.

Neuenschwander was 11 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

He also made 10 of 12 free throws.

Okarche was 14 of 18 from the charity stripe while Southwest Covenant made just eight trips for the game.

Cris Avila added eight points for Okarche, which improved to 17-5 on the season.

The Warriors beat Crescent 66-40 in Friday’s semifinal.

Neuenschwander scored 18 and had 10 rebounds.

Avila added 16 in that win and Kendon Brown 12.

Trent Fisher paced Crescent with 10 points.

The Tigers settled for fourth place when they were defeated 66-21 by Community Christian on Saturday.