The girls basketball team started off its season at the Lutheran SC Cougar Classic, where the team won all three of its games, one of which they won 72-8.

“Winning the first two [games] was easy,” Coach Bryan Ricker said. “We were only up by one point, at the half, in our third game, but we played strong defense and won that game by 16 points.”

Right now the team is ranked tenth in the Saint Louis metro area and according to Ricker, the team plans to win the conference championship despite the fact that junior Kristen Warncke has been out with a torn ACL and it’s doubtful that she will be back this season.

“I tore my ACL coming down from a lay-up at the first fall league game in September. I had surgery October 25. It’s normally a six month recovery, but my therapist said I’m a month ahead,” Warncke said.

Stepping into Warncke’s place is Kathryn Gerler, who scored 11 points for the team at the Lutheran SC Cougar Classic.

“Kristen’s injury was a big loss for us because she was a very outstanding player, but [Gerler] has been playing very well this season,” Ricker said.