PC-H no match for Okarche this time

Pond Creek-Hunter played Okarche about as well as anyone during the Warriors’ run to the state championship a year ago.

With the Panthers returning much of the same squad this year, it was reason enough for at least some cause for concern for Warrior coach Aaron West.

Some. And then the ball was tipped.

There was no hanging tough for No. 17 Pond Creek-Hunter this year as the Panthers fell prey to Okarche, 95-45, in their Class A regional title game.

Okarche’s win on its home court improved it to 28-0 on the season. The top-ranked team in the class is now a win shy of its third consecutive trip to the state tournament.

The first shot is Friday night against No. 8 Red Oak in an area championship game at Cleveland.

Pond Creek-Hunter didn’t score for more than three minutes to start the game and had long stretches of Okarche points in between the buckets it did manage to make.

Hunter Mueggenborg’s 3-pointer with 2:12 to play in the first gave the Warriors a 22-2 lead. By then, PC-H coach Darin Jones had already burned two timeouts.

The Panthers did make a long 3-pointer to end the quarter, but it only got them within 19.

They were down 54-19 at halftime.

As usual, Okarche’s pressure was a big culprit.

The visitors turned it over 43 times by game’s end. Those resulted in 61 Okarche points.

The Warriors had just 11 turnovers against 25 assists.

Jett Mueggenborg paved the way for Okarche.

He scored 29 points and also led the team with seven rebounds while adding four assists.

Hunter Mueggenborg dropped 13 points and five assists.

Easton Roby added 13 to go with his five boards.

None of those three saw the floor in the fourth quarter.

One player who did is Court Sumrall, who sprang off the bench to make 3 of 4 3-pointers down the stretch for his nine points.

Ethan Kirby added eight points and Kyson Avila scored seven.

Lady Warriors push #1 Seiling in regional final Okarche withstood one flurry from the defending state champs.

But the Lady Warriors couldn’t overcome the big one.

Using a 20-0 run in the third quarter, top-ranked Seiling escaped Okarche on Monday with a 57-47 victory in a Class A regional championship game.

The win sends the three-time defending state champions into the area championship game.

Okarche, meanwhile, heads to area in the consolation bracket. The Lady Warriors play Porter at 1 p.m. Thursday in Cleveland to begin what they hope is a three-day trek to the state tournament.

Monday’s atmosphere was state tournament-esque as Okarche fans prodded their team as they went toe-to-toe with Seiling well into the second half.

That included taking a lead as big as seven points in the first quarter and being up 20-14 after one.

But Seiling answered the second quarter bell with an 8-0 run as the Ladycats’ pressure finally got to Okarche.

Seiling held Okarche scoreless for more than 4:30 in the quarter and took a two-point lead.

Avery Schieber broke the dry spell and gave Okarche back the lead with a 3-pointer at the 3:23 mark.

The home team led by two at halftime and pushed their advantage to 32-28 early in the third quarter.

Then Seiling showed why its won seven state titles since 2016.

The Ladycats went on one of their signature runs and it saw them lead 48-32 by the end of the quarter.

Harper White broke up the run with a threepoint play about a minute into the fourth and then her putback with 3:40 to play got the Lady Warriors within 48-40.

But Seiling made just enough free throws - 9 of 14 - in the fourth to keep Okarche at arm’s length.

Katie Parham nailed four 3-pointers in the game and led her team with 14 points.

Callie Cramer scored 10 while White added nine.

Teagan Hamar led Seiling with her 16 points while Lyndlea Nichols scored 13.