In the last week, the Rockets defeated Salem (55-19), Red Bud (60-18) and Greenville (51-35) to move to 21-0 and remain one of the last unbeaten squads in the state. 

The 1A program — with a student population of 175.5 in the last two-year class cycle enrollment figures — has taken on all comers for years. This season, the Rockets have ripped off wins over strong 3A and even 4A programs. 

The Rockets start two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. 

Senior starters: Raegan Luechtefeld and Sydney Tebbe

Junior starters: Briley Rhodes and Megan Renagarbe

Sophomore starter: Alayna Kraus

“We have a lot of sophomores that come in as subs and a couple juniors, but I will say this; one is down and another will pick it up,” head coach Michelle Hasheider-Burianek said. “I will say this, another one is going to pick it up. We play defense. That’s what we hang our hat on. We like to play defense.”

In a span of 10 days that stretched from the end of 2021 to the first week of January, Okawville defeated Highland, Freeburg (twice), O’Fallon and Alton. O’Fallon, a school with 2,436 in its listed enrollment, has several potential Division I-caliber prospects. The same can be said of Alton. During that stretch, Freeburg was the smallest at 654.

The Rockets will once again square off with O’Fallon on Wednesday, already owning a 58-57 victory over the Panthers. Since that O’Fallon loss to Okawville, the Panthers have won seven straight games, including a 30-point win over previously-unbeaten Quincy Notre Dame.

All of this is to point out how remarkable it is that a school of Okawville’s size is wearing bigger schools down with defense and fundamentals. 

“You know they’re going to give you everything they’ve got,” Hasheider-Burianek said. “You don’t know if the shot is going to go down or not. But that’s one thing that’s great about these kids, they’re going to give it their best shot and the good lord has been on our side. The shots have fallen, we’ve played good basketball and taken care of the basketball. Usually when you do that, good things will happen.”

After the remarkable, aforementioned stretch of wins, Okawville went into another big matchup with Carlyle, which was 16-2 at the time and had beaten some strong 1A and 2A programs. Okawville led that game 36-2 at halftime in a 59-24 rout, and is now 6-0 in the Cahokia Conference.  

“We’re always looking at things we can improve upon,” Hasheide-Buriaek said. “There’s always a screen we’re not guarding the right way or looking at things to improve on. Those kids want to know what they need to do better. That’s what makes this team good.”

Even in the Rockets’ two state-title winning seasons (1993-94 and 1999-2000), Okawville didn’t have a perfect, unbeaten record. Not that the Rockets weren’t full of accolades those seasons, as Hasheider-Burianek won the Ms. Basketball award as a junior in the first championship season. 

Coach Hasheider-Burianek’s family has dealt with their own problems during the past few seasons. She has experienced cancer and rigorous chemotherapy in recent years, as detailed in this story by the St. Louis Dispatch. Her son, Kyan, has had two procedures done recently to have a brain shunt failure corrected. 

“God took care of us, we’re good,” Hasheider-Burianek said.

Basketball offers reprieve for her family and certainly for the coach, who sees the game as plainly as clearly as any other. 

“Everybody tells me they’re fun to watch,” Hasheider-Burianek said of her team. 

“They’re learned how to play the game, keep understanding it more and more,” she continued. “I’m sure we’re going to have our hiccups in the road yet, but we’ve just got to keep plugging along. We’re just trying to make a run near the end.”