The Okawville Lady Rockets finished with a well-earned 4th place title in the Mascoutah Holiday Tournament. The Lady Rockets earned their first win of the tournament on December 27th against Belleville East with a final score of 69-39. This was a great first win for the team as they moved on to face the Mater Dei Lady Knights. 

With Mater Dei’s fierce defense and impressive heights, the Lady Rockets knew they had a tough game ahead of them. OHS got off to a slow start with a score of 10-4 after the first quarter, but eventually picked it up and won the game 54-42. 

The Okawville Lady Rockets were able to pull off the win after an impressive offensive game by junior guard, Alayna Kraus. Kraus ended with 23 points while  Madi Wienstroer added 7 rebounds. “I used Coach Bowers’s advice telling me to continue to bump and stand my ground against my opponent to get the rebound. As a team, I believe we worked cohesively and made smarter decisions to win.” says junior Madi Wienstroer. 

The Lady Rockets’ next game was against the Alton Lady RedBirds, a rematch from last year’s championship game. Okawville fought the entire game to stick with the ranked 4A school; however, they eventually fell short with a final score of 58-53. 

“We had to compete in a very challenging game earlier in the day. Although we did not come out on top I think we still impressed some people with how close we stayed to such an excellent team. Our positive attitudes and will to win are two attributes that definitely kept us in the game.” says senior guard, Briley Rhodes. 

Although the Lady Rockets fell short, there were several players with impressive stats. Alayna Kraus was the leading scorer with 22 points and had a great defensive game with 6 rebounds. Briley Rhodes led the game in assists with an impressive 6. 

Okawville had to move past their loss and plan for their next game against the Vashon Wolverines. The Lady Rockets lost 64-48, leaving them with two losses on the season. Briley Rhodes had an impressive 20 points while Megan Rennegarbe grabbed 8 rebounds. 

“Vashon is a very impressive team with very talented players who work together very well and I think that is something that makes them so successful. I think the team and I are gonna take this loss as a learning experience and use it as motivation for the rest of our season. I am looking forward to what is coming next for us.” says Okawville senior, Megan Rennegarbe. 

The Lady Rockets came into the tournament with high hopes but ended the tournament where they were ranked to start – 4th place. The team put out an impressive performance and stuck with some very impressive 4A schools. 

“The Mascoutah tournament is a highly competitive tournament with a lot of good athletes. Finishing 4th was not what we wanted but the teams we played taught us things that will push us through the end of the year as well as postseason. There were many positives that came from our performance and we plan to use that confidence to better ourselves as we continue through our season” says Head Coach, Haylee Bowers.