Varsity Lady Jackets continue to improve
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester High School Girl's Basketball Team played three more games last week in a fast-paced opening three weeks of basketball which saw the Lady Jackets play 11 games in 23 days. Coach Powley notes, "The girls are tired. We've played a lot of games in a short period of time with little opportunity to practice or rest."
In spite of a losing record the Jackets are improving in many areas and have played competitively in most games. "We would be really dangerous if we could just manage to put the ball in the hoop," said Powley. "We are going to concentrate on shooting in the next couple of practices and we'll give the girls a bit of a break to allow them to rest up. They have worked hard and they deserve a rest."
Chester hosted Shawnee Monday, December 7 at Colbert Gym. The Jackets trailed 14-7 after the first quarter and fell behind by nine, 25-16, at the half. In the third period both teams played fairly evenly with Shawnee outscoring the Lady Jackets 9-8 to lead, 34-24, but in the final quarter, Shawnee was out of control and outscored CHS 21-9 to win the game, 55-33.
Chester's leading scorer was Shelly Lyons who recorded nine points. Hilary Best added seven while Allison Miller contributed six. Kaylee Boston paced Shawnee with 19 points followed by Jonnie Ellet who added 13.
Ariel Gales led the Jackets on the boards with six rebounds. Jordan Clendenin dished out five assists but turned over the ball five times. Clendenin led the team in hard play marks with four steals, two jump balls, one deflection, and a hustle mark. She further created a pair of turnovers and drew a foul.
With the loss the Varsity Lady Jackets fell to 1-8 overall and remained at 0-1 in the SIRR Conference.
The junior varsity, coached by Connie Clendenin in her first year as a high school coach, improved their overall record to 2-2 with a win over Shawnee, 48-38. Led by Shelby Helmers (12 points) the Jackets muscled their way to the victory behind scoring from nine players including Helmers (12), Rebecca Young (8), Kellie Dillow (6), Raelyn Rosendohl (6), Marah Laramore (6), Kristy Pulliam (4), and Megan Marcinkowska (2), Taylor Gross (2) and Allison Easton (2).
Tuesday, December 8 the Lady Jackets hosted DuQuoin in their first Southern Illinois River-to-River contest of the season. In a hard-fought game the Jackets unfortunately came out on the losing end.
DuQuoin led 12-6 after the first quarter and extended their lead by 13-points, 24-11 at the halftime popcorn break. Following intermission the Lady Jackets got down to business and outscored the Lady Indians 12-11 to trail 35-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the final period the Chester once again outscored DuQuoin, this time by three points, 14-11, but the advantage could not make up the deficit that had been created in the first and second quarters. DuQuoin prevailed, 46-37, giving the Lady Indians a nine-point win.
The Jackets were led by junior Hilary Best who recorded 12 points, followed by Allison Miller and Ariel Gales with six points apiece, Shelly Lyons and Jordan Clendenin with four points apiece, Megan Marcinkowska with three and Shelby Helmers with two.
The Lady Indians had two players in double figures as Rebekah Maddox turned in a 12-point performance and Jessica Hirsch recorded 10 points.
Shelly Lyons motivated the Jackets with four points, four rebounds, two assists and 15 hard play marks including six hustle marks, three steals, three jump balls and she drove the lane, created a turnover and drew two fouls.
The loss dropped Chester to 1-9 for the season overall and gave the Jackets their second conference loss to make their SIRR Conference Mississippi Division record to 0-2.
The JV played their fifth game of the season losing to DuQuoin's JV by a score of 43-21. DuQuoin only led by two points, 9-7 after the first period and Chester outscored the Lady JV Indians, 7-6 in the second quarter to trail by only one point, 15-14 at the half.
DuQuoin went to work in the second half, however, and outscored Chester 12-5 in the third and 16-2 in the fourth quarters to win, 43-21. Chester had a trio of layers with four points apiece including Megan Marcinkowska, Rebecca Young and Kristy Pulliam. Heather Cavins, a 5'9" junior, paced the Lady Indians with 20 points.
The loss dropped the Chester JV to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the SIRR Conference.
The Freshman Lady Jackets played their first game of the season losing a close one, 16-12. The freshmen play two 10-minute periods with a continuous clock with a brief rest in between. The score was tied at 6-6 after the first period. In the second period DuQuoin managed to outscore Chester 10-6 to win the game, 16-12.
Chester had even scoring from three players. Marah Laramore, Jocelyn Fortman and Allison Easton each scored four points apiece to pace the Jackets. Taylor King led the scoring for the Lady Freshmen Indians with eight points. Libby Bollmann sparked the Jackets in hard play with two steals, a deflection and a hustle mark and she created a turnover. With the loss Chester freshmen started the season with a record of 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Thursday, December 10 the Jackets traveled to Trico to take on the Lady Pioneers. It was a very hard-fought game that gave the Jackets several opportunities to win. In the first quarter Trico jumped out to a small 13-6 lead behind very aggressive inside play from Chelsea Jarrett, four points, and Beth Daniels, four points. Daniels is 6'0" while Jarrett is 5'11".
In the second quarter the Pioneers outscored the Jackets, 9-6, to take a 22-12 lead into the locker room at the half. The Jackets could not find the hole in the hoop during the first half missing numerous shots from right under the basket while Trico muscled their way into the lane to score at what seemed like their pleasure. Chester seemed very intimidated by the Pioneer's size and aggressiveness throughout the first half.
During the break Chester coach, Rick Powley, challenged the girls to work hard and take the ball to the hoop. He also encouraged the squad to pick up their level of aggressiveness and to shoot with confidence.
The pep talk evidently paid off as the Jackets outscored the Pioneers 8-7 in the third quarter to trail by only nine points, 29-20, going into the final period. In the fourth the Jackets continued to work hard and picked up their defensive intensity pulling with four points late in the game.
Missed shots and several untimely turnovers doomed the Jackets, however, as Trico managed to pull ahead. For the quarter Trico only outscored Chester 9-8, but the final attempt of the Lady Jackets to overcome the Pioneers failed as Trico won by 10-points, 38-28.
Ariel Gales and Kellie Bert led the Jackets on the offensive side with six points apiece. Hilary Best added five and Shelby Helmers added four. Shelly Lyons has three points and Jordan Clendenin and Megan Marcinkowska each contributed two points apiece for a total of 28 points. Trico had two players in double figures as Stephanie Cochran put in 13 points and Chelsea Jarrett added 10 points.
Shelly Lyons sparked the Jackets with seven hard play marks including three hustle marks and two deflections. She also dove on the floor for a loose ball and drove the lane to draw a foul. Lyons, one of the smallest players on the varsity team also led in rebounding with six boards and she dished out two assists. The loss dropped the varsity to 1-10 for the season.
The JV played very well against the JV Lady Pioneers winning by a score of 26-13. Chester led 2-0 after one quarter and 11-5 at the half. The jackets continued to charge ahead in the third quarter outscoring Trico 10-4 for a 21-9 lead and outscored Trico 5-4 in the fourth quarter for a final advantage of 26-13. The win improved the Lady Jacket's JV record to 3-3 overall. For the game Raelyn Rosendohl led the Jackets offensively with 12 points and Libby Bollmann sparked the Jackets with her aggressive defensive play and extreme hustle on the floor.
The Lady Jackets will finish out 2009 with a conference game at Sparta Tuesday. December 15 and the Jackets will host Pinckneyville Thursday, December 17 when all three Lady Jacket teams will play. The freshmen will play at 5:30 p.m. followed by the JV at 6:30 p.m. and the Varsity at 8:00 p.m. The Jackets will ring in the new year January 4-9 hosting the 4th Annual Chester Lady Jackets Mid-Winter Classic Basketball Tournament.