CHS Lady Yellow Jackets win against Valmeyer
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The CHS Lady Yellow Jackets Basketball Team has played four games in regular-season action since the Lady Jacket Mid-Winter Classic. The Jackets won against Valmeyer and lost to CZR, Steeleville and Sesser.
The Jackets also had a bit of good news brought to them by Trico Athletic Director, Ron Coleman. Coleman called CHS Athletic Director Mike Coffee last week informing him that Trico would forfeit the 3rd Place game that they won over Chester, 47-24, in the Mid-Winter Classic.
Apparently Trico unintentionally played an ineligible player in that game which led to the forfeit. Coleman further noted that he would bring the 3rd Place trophy to CHS to be presented to the Lady Jackets. Coffey and Rick Powley, Lady Jackets Head Coach, were of the opinion that the gesture by Coleman was very honest, classy and admirable. Chester's record thusly improved, on paper, by one game in the win column.
Chester played at Christopher-Ziegler-Royalton Thursday January 13, losing by a score of, 71-47. Back on December 6 the Tornadoes defeated Chester by six points at Colbert Gym, 54-48. In the second meeting CZR led 19-13 after one quarter, 36-24 at the half, 59-33 after three periods and won the game by 24-points, 71-47.
Chester was led by Hilary Best with 22 points, four rebounds and two steals, followed by Jordan Clendenin (11), Shelly Lyons (4), Libby Bollmann (4), Megan Marcinkowska (2), Shelby Helmers (2), Marah Laramore (2) and Raelyn Rosendohl (1). A. Mayer and B. Mifflin led CZR with 13 points apiece.
The Jackets never really seemed to get into a flow against CZR and had difficulty scoring and containing the Tornadoes. Shelly Lyons and Shelby Helmers each fouled out in the game. With the loss the Lady Jackets fell to 5-9 overall and 2-3 in the Black Diamond Conference.
Steeleville came to Chester Monday January 17 for their second meting this year. November 29 the Jackets traveled to Steeleville losing on the road by only five points, 39-34. The Lady Warriors came loaded to play against CHS at Colbert Gym beating the Lady Jackets by seven points, 43-36, and they did it largely without their star senior, Jill Winkelman, a 5"10' forward.
Winkelman injured her ankle in the first quarter and had to leave the game for good. In the opening minutes of the game, however, she managed to connect on back-to-back-to back three-pointers and one field goal for 11 points.
Steeleville led 14-8 in the first quarter, but CHS came back within three points at the half, 19-16. Following the break, the Lady Jackets came out strong and outscored Steeleville, 13-12, but the Warriors still led, 31-29 heading into the final stretch. In the fourth quarter Steeleville outscored Chester, 12-7 to win the game, 43-36.
Hilary Best led the Jackets for the second game-in-a-row with 15 points. Other Lady Jackets who contributed include Ariel Gales (10), Shelly Lyons (5), Jordan Clendenin (4) and Shelby Helmers (2).
Steeleville was led by Alex Gale who scored 14 points followed by Jill Winkelman (11), Natalie Ruebke (11), Mackenzie Doeding (6) and Kassee Theobald (1).
With the loss the Lady Jackets fell to 5-10 overall and remained at 203 in the BDC.
During the first week of the 2010 season the Jackets played in the Dupo Tournament, losing to Valmeyer by two points, 46-44, November 18. Two months later on Tuesday January 18 Chester traveled to Valmeyer to avenge the earlier loss.
Valmeyer edged Chester, 7-6 in the first quarter, but CHS rallied back in the second quarter to outscore Valmeyer, 13-11, to take a slim, one point lead,19-18, into the locker room at the half.
The Jackets came out strong in the third period and outscored Valmeyer, 14-8, pulling ahead of Valmeyer by seven points, 33-26, after three periods of action.
In the final quarter, the Jacket defense went to work and held Valmeyer to only seven points. Chester, on the other hand, had one of their best offensive quarters of the season and scored 20 points to win the game, 53-34.
Chester was led again by Hilary Best who scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds, grabbed a loose ball, had one jump ball and recorded eight hard-play marks.
Shelby Helmers was another key contributor against Valmeyer scoring 12 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out four assists and getting one steal. Helmers also recovered a loose ball, created a Valmeyer turnover, recorded one deflection, had one jump ball and recorded eight hard-play marks.
Other main Yellow Jacket contributors included Jordan Clendenin (10 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal, two hustle marks) and Ariel Gales (eight points, seven rebounds, one blocked shot, one loose ball recovery and she created one Valmeyer turnover).
Valmeyer was led by Brittany Killy (11 points), Andi Inman ( 9 points), Corine Inman (6 points), Paige Bangle (4 points), and Elizabeth Chism and Madison Wuertz who each scored two points apiece.
Chester outrebounded Valmeyer, 43-20 in the win and dished out 16 assists. The Jackets also recorded 38 hard play marks including one blocked shot, four created turnovers, four deflections, four hustle-plus marks, four jump balls and six steals. They also dove on the floor twice, drew six fouls and drove the lane four times and recovered three loose balls.
With the win Chester improved to an overall record of 6-10. The non-conference game left CHS at 2-3 in the Black Diamond Conference.
Saturday January 22 the Jackets hosted Sesser-Valier. On the road December 9 at Sesser the Lady Jackets lost to the Red Devils by 22 points, 48-26. Against Sesser January 22 Chester played well, but lost by eight points, 49-40. In the second meeting of the season CHS allowed only one additional point by Sesser, but scored an additional 14 points.
The first quarter was close with Sesser only outscoring CHS, 11-6. The Lady Jacket showed what they are capable of in the second quarter and outscored Sesser, 18-10 for a three-point halftime lead, 24-21.
To open the third quarter Chester continued to pound Sesser with fast-break point after fast-break point. Sesser seemed to be frustrated early but calmed down toward the end of the third period. To end the quarter the Red Devils managed to tie the score at 36-36 and both teams were poised to battle the final quarter for the win.
The Jackets offense went cold the entire fourth period and Sesser held Chester to only four points. The Red Devils, on the other hand, did what they had to do defensively to keep Chester at bay and their offense managed to put in 13 additional points to win the game by nine points, 49-40.
For the second game in-a-row Shelby Helmers stepped up and played a solid four quarters. Helmers led the Jackets with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and five hard-play marks.
Jordan Clendenin added eight points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished four assists, and recorded seven hard-play marks. Other point contributors included Hilary Best (6), Shelly Lyons, Megan Marcinkowska and Ariel gales with four points apiece and Raelyn Rosendohl with two points.
Sesser has six freshmen, six sophomores and one junior on their 2010-2011 roster. They will return all 13 players for 2011-2012. Sesser's leading scorer was Rachel Marlo (18), Tasha Doerr (11), Rae Lappin (7), Maegan Eskew (6), Chelsea Miller (5) and Mariah Miller (2).
With the loss Chester fell to an overall record of 6-11. The conference record fell to 2-4. Chester hosted Anna-Jonesboro Monday January 24 for Senior Night and will travel to Trico Thursday January 27 to take on BDC rivals the Lady Pioneers.
Saturday January 29 the Jackets will travel to Carmi to play the Black Diamond East Division Bulldogs in the 2011 BDC Shootout. Monday January 31 CHS will end the regular conference season at Elverado, then on Saturday February 5 Carterville will come to Chester for the Yellow Jacket's final regular season game. It will be a 9:00 a.m. start with a freshman game, a JV game at 10:00 a.m. and a final Varsity game at 11:00 a.m.
The Jackets open 2011 IHSA Regional Tournament action at the Steeleville Regional Monday February 7. Trico will host Chester in Round #1 at 7:30 p.m. If Chester wins they will play #1 Marissa at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday February 9. The winner of that game will advance to the Championship game Thursday February 10 at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the #2 Shawnee vs. #3 Steeleville game.