A.J. Lady Wildcats maul CHS Lady Jackets

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The snow, ice and cold weather forced a strange situation for the Chester High School Lady Yellow Jackets last week. The Lady Wildcats from Anna-Jonesboro were supposed to travel to Chester December 16 when the Lady Jackets were to host them on "Pack the House Night".

At the time the Jackets were 1-1 in the conference and prepared to take on A.J. in front of a packed house complete with the CHS Pep Band, the Colbert Crazies and a large fan base who were eager to see Chester win another conference game.

The stage was set for victory but Mother Nature did not cooperate and the game had to be cancelled due to foul weather.

Last Thursday, January 29 the Jackets were to travel to Anna-Jonesboro for a road game with the Lady Wildcats. This time the game once again had to be cancelled due to snow, sleet, ice and a lack of power at A.J. Some were beginning to wonder if the two conference rivals would ever get to compete this season as the regional tournaments start next week.

CHS Athletic Director Mike Coffey got busy on Thursday morning and arranged for the Lady Jackets to travel to A.J. on Saturday, January 31 for a three-game series with the Wildcats. The CHS Boy's Basketball Team was scheduled to play at A.J. that night so the two athletic directors arranged for the Girl's Basketball Team to play in between the Boy's JV and Varsity games Saturday evening.

It was Senior Night for A.J. and their band was on hand to create a bit of advantage for the Wildcats and the gym was rockin' as A.J. took the floor. The Lady Wildcats came into the game at 4-16, eager for a win. They undoubtedly saw Chester as a winnable game as the Jackets came into the contest at 6-11. Both teams are in the lower division of the conference race behind Nashville, Pinckneyville and Sparta.

In the locker room prior to the game CHS head Coach Sarah Niebrugge told the girls that the outcome of the game would come down to whoever wanted it more in the end. Unfortunately for the Lady Jackets, the Lady Wildcats seemed to want it a bit more on that night and A.J. came away with a nice 54-35 victory on their own Senior Night.

Prior to the game A.J. fans recognized their two seniors, Renee Grant and Cayla Lingle, with special introductions, flowers, gifts and the works. The player's parents were also recognized during the ceremony. A.J. had somewhat of an edge with all of the whoopla, a large fan base and their pep band on hand.

A.J. got the tip, but did not score on their first possession. The Lady Jackets did, however, start out strong and scored fast and early on shots by Hilary Best and Dani Helmers. It appeared as if Chester might jump out to a large lead early on, but A.J. fired up their defense and held the Jackets in check the last part of the first quarter and Chester led by only one-point, 12-11, after one period.

In the first quarter Chester got six points from Hilary Best on a trio of field goals. The Jackets also got five points from Dani Helmers on a pair of field goals and a free throw and one point from Marci Tressler on a free throw.

During the first quarter break Coach Niebrugge was mostly pleased with the Jackets and praised their first-quarter lead. "We won the first quarter," said Niebrugge. "Now let's get out there and win the next one. Let's take it one quarter at a time."

The second period saw a much improved Wildcat team who began to go after each and every Yellow Jacket pass and they were ferocious on defense the entire time forcing several CHS turnovers. A.J. also began to push the ball up the court quite quickly and shocked the Yellow Jackets several times with their fast breaks and well-orchestrated drives to the basket.

Chester, on the other hand, had several girls in early foul trouble and had to sit three of their five starters on the bench at one point. A combination of foul trouble and disorganization on the part of the Jackets led to a 18-7 run by A.J. and the Wildcats took a nice 29-19 lead into the locker room at the half.

Hilary Best, Jamie Springer, and Kinzie Buchheit were the only Yellow jackets to score field goal in the second period. Marci Tressler added a free throw to make it seven points for CHS in the second quarter.

During the halftime break Coaches Niebrugge, Powley, Bert and Beers were confident that the Jackets could regroup. Rebounding was an issue as A.J. was getting far too many second and third looks at the basket. CHS was also chastised for standing too much and for not pushing the ball up the court. With only a ten-point deficit, however, it was thought that the Lady Jackets could recover and retake the lead.

Chester did step it up again in the third quarter. Coach Niebrugge sent all of her original starters, Dani Helmers, Marci Tressler, Emily Beers, Kinzie Buchheit and Jordan Clendenin, back into the game after the break and all went well for a while.

Jordan Clendenin hit two field goals for four points and Emily Beers knocked down a shot from eight feet out for two points. Hilary Best came back in at one point and was constant making another field goal for two more of her eventual ten points while Dani Helmers scored on yet another field goal for two points. Kinzie Buchheit sank one-of-two free throws for one point making it a total of 11 points for CHS in the third quarter.

Anna-Jonesboro continued to play very hard, however, and added another 12 points of their own in the third. The Wildcat defense continued to pressure the Jackets and their offense kept pushing the ball up the court every chance possible. Once again, it was quite apparent that the Wildcats wanted to win much more than the Jackets on this particular night. A.J. led by 11 points, 41-30, going into the final period.

During the final quarter break the Lady Jacket coaches were still confident that a win was possible. Coach Niebrugge emphasized, however, that the team had to stop the Wildcats from getting second and third offensive rebounds and that defensive pressure had to be applied to the A.J. offensive. Further the Jackets needed to push the ball up the floor more quickly and work the ball for good shots once on the offensive end of the court.

In the fourth quarter Dani Helmers fouled out and Chester put the Wildcats on the free throw line five times. For the night Chester's fouls hurt them badly as A.J. went to the line 22 times making 10 of those attempts.

Anna-Jonesboro outscored Chester 13-5 in the final period to win the game, 54-35. The only points CHS could muster in the fourth quarter were five and they were all scored by Dani Helmers prior to her fouling out. Helmers connected on a pair of short jumpers down low and she made her only free throw attempt of the quarter. For the night Helmers connected on both of her two free throw attempts for two-for-two free throw shooting.

Helmers led the Jackets against Anna-Jonesboro with 12 points, 14 rebounds, one assist an assist and one deflection. Sophomore Hilary Best followed with 10 points, five rebounds, an assist one deflection and a jump ball.

Jordan Clendenin contributed four points, a pair of rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a deflection while Kinzie Buchheit had three points, two rebounds, a steal, a deflection, one dive on the floor and she drew a foul.

Emily Beers, Marci Tressler and Jamie Springer each added two points apiece. Beers also grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists, drew a foul, had a hustle mark, dove on the floor and had a deflection. Tressler had three deflections, drew three fouls, grabbed three rebounds and had three assists. Springer had a very nice assist and had one board.

A.J. was paced by freshman Emma Basler who had 22 points. Junior Kaylee Little and sophomore Destiny Dillow each contributed eight points apiece. Senior Reena Grant recorded seven points and fellow senior Cayla Little contributed four. Rounding out the Wildcat scoring were freshmen Val Pender who had three points and Jessi Stone who added two points.

With the win Anna-Jonesboro improved to 5-16 overall. The Yellow jackets, on the other hand, fell to 6-12 overall and 2-4 in the Mississippi Division of the River-to-River Conference.

Chester will get one more chance to avenge the loss at Anna. Due to the weather cancellation of the game against A.J. last Thursday, January 29, the Jackets will now play the Wildcats at home this Saturday, February 7 with a JV game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and a Varsity match up at 8 p.m.

It will be senior night at CHS and the Lady Jackets will say goodbye to seniors Emily Beers, Danielle Helmers, Kinzie Buchheit, Marci Tressler and Jamie Springer prior to the start of the varsity game. The band and Colbert Crazies will be on hand to help the Jackets win and further improve on their 2008-09 conference record.

It might be noted that the Senior Night game was supposed to be played against non-conference foe Elverado that night, but in efforts to re-schedule as many conference games as possible, Elverado was sacrificed on the schedule in order to re-schedule conference rival Anna-Jonesboro.

The Lady Jackets are hoping for a good crowd to cheer them on to victory for their final regular season game of the 2008-09 season. The community is strongly encouraged to come out to Colbert Gym Saturday, February 7 to support the Lady Jackets in their quest to end the regular season with a win. It will also be the last time to see Beers, Helmers, Buchheit, Tressler and Springer play in a regular season game in a Yellow Jacket uniform.