Warriors eventually pull away from pesky Jackets; tough shooting dooms OHS girls

Okarche can be a victim of its own success.

So much so that when the Warriors “only” lead by 14 points through three quarters, one can’t but wonder: “What’s wrong?”

As the season will likely show, it has more to do with the opponent than the Warriors themselves.

The fact is, Fairview is probably a pretty good basketball team, but while the Yellowjackets were able to hang with Okarche through three quarters, they couldn’t do it for a full game.

Using a 20-5 run in the fourth, the Warriors pulled away for an 80-51 win at home.

“They’re better than they have been,” coach Aaron West said of his opponent after Okarche had its closest game of the season and had to play starters in the fourth quarter for the first time. “They’re all athletic with good size and have more ‘basketball guys’ it seemed.

“I think they’ve got a solid chance to make a deep run in 2A.”

Okarche is now 5-0 on the season and has won 46 straight games dating back to the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

Fairview was undeterred by any of that as the Yellowjackets were tied 16-16 with Okarche entering the second quarter.

That’s when the Warriors made their first run of the game and built up 10-point lead by halftime.

Jett Mueggenborg and Easton Roby combined for 10 of those points.

But Fairview still wouldn’t go away.

It scored 20 points in the third quarter to keep the game within reach.

That despite Mueggenborg adding 10 points to his total in the frame.

Finally, in the fourth, the Yellowjackets cracked.

Okarche used a 17-0 run during the quarter to put the game on ice.

Mueggenborg and Roby both scored five in the final quarter and the Warriors got a 3-pointer from three different players.

One was Ethan Kirby, who also nailed two treys in the first quarter.

He finished with 14 points.

Roby scored 15 points to go with a team-high 12 rebounds.

He was tied in that category with Brett Carnott, who also had eight points.

Mueggenborg ended his night with 22 points, seven boards and five assists.

Levi Petty paced a balanced Fairview attack with 11 points.

The Yellowjackets eventually were forced into 29 turnovers.

Fairview claims win in girls contest

A tough shooting night saw Okarche suffer its second loss of the season.

The Lady Warriors made just 30 percent of their shots on Friday and were dealt a 41-34 defeat by visiting Fairview.

It dropped Okarche to 3-2 on the season while snapping a three-game win streak.

Okarche was held to single-digit scoring in three of the four quarters, including only four points in the fourth.

Entering that quarter, Okarche trailed by three points, but couldn’t close the gap as it was doubled up by Fairview.

The struggles were both inside and outside of the 3-point line.

Okarche made just 2 of 9 3-point attempts, good for 22 percent.

One of those was by Katie Parham, who was the only Lady Warrior in double figures with 10 points.

Kate Baustert and Logan White both scored 6 points.

Okarche led 7-6 after a quarter, but Fairview used 14-9 advantage in the second for a four-point halftime lead.

The third quarter was Okarche’s best outing of-fensively as it scored 14 and pulled within a single possession.

Fairview was led by Josie Hayes, who scored 16 points. Jenna Church added 8.