MASCOUTAH — The Okawville Lady Rockets No. 1 option, Megan Wienstroer, came through in the clutch Friday at the Mascoutah Girls Basketball Invitational.
Wienstroer hit a reverse layup as time expired in overtime as Okawville shocked defending champion and previously undefeated Mater Dei 41-40 a quarterfinal at Mascoutah High School
Getting possession after Knights senior Danielle Timmermann missed the front end of a one-and-one, Okawville called two time-outs in the final 46 seconds, the second with 8.6 seconds remaining.
Following the inbounds play, Wienstroer got the ball on the right side, drove the baseline, went under the basket for a layup as the final horn sounded.
"Actually, the original play was designed for me to cut to the basket, but that wasn't open. With time running down I took it to the basket. I got a little to far under, but it went in," Wienstroer said. "This is great. It's the biggest moment of the season so far."
The win lifts Okawville (11-4) into the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday, where it will take on Central (13-1). The Cougars defeated Carbondale 78-50 in another quarterfinal.
The other semifinal will pit Belleville East (9-5) against Nashville (13-0) at 11:30 a.m. The two winners will play for the title at 7 p.m.
The victory was a special one for Okawville coach Michelle Hasheider-Burianek, who led Okawville to titles at Mascoutah in 1991, 1992 and 1994.
Hasheider-Burianek said the final play was designed to go baseline.
"Actually that's the play we drew up," Hasheider-Burianek said. "The two possessions before it was open and so all we had to do was execute the play.
"This is a great win and everybody who played contributed to this. This was almost like the good-old days."
Wienstroer led Okawville with 20 points, while Jolyn Lake added seven.
Lake missed a potential game-winning free throw with 2.6 seconds left in regulation, but scored early in overtime to give Okawville a lead.
Mater Dei got 12 points from Emily Koelling and 11 from Jamie Voss.
Anna Lampe gave Mater Dei a 40-39 lead with 1:46 left in overtime, but the Knights fell short in the end.
"Give credit to Okawville. They executed the plays when they needed to in the end," Knights coach Dave Kohnen said. "We didn't do some things very well and if this is gut-check time, we've found out some things that we need to work on."
Central 78, Carbondale 50
Maddie Timmermann and Kendra Wilken combined for 37 points and two other Cougars also scored in double figures as the Cougars rolled into the semifinals with a lopsided win.
Timmermann scored 12 of her 23 points in the first half as Central grabbed an early 37-25 lead.
April Gebke added 13 points and Torre Kohrmann chipped in with 10 for the Cougars.
"That's always been a trademark of this team, our balanced attack," Central coach Nathan Rueter said. "I was pleased with our offensive intensity, but I wasn't with our defensive intensity.
"Things like communication and rebounding. That's part of it too."
Nashville 37, Bellevile West 29
Faced with one of its first true tests of the season in the athletic Belleville West Maroons, the Hornettes passed it with another solid effort as they edged the Maroons in a defensive battle.
Junior Shawn Rennegarbe scored five of her 13 points -- including three free throws -- in the fourth quarter while sophomore Jordi Harre tallied 12 points in the game for Nashville.
But as usual, it was the Hornetttes' defense which proved to be the difference. Nashville held the fast-paced Maroons to just 12 first -half points as it grabbed a 17-12 lead.
"We hadn't been pushed and that's what we wanted. To see how we would handle the situation of being in a close game, where we would have to make plays," Nashville coach Wayne Harre said. "We did that. We're not where we need to be, but it was a good effort.
"I thought Shawn (Rennegarbe) and Jordi (Harre) played pretty well."
Sophomore Imani Berry led West (8-4) with 18 points.
"Our four losses are to teams -- Mater Dei (twice), Edwardsville and Nashville -- who are now 39-1. We play the toughest schedule in Southern Illinois. I thought we played hard and was pleased with our kids effort," West coach Clayton Fisher said.
Belleville East 70, Highland 60
In a game full of momentum shifts, the Lancers had the final say as they got big plays down the stretch from several sources as they held off the Bulldogs in a quarterfinal.
Getting 23 points and seven steals in the first half from Aniecia Brewster, the Lancers built a 40-29 lead at halftime.
But Highland (7-6) outscored East 16-8 in the third quarter and took a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter on a basket by Olivia LaPorta.
But East, which made 14-of-17 of its free throws in the final period, got big plays from several players down the stretch for the win.
Brynesha Mosby scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, while Montira Mosby and Melissa Bridges combined for 12 more points in the final period.
Brewster led East with 25 points.
"We told the girls at halftime that we needed to people step up and make plays, because they (Highland) were going to concentrate on stopping Aniecia in the second half," East coach Andrea Seipp said. "Everybody stepped up."
LaPorta paced Highland with 18 points.
Althoff 46, Freeburg 31
Senior Kymber Hill tallied eight first-quarter points to spark a 14-2 Crusaders run as Althoff moved into the consolation semifinals with a wire-to-wire win.
Hill and Rachel Kaltwasser paced Althoff (6-3) with 14 points apiece, while sophomore Madison Weibacher added 13.
O'Fallon 63, Centralia 49
Jasmine Bond scored 23 points and added eight steals as O'Fallon romped past Centralia in a consolation bracket quarterfinal.
Ally Warren chipped in with 15 points for O'Fallon (3-7), while Ciara Jones added 11.
Mascoutah 65, Northwest 44
Brittany Zipfel scored 20 points as Mascoutah (7-7) defeated the Hornets in consolation round play.
Senior Bailey Bauer added 17 points, with 10 coming in the first half for the Indians.
