Hornettes Fall To Okawville In Double Overtime Thriller

Paige Kasten puts up a shot during the Hornettes double overtime loss to Okawville.
By Brent Huelsmann
The third time wasn’t the charm for the Hornettes as the Okawville Lady Rockets defeated Nashville for the third time this season. The Hornettes fell to Okawville in double overtime, to end their run in the Highland Tournament. The Hornettes finished 1-2 in the Highland Tournament, as they lost to Okawville and Civic Memorial. The Hornettes lone win in the tournament came against Salem.  Okawville’s win over the Hornettes earned them a spot in the fifth place game against Teutopolis. Okawville would defeat Teutopoolis 52-45.
After the Hornettes split their first two games of the Highland Tournament, Nashville faced off against Washington County rival Okawville for the third time this season. The Lady Rockets won the first matchup in the championship game of the Nashville Invitational Tournament, and the second matchup on December 2 in Nashville.
Okawville got off to a quick start as Kate Lohman hit a big three to start the scoring. The Lady Rockets would push their lead to 5-1 early in the first, but the Hornettes offense stormed back. Nashville would come back to take a 7-5 lead. The Lady Rockets would then score seven of the final nine points to take a 12-9 lead at the end of the first.
In the second the Lady Rockets took their largest lead of the game as they scored six of the first eight points of the frame to take an 18-11 lead over Nashville. Late in the quarter, the Hornettes cut the Okawville lead to 18-15 but Madelyn Tepe scored at the buzzer to give the Lady Rockets a 20-15 lead.
The Hornettes were able to finally take the lead in the second half. After not making a single shot from behind the arc in the first half, the Hornettes connected three times from behind the line in the third quarter to help grab the lead. Paige Kasten knocked down two, and Rachael Kell another to help the Hornettes grab a 25-24 lead over Okawville late in the third quarter. Defensively, the Hornettes stepped up as well as they held the Lady Rockets to just four points in the third quarter.
It set up a crazy fourth quarter as the winning team would play on, and the losing team’s tournament would end. Nashville took their largest lead of the game, early as Kell knocked down another three pointer to give the Hornettes a 28-24 lead. Okawville kept chipping away as time wound down, and finally tied the game with 24.5 seconds left in the game. Casean Tebbe banked in a shot that tied the game at 29. As the fourth quarter buzzer sounded both teams were tied at 29 and headed to overtime.
In the first overtime period, Okawville would get off to a quick start again as Lohman connected from deep to give the Lady Rockets a lead. Karly Stanowski would get the Hornettes within one, and then with the Hornettes down by two late, Stanowski would force a second overtime as she hit a shot with 17.9 seconds remaining to tie the game at 33.
In the second overtime, the Lady Rockets would put the game away. After Lohman knocked down another three early in the period, the Lady Rockets would go 5-8 from the free throw line to pull away for the 42-37 win.
After the game, Okawville coach Michelle Hasheider-Burianek was talked about her team battling. “ I thought that was a whole team effort.It didn’t matter who we called on everyone was there to step up and I was proud how they played tonight.”
Hornettes coach Doug Althoff was short in summing up the game. “We have to learn to close games out, plain and simple.”
Althoff went on to say, “I’m disappointed we lost, but I’m not disappointed in the way we played. I thought we played as hard as we could. I’ll take that. I’ll take my chances later on too. If we play hard every game, chips fall where they fall.”
The Hornettes were led by Stanowski who finished with 20 points in the win. Kasten finished with 10 points. Kell rounded out the scoring with seven points.
Okawville was led by Lohman who finished with 13 points. Tepe added 11 followed by Audrey Jansen with six points. Tebbe scored five points, while Kymberly Schmitt with four points. Madison Hackstadt rounded out the scoring with two points.