CGS Lady Jr. Jackets end 2009 with wins over DuQuoin and Steeleville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Grade School Lady Jr. Jackets Basketball Team ended the 2009 portion of their season with back-to-back victories against DuQuoin and Steeleville. The Jackets had losses against Pinckneyville, Murphysboro and Trico earlier in December, but finished strong prior to Christmas break.
Monday, December 7 the Jr. Jackets traveled to Pinckneyville but fell, 48-17. Pinckneyville jumped out to a 20-2 first quarter lead and added another 12 points in the second period to lead 32-6 at the half.
The Jackets could only muster up another two points in the third quarter on a basket by Alexandria Fedderke while Pinckneyville recorded another 11 points for a 35-point advantage, 43-8.
CGS actually outscored Pinckneyville, 9-5 in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late as Pinckneyville won the game, 48-17. The loss dropped the Lady Jr. Jackets to 2-9 overall and 1-5 in the conference.
For the game Fedderke led the Jackets with eight points followed by Rachel Clendenin (4), McKenzi Rucker (2), Katie Roth (2) and Katie Brunkhorst (1). Fedderke paced the Jackets on the boards also with eight rebounds. Pinckneyville was led by Meyer who scored 17 points.
The next night, Tuesday, December 8, the Jackets traveled to Murphysboro to take on the Blue Devils. This contest was a real knock down drag out as both teams refused to go away and the score was neck-and-neck throughout the game.
November 16 when Murphy came to CGS the Jr. Jackets were the winners by a score of 32-30. This time it was Murphy that edged out Chester but by only one point, 19-18.
Chester led by one point, 3-2 after the first quarter as Katie Roth scored all three points on a field goal and a free throw. In the second quarter both teams scored 11 points and Chester led by one point, 14-13 at the half.
The third quarter proved to be the killer for Chester as Murphy shut out the Jr. Jackets, 2-0 on a pair of free throws made by the Blue Devils. Both teams were even-up in the final period scoring four points apiece, but the third quarter was the difference as Murphy stole the game winning, 19-18. The loss dropped CGS to 2-10 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
Aziah McBurney was Chester's leading scorer with six points. Alexandria Fedderke followed with four points and Katie Roth added three. McKenzi Rucker and Amanda Easton each had two points. Maddie Conner rounded out the offense with one point. Fedderke led the Jr. Jackets in rebounding with eight boards.
The road trips continued Monday, December 14 as the Lady Jr. Jackets had to travel to Trico for a 6 p.m. tip-off. Trico led 16-4 after one quarter of play. In the second quarter the Jackets held Trico to only 10 points, but they could only score eight. Trico led, 26-12 at the intermission.
The third quarter was a draw with both teams scoring four points apiece. Trico still led, 30-16, going into the final stretch. The fourth quarter was another disaster for CGS as Trico scored 12 points and the Jr. Jackets only added three. Trico won the game, 42-19 and dropped the Jr. Jackets record to 2-11 overall and 1-7 in the conference.
Katie Roth was the high-point scorer with six points followed by McKenzi Rucker (4), Alexandria Fedderke (3), and Aziah McBurney, Amanda Easton and Maddison Conner each with two points. Trico's Heins had 13 points to pace her team to victory.
The next night, Tuesday December 15, Chester got on track and decided to finish out the remainder of the 2009 portion of the season with a victory. CGS hosted DuQuoin and got a very nice, 35-29 win at the CGS Gymnasium.
It was the first meeting of the two teams this season and CGS was prepared to play in front of a home crowd. The Jr. Jackets led 9-6 after the first quarter on scores by Aziah McBurney (5), Sarah Bindel (2) and Alexandria Fedderke (2). In the second period Katie Roth got on the books with a field goal and Fedderke scored three points on a field goal and a free throw to increase Chester's lead to 14-8 at the break.
DuQuoin outscored CGS in the third quarter, 10-7, but Chester still led, 21-18 heading into the final period. Both teams exploded in the fourth quarter for double-digits but the Lady Jr. Jackets outscored DuQuoin, 14-11 to win the game, 35-29. The win improved the Jacket's record to 3-11 overall and it gave CGS the second conference win of the season at 2-7.
Katie Roth was the high scorer for the Jackets with 14 points. Aziah McBurney also scored in double figures with 12 points. Alexandria Fedderke added five points while Sarah Bindel and McKenzi Rucker each added two points apiece.
Bindel was high rebounder with 12 rebounds while McBurney grabbed seven boards and had three steals. Katie Roth had five rebounds and stole the ball six times. Alexandria Fedderke had six rebounds and a steal in the win.
All total the Jr. Jackets had 23 offensive rebounds and 18 defensive rebounds for a total of 41 bards. They added nine steals to help win the game.
The Jr. Jackets played their final regular-season home game Thursday December 17 hosting Steeleville in a non-conference game. It was Chester's third game in four days but the Jackets were playing great basketball with one win against DuQuoin and a very close one-point loss against Trico on the road.
The Lady Jackets jumped out to a nice offensive game scoring 10 points in the first quarter. Steeleville only scored five points and CGS was off to a 10-5 lead. The Jackets turned on the heat in the second quarter and doubled their offensive output scoring another 20 points while Steeleville was only able to add another five points and CGS led, 30-10 at the half.
In the third quarter the Jackets outscored Steeleville 8-4 and carried a 38-14 lead going into the fourth period. Coach Jennifer Stumpe made sure that every Jr. Jacket contributed to the win by taking out her starters in the fourth quarter and making sure that all team members got into the game. Chester added five points in the fourth period. Steeleville, on the other hand, was able to score 10 points against the CGS bench. Chester won, 44-28, and improved to 4-11 for the season. The game was non-conference so the conference record stayed at 2-7.
Chester had great offensive output from nine of the 13 players on the roster. Aziah McBurney was high scorer with 14 points and Alexandria Fedderke added 12 in double figures. Katie Roth had seven points while McKenzi Rucker contributed three. Sarah Bindel, Maddison Conner and Chloe Wallace each scored two points and Amanda Easton and Rachel Clendenin rounded out the offense with a point apiece.
Coach Jennifer Stumpe noted that she was extremely proud of her girls for their improved play the last week of the season and stated that they couldn't have ended the 2009 portion of the season with any more pride or success. Stumpe was happy to send the team home for Christmas break with a two-game winning streak and hope that the success just prior to the New Year would carry over into 2010.