State champs win big
Lomega girls, Okarche boys get runaway wins in county rivalries
Brett Tahah knows if her team scores 58 points, it’s going to win a lot of games.
Just not against Lomega. The Lady Raiders gave Tahah a not-so-kind welcome to the Kingfisher County rivalry as they downed host Okarche 9068.
“We shot the ball really well early,” said Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen after his team moved to 3-0. “When we shoot it like that, it opens up a lot of things for us.”
Indeed, Lomega did.
The Lady Raiders got out to a 36-14 lead after the first quarter as they went 12 of 19 from the field.
That included going 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
Hadley Ott and Bree Yost made two treys apiece in that opening frame.
“After that first quarter, they were pushed so far out trying to defend the 3-pointer that it opened up the driving lanes for us,” Lewallen said.
“I thought we attacked down hill pretty good.”
Okarche continued to fight, but never could close the gap.
A late barrage helped Scout Payne score a teamhigh 22 points. She had 15 in the fourth quarter.
Avery Schieber and Logan White scored eight points apiece.
“I’m proud that we kept competing,” said first-year Okarche coach Tahah as her squad dropped to 1-1. “We will beat a lot of teams scoring 58 points.”
Lomega’s production dropped after the first quarter, but the Lady Raiders still scored at least 15 points in every frame.
Overall, Lomega shot just over 57 percent from the field.
Freshman Reagan Snowden led the charge as she poured in 25 points and was one of five Lady Raiders in double figures.
Kate Myers scored 16 and Yost added 14.
Ott finished with 12 while Jenny Penaran chipped in 10 points.
Warriors dominant in grabbing 2nd win
If nothing else, Okarche defeated Lomega with massive amounts of quantity.
The Warriors thumped the rival Raiders 95-38 at home to move to 2-0 on the season.
Just about every metric went Okarche’s way as it outscored Lomega in every quarter.
While Okarche shot “only” 45.3 percent from the field, the Warriors were able to get off 86 attempts.
Lomega, meanwhile, attempted just 34 shots in the game.
A big reason was turnovers. The Raiders were forced into 41 miscues, which led to 52 Okarche points.
Lomega was able to stay within striking distance early as Okarche led 22-12 after a quarter.
But the Warriors only continued to expand on that lead.
They were up 46-19 at half and then scored 31 points in the third quarter to push their lead to 44 points.
Only one Raider - Jaxson Snowden - was able to reach double digits as he scored 14 points. Ben Marsh added nine as Lomega fell to 1-2 on the season.
Meanwhile, four Okarche players scored at least 13 points.
Jett Mueggenborg led the way with 23. He also had a team-high six assists.
Hunter Mueggenborg chipped in another 16 points.
Colin Hendrickson and Easton Roby scored 13 apiece.