CGS Lady Jr. Jackets open season at Pinckneyville Tournament
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Grade School Lady Jr. Jackets opened their 2009-2010 season at the annual Pinckneyville 204 Tournament November 2-7. Lady Jr. Jacket teams have been playing in that tournament for decades and use it as a warm up for the regular season.
This year the Jr. Jackets played five games in six days, winning against Thompsonville and losing to Tamaroa, Pinckneyville 204, DuQuoin and Pinckneyville Public. Chester's Aziah McBurney was named to the 2009 All-Tournament Team for her efforts throughout the tournament.
The Jr. Jackets played the first game of the season Monday, November 2 against Tamaroa losing, 39-12. Coach Jennifer Stumpe stated after the game, "The girls were very nervous and did not play to their potential." Against Tamaroa, McBurney scored six of the Yellow Jacket's 12 points. Alexandria Fedderke contributed four points and Rachel Clendenin added two. Tamaroa's Hubler led her squad with 10 points. The loss began the Jr. Jacket's season at 0-1).
The next game pitted the Lady Jr. Jackets against hosts Pinckneyville 204 Tuesday, November 3. This game was a close contest with the Jackets taking it right to the wire. Coach Stumpe noted, "The girls played great defense tonight and almost everyone on the roster contributed on offense."
The score was tied at 6-6 after one quarter of play. Pinckneyville 204 led by one point, 13-6, at the half. Both teams continued to play great defense after the break, but 204 managed to score one more point that CGS in the third period to lead 22-20 gong into the final stretch.
In the fourth quarter both teams again knotted it up at 11 points apiece for a final score of Pinckneyville 204 33-Chester 31. With the loss CGS fell to 0-2 for the season. Chester's Alexandria Fedderke led the Jr. Jackets with 10 points followed by Sarah Bindel (5), McKenzie Rucker (4), Maddie Conner (4), and Aziah McBurney, Katie Roth, Lindsey McCormick and Sarah Bindel with two points apiece.
The tournament took a break Wednesday, November 4 with competition resuming Thursday, November 5 when Chester took on DuQuoin. The Lady Jackets played great for three quarters but fell down in the final stretch as DuQuoin outscored the Jackets 16-3 to win the game 45-27.
DuQuoin led 10-6 at the end of the first period and 23-18 at the half. Both teams scored six points in the third quarter and the score was 29-24 heading into the final period. The offensive gates opened up for DuQuoin in the fourth quarter and DuQuoin outscored CGS 16-3 to win the game.
Chester was led by Aziah McBurney with 11 points. Alexandria Fedderke added six as did Rachel Clendenin. Sarah Bindel rounded out the Jacket scoring with four points. Katrina Whitley led DuQuoin with 12 points. The loss dropped CGS to 0-3 on the season.
Friday, November 6 the Lady Jr. Jackets once traveled to Pinckneyville 204 for the fourth game of their five-game tournament. This time the Jr. Jackets faced conference rival Pinckneyville Public. Coach Stumpe stated after the game, "The girls played great defense tonight but had difficulty scoring on offense. Pinckneyville was tall and played very physically tough which added to our troubles tonight."
The Kittens led by only three points after the first period, 8-5 and only outscored the Jackets 8-4 in the second quarter to take a 16-9 lead into the locker room at the half. Following the halftime talk the Jackets worked hard and played the Kittens even-up in the third period, 4-4, but Pinckneyville still held a 20-13 lead going into the final period. In the fourth quarter the Kittens managed to stave off the Jr. Jacket attack and outscored CGS, 7-3 to win the game, 27-16. The loss dropped Chester to an overall record of 0-4.
Aziah McBurney paced the Jr. Jackets against Pinckneyville with six points followed by Alexandria Fedderke (4), McKenzi Rucker (4) and Sarah Bindel (2). Pinckneyville's Hopp led the Kittens with 10 points.
On the final night of the tournament, Saturday, November 7, the Lady Jr. Jackets gave it their best effort against Thompsonville and got their first win of the season with a 37-23 victory to improve to 1-4 overall for the early season.
Coach Jennifer Stumpe exclaimed after the win, "Everything clicked tonight. The girls played great on both ends of the court and got their first win of the season. I'm very happy of the win and proud of the team."
Chester led 11-5 at the end of the first quarter and added another eight points in the second quarter to lead 19-11 at the half. In the third quarter Thompsonville made a brief run on the Jackets outscoring CGS 9-6, but Chester maintained their lead, 25-20 heading into the fourth quarter. The Jr. Jackets used a 12-3 run in the final stretch to seal the game, winning, 37-23 and improving to 1-4 for the season.
Chester was led offensively by Aziah McBurney who scored 13 points. McKenzi Rucker added eight points followed by Katie Roth and Sarah Bindel with six apiece and Alexandria Fedderke and Rachel Clendenin each contributed two points apiece. Thompsonville was led by Bowlin who contributed 13 points. Only two other Thompsonville players scored; Law with six and Clark who had four.
Following the final game of the tournament the 2009 Pinckneyville 204 Tournament All-Tournament Team was announced. Chester's Aziah McBurney was named to this year's squad. For the tournament McBurney was a key contributor offensively scoring 32 points for the Jr. Jackets and she was a leader on the defensive end of the court. McBurney is an 8th grader at CGS and excels in several sports.