Warriors reverse foul line fortunes

What a difference a free throw makes.

Especially 13 of them. Okarche was much improved at the charity stripe on Tuesday and put itself in great position to win the Three Rivers Conference regular season title.

The Warriors avenged a loss to Hennessey in the finals of the conference tournament by beating the Eagles 63-60 at home.

“It was a war,” said Okarche coach Aaron West of a game that saw 14 ties and 16 lead changes.

“But we knew it would be.”

It was on that very court just over a week earlier that the Eagles’ James Sims buried a corner 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to lift his team to a 50-49 victory.

In the loss, Okarche failed to protect its late lead as it made just 3 of 14 free throws in the game.

This time around, the Warriors were 16 of 19.

“It was definitely the difference this time,” West said.

He was right as the teams were similar in most phases, if not identical.

Both squads made seven 3-pointers and both had 21 total rebounds.

Class A’s sixth-ranked Okarche shot 41.2 percent (20 of 45) for the game while Hennessey was better with its 53.5 percent (23 of 43).

That gave Hennessey, ranked fourth in Class 2A, six more points from the floor, but Okarche outscored the Eagles by nine at the foul line.

“I thought we played well,” said Hennessey coach Brady Page. “But they played especially well tonight and it’s tough to beat a team like that on their home court twice.”

One of Okarche’s misses from the charity stripe came with 17.6 seconds left.

The Warriors led 62-60 when Hunter Mueggenborg was sent to the line.

He missed his first offering, putting more pressure on the next. However, Mueggenborg made the second attempt to give his team the three-point lead.

Hennessey had the chance to tie, but this time the heroics didn’t come through.

The Eagles threw the ball away and Okarche’s win was preserved.

The loss put Hennessey at 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

Okarche moved to 15-2 and 4-0.

The teams were tied after a quarter and it was 33-33 at halftime.

Sims and Jael Torres scored six apiece as the Eagles edged Okarche 13-11 in the third.

But Sims didn’t score in the fourth before fouling out with 16 points.

Torres scored four more in the fourth to give him 13.

Garett Vinson had all 11 of his points during the first half.

Jett Mueggenborg scored 12 points during the second quarter to help the Warriors keep pace.

He added four points in the fourth, including making both foul shots, to finish with a game-high 22.

Hunter Mueggenborg added six in the fourth as part of his 12 points.

P.K. Harris chipped in five of his 14 points in the final eight minutes.

Easton Roby was 3 of 4 from long range, scored 12 points and led the Warriors with seven rebounds.

Lady Warriors win big again Emma Stover and Jalie Rother delivered big performances as the Okarche girls also kept their perfect conference record intact.

The duo combined for 41 points as the Lady Warriors beat Hennessey 80-36 at home on Tuesday.

Okarche is now 14-4 overall and 4-0 in the Three Rivers Conference regular season. The Lady Warriors also won the conference tournament.

Hennessey saw its overall record even up at 7-7. The Lady Eagles are now 0-4 in the conference.

The visitors found themselves down 26-8 after a quarter and 45-17 at the break.

The Lady Eagles were led by a pair of underclassmen as sophomore Katie Kennedy and freshman Emily Goff scored seven apiece.

Stover had 13 by the end of the first quarter and finished with 19 points.

Rother buried a quartet of 3-pointers and led all scorers with 22.

Jadyn Rother and Tyson Endres added seven points apiece.