Sesser-Valier wins 5th Annual Lady Jacket Mid-Winter Classic

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[

Sesser Valier was the winner of the 5th Annual Lady Jacket Mid-Winter Classic basketball Tournament. The Lady Red Devils went undefeated in the tournament to take home the grand prize. In doing so, the Devils beat Elverado, 56-27, Trico, 40-30 and Marissa, 48-47. They also placed two players, Chelsea Miller and Tasha Doerr, on the 2011 All-Tournament Team.

Sesser kicked-off the 2011 Mid-Winter Classic Monday January 3 winning against Elverado, 56-27. Rae Lappin and Tasha Doerr led the Lady Red Devils with 12 points apiece while Elverado was paced offensively by Chelsea Cochran and Lacey Qualls who each contributed eight points apiece.

In game No. 2 Monday January 3 Trico advanced to the winner's bracket by defeating New Athens, 35-27. Beth Daniels led Trico with 18 points. New Athens was led by Trisha Juenger who scored nine points.

The tournament continued Tuesday January 4 with Marissa-Coulterville winning over Valmeyer, 56-29 in Game No. 3. High scorer for Marissa was Bailey Setzekorn with 17 points. Valmeyer was paced by Corine Inman with 13 points.

In the evening night-cap Chester defeated Dupo, 39-33, in Game No. 4 to advance to the winner's side of the tournament bracket. The Jackets led 17-5 after one quarter of play, but fell asleep in the second quarter scoring only two points. Dupo, however, failed to take advantage of Chester's slumber and added only three more points of their own and the Lady Jackets led, 19-8 at halftime.

In the third quarter CHS added another ten points and Dupo added five as Chester led, 29-13 heading into the final period. Dupo came alive in the fourth quarter and outscored Chester, 20-10, but it was too little too late and Chester won the game, 39-33.

Chester was led by Jordan Clendenin who had 11 points, one assist, three steals, six rebounds and 14 hard-play marks for the night. Hilary Best paced the Jackets on the boards with 17 rebounds and she scored eight points, dished out an assist, had a steal and recorded six hard-play marks. With the win Chester improved to 4-7 for the year.

Tournament action continued Wednesday January 5. In Game No. 5 (in the Consolation Bracket) New Athens defeating Elverado, 46-37. Hannah Parker led New Athens with 12 points while Elverado was paced by Chelsea Cochran and Sami Hicks who each scored 11 points apiece.

Game No. 6 featured Sesser and Trico on the Championship side of the bracket with Sesser winning an exciting game, 40-30. With the win Sesser advanced to the Championship game and Trico landed in the race for third-place. Chelsea Miller was high scorer for Marissa with 15 points while Beth Daniels led Trico with 11 points.

Thursday January 6 Valmeyer was the winner in the Consolation Bracket game at 6 p.m. The Lady Pirates beat Dupo, 42-27 in Game No. 7 to advance to the Consolation Championship game while Dupo moved to the bracket for 7th Place to face Elverado. Valmeyer's high scorer was Corine Inman who had 15 points. Andi Inman added 12 points for the Lady Pirates. Dupo was paced by Kelsey Ragsdale with 10 points.

The second game of the evening (Game No. 8) on the Championship side of the bracket featured Chester and Marissa battling for the opportunity to play against Sesser in the Championship game. In a very exciting, hard-fought game the Lady Meteors escaped Chester, 46-33. The final score was not, however, indicative of the closeness of the game.

Chester came out strong in the opening quarter and held Marissa to only eight points. The Lady Jackets scored only four points, however, and trailed, 8-4 after one period of action. In the second quarter the Jackets came alive offensively and continued to hound the Lady Meteors defensively. Marissa led by only five points, 20-15, at the half.

The battle continued in the third quarter with Marissa outscoring CHS by just two points, 12-10, but the Meteors slightly increased their overall lead by seven points, 32-25 heading into the final stretch.

In the fourth quarter the Lady Meteors outscored Chester 14-8 but only after the Lady Jackets had to begin fouling in the final 1:13 of the game to stop the clock. Marissa made four free throws down the stretch to slowly pull ahead of the Jackets and seal the win.

Both teams battled furiously throughout the game and only one team could be on top at thee end. Marissa won the game, 46-33, to advance to the Championship game against Sesser-Valier. Chester entered the contest for 3rd Place against Trico.

Marissa was led by Chelsea Weekley who had a game-high 22 points. Christa Hill added 10 points to help put Chester away. Six of those points came in the fourth quarter. Chester got eight points from Hilary Best and Kristy Pulliam. Best also recorded a steal, a blocked shot and seven rebounds. Pulliam dished out two assists and recorded a hard play mark for the outing. With the loss Chester dropped to 4-8 for the season overall.

Saturday January 8 was the final night of the 2011 Chester Lay Jackets Mid-Winter Classic Basketball Tournament. Game No. 9 tipped-off at 2:15 p.m. and featured Elverado and Dupo in the 7th Place game. What was a very close, competitive game turned unfortunate in the second half when one of the Lady Tigers seriously injured her ankle and had to be taken to the hospital.

Dupo led 13-8 after one quarter and 22-18 at the half. Following the lady Tiger ankle injury Elverado came alive and took advantage of the lack of inside game of the Dupo Tigers. The Lady Falcons outscored Dupo, 19-5 in the third quarter and 16-9 in the fourth quarter to take the lead and win the 7th Place game, 53-36.

Neither team had won in the 2010-2011 season so it was a chance for one of the two teams to walk away with a victory. Elverado was the winner and earned their first win of the season. Rebecca Korando was Valmeyer's high scorer with 14 points. Sami Hicks and Chelsea Cochran each added 10 points apiece in the victory. Taylor Bauchman was high scorer for Dupo with 14 points while Kylie Hofstetter recorded 10 points for the lady Tigers.

Game No. 10 was the Consolation Championship game and pitted New Athens and Valmeyer against each other. New Athens came out on top winning the Consolation trophy by a score of 47-33. Sydney Clark scored 23 points for New Athens while Andrea Inman led Valmeyer with nine points.

Chester and Trico faced of at 5:30 p.m. in the 3rd Place game (No. 11). Both teams were playing for a trophy. Chester defeated Trico earlier in the season on December 20, by a score of 40-32. Trico was undoubtedly looking for revenge and got it beating the Lady Jackets, 47-24, to win the 3rd Place trophy.

Trico jumped out to a four-point first quarter lead, 13-9 and outscored Chester, 13-6 in the second quarter to lead, 26-15 at the half. In the third quarter the jackets continued to sleep and added only two points to trail, 35-17 going into the final period. Chester never did really get into an offensive flow as Trico added 12 more points in the fourth quarter. CHS added only another seven points and lost to Trico, 47-24.

Trico was paced by Beth Daniels who contributed 20 points in the winning effort. Kourtney Bunselmeyer added nine for the lady Pioneers. Chester's high scorer was Shelby Helmers who recorded only six points. Jordan Clendenin and Hilary best added four points apiece followed by Megan Marcinkowska and Kristy Pulliam with three apiece and Chelsea Schroeder and Ariel Gales with two apiece.

Chester was outrebounded by Trico, 24-20. The Jackets had four players with four rebounds apiece including Shelly Lyons, Megan Marcinkowska, Shelby Helmers and Hilary Best. Jordan Clendenin and Megan Marcinkowska dished out assists while Lyons, Clendenin, Best, Pulliam and Marcinkowska each recorded steals. The loss further dropped Chester to 4-9 for the season.

The Championship Game (Game No. 12) tipped off at 7:00 p.m. and featured two unbeaten teams in the tournament. Sesser-Valier (2-0) and Marissa (2-0) battled to see who would be the 2011 Mid-Winter Classic Champion.

Sesser jumped out to a quick, 11-6 lead in the first quarter and appeared as if they might run away with the championship. Marissa came alive in the second quarter and outscored the Lady Red Devils, 16-8, to lead 22-19 at the half.

Marissa continued to attack Sesser in the second half and outscored the Devils, 14-8 in the third quarter to lead, 36-27 going into the final stretch. Sesser would not go away, however, and mounted a massive attach in the fourth quarter. The Lady red Devils caught up with the Lady Meteors late in the fourth quarter and made a knock down-drag out game of it.

Marissa took the lead with a clutch shot with only seconds to play and it appeared as if the Meteors might walk away with the win and the championship trophy. With just seconds to play Sesser made their way to their end of the floor and sank a last-second shot to win the game, 48-27. The Red Devils won the Mid-Winter Classic paced by Chelsea Miller who contributed 16 points on the night. Marissa had two players in double figures. Christa Hill led with 12 points while Chelsea Weekley added 10 points.

Following the presentation of the second place trophy to Marissa and the championship trophy to Sesser, stadiu8m announcer James Best announced the 2010 Mid-Winter Classic All-Tournament Team.

The 2011 All-Tournament Team included Chelsea Cochran (Elverado), Hilary Best (Chester), Corine Inman (Valmeyer), Trisha Juenger (New Athens), Jordan Clendenin (Chester), Beth Daniels (Trico), Tasha Doerr (Sesser-Valier), Christa Hill (Marissa-Coulterville), Chelsea Miller (Sesser-Valier) and 2010 Lady Jacket Mid-Winter Classic MVP, Chelsea Weekley (Marissa Weekley).