Basketball Recap: Okawville Takes a Loss

Okawville lost against Sparta back in February and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Okawville Rockets fell to the Sparta Bulldogs 54-49. While losing is never fun, the Rockets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 405th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 130th).

Leading Sparta to victory were Dariontez Monroe and DJ Hayes. Monroe dropped a double-double on 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Hayes went 6 of 12 on his way to 17 points. With that strong performance, Monroe is now averaging an impressive 8.1 boards per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Damian Lanton, who posted five points in addition to nine boards and six assists.

This is the second loss in a row for Okawville and nudges their season record down to 2-6. As for Sparta, their win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-3.

When Okawville and Sparta next hit the court, they'll be up against teams who recently just can't seem to lose. Okawville will try to stop Nashville's five-game winning streak when the meet at 7:30 p.m. on January 4, 2025. Meanwhile, Sparta will try to stop Ste. Genevieve's three-game winning streak when the meet at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.