Lady Jr. Jackets fall in state quarterfinals

The greatest enemy for the Lady Jr. Jackets last Friday was the halftime buzzer.

Destiny Williams finished with 24 points in her final grade school game - while fellow eighth grader Lydia Heck contributed 10 - but it wasn't enough as Christopher overcame a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Chester, 56-47, in the quarterfinals of the SIJHSAA Class M state tournament.

Kaitlyn Hewitt scored a game-high 30 points for Christopher, while Alexis Parks added 14. The Bearcats boasted 10 eighth graders on their roster.

"We just didn't execute a few things well," said Chester coach Erin Belton. "They played extremely hard and every girl scored but one. There just was a few things that we didn't do well that cost us."

Chester trailed 13-4 early in the second quarter before rallying to lead 24-19 at the break.

"I think they had a little bit of jitters in the beginning and we tried to preach to them it's just another game, but it's hard to do that at that age," Belton said.

Strong offensive rebounding helped Christopher regain the edge in the second half. The Bearcats, champions of their own regional as was Chester, took a 44-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Jr. Jackets actually outscored Christopher, 14-12, in the final frame, but the third quarter deficit was too much to overcome in seeing their season end at 19-7.

"It's good experience for the future," Belton said. "I hope they learn from their mistakes and learn as much as they can."

For Chester's five eighth graders - Williams, Heck, Hayven Donnell, Taylor Hennrich and Audrey Hopper - high school ball could be upcoming.

"I'm almost positive most of them will," Belton said on which players would continue on for basketball. "Obviously, Destiny will. She'll be a sight to see next year and I'm excited to see what they do next year."

As for next year, Belton said the Lady Jr. Jackets could build around five seventh graders, including Katie Shinabarger and Mariah Dunn.

"Obviously, we'll have big expectations, but it will be hard to fill the shoes of the eighth grade girls," Belton said. "We had a group that worked well together."

Belton also shared her thoughts on what it was like to work with this year's group of players.

"They're always eager to work, eager to learn," she said. "They were just ready to go at it. Even at the end of the season, they were asking me to run sprints instead of me telling them.

"They were just a great group of girls."