By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
The No. 9 Warriors are heading to the 2019 Regional tournament winners bracket.
Okarche dominated its way to the District championship last Friday night at home, defeating Kremlin-Hillsdale, 74-19, after Kremlin-Hillsdale had defeated Ringwood last Thursday.
The Warriors cruised to a 30-0 lead after the first eight minutes and a 48-7 advantage at halftime. The team hit the floor after halftime with a 15-7 run before closing the game out with an 11-5 run in the fourth quarter.
Three players scored in double-digits for the Warriors, including junior Rachel McDowell, freshman Karsyn Vallerand and senior Kassidy Rother. McDowell led the way with 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting. Vallerand scored 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting and Rother scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting.
Okarche pulled down 36 total rebounds in the game, including a game-high seven from sophomore Madison Owens. McDowell and freshman Savannah Mingus grabbed six boards apiece and Rother grabbed four. 17 of the team’s rebounds came on the offensive end, led by four by Owens and three from McDowell.
McDowell also led the team in assists with four while Rother finished with three and Mingus dished out two. Okarche only turned the ball over five times and finished with 16 total steals on the defensive end, led by four from Owens and three from senior Raegan Robinson.
The win marked the 10th straight for the Warriors who improved to 21-5 on the season.
They now head to the regional portion of the 2019 Class A Girls Basketball Championship Series with a first-round matchup against No. 17 Shattuck at Shattuck. With a win, Okarche would advance to the regional semifinals plus automatically punch its ticket to Area.
