Nashville Hornettes sting Chester Lady Yellow Jackets
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Lady Yellow Jackets Basketball Team hosted the Nashville Hornettes last Monday, December 22 at Colbert Gymnasium. It was the final game of the 2008 portion of the season for the Lady Jackets and CHS had the unfortunate misfortune of playing the No. 2 team in the entire region.
Nashville came to town to take on the Jackets prior to the Christmas holidays. Coming into the game Nashville was 10-1 overall and had just beaten No. 9 West Frankfort who is currently 7-3. The jackets, on the other hand, came into the contest at 3-7 overall and 1-2 in the Mississippi Division of the River-to-River Confer-ence.
The Jackets were at somewhat of a disadvantage due to a rash of injuries and illnesses. Starting center, Danielle Helmers, spent the day in bed with the flu and was not able to dress for the game and starting point guard, Marci Tressler, likewise was sick all day with the flu. Tressler dressed and played about half of the game off-and-on, but could not go full strength.
Shelly Lyons, one of the backup point guards, was half power nursing a foot injury and Kristy Pulliam was taking it lightly due to an ongoing leg problem. Several other Lady Jackets had to be taped prior to the game to help prevent ongoing injury issues, not to mention the emotional and confidence issues related to playing the No. 2 team in the southern part of the state.
Needless to say Chester had a rough outing and fell to the Hornettes by a score of 75-18. Nashville coach, Wayne Harre was a class act, however, and seldom pressed the limping Yellow Jackets and he played his entire bench throughout the game to avoid running up the score.
Harre got 37 points from his bench and another 38 from his starters. The score could have been a lot worse had Harre not called off the starters off and on throughout the game.
After one quarter of play Chester trailed 17-2. Sophomore Hilary Best was the only Jacket to score in the period on a short jumper from five feet out. In the second quarter Nashville shut out the Yellow Jackets 21-0 to take a 38-2 lead into the locker room at the break.
During the third quarter Marci Tressler popped a three-pointer for Chester's only points in the third giving the jackets five total points after three quarters of play. The Hornettes scored another 21 points to lead, 59-5.
Chester head coach Sarah Niebrugge challenged the Jackets to step it up and finish the game strong during the third quarter break. Niebrugge went with a predominantly senior line-up heading into the fourth and final quarter with Emily Beers, Marci Tressler, Kinzie Buchheit and Jamie Springer. Jade Jolly, a sophomore, was the fifth player to take the court in the fourth period.
Tressler and Jolly managed to connect for three-pointers giving Chester a boost. Tressler made one three while Jolly popped a pair of three's to give the Jackets nine more points. Emily Beers then swished a two-pointer from seven feet out and Hilary best sank a shot giving the jackets four final points.
In the final period Nashville only outscored Chester 16-13, for a final score of Nashville 75-Chester 18. Chester finished out the game strong and with some level of confidence.
There is a reason that Nashville is currently ranked as the No. 2 team in all of Southern Illinois. First of all they have a large student population from which to choose players and that population has already established a wining tradition.
Next, the Hornettes are physically bigger than most of their opponents. The Nashville lineup stands at 6'1, 6'0, 5'11, 5'10, 5'9, 5'8 and 5'8. Chester has a lineup that stands at 5'11, 5'10, 5'10, 5'9, 5'8, 5'8, 5'8, 5'8, and 5'7. Besides being taller, the Hornettes are very quick and they are well-trained fundamentally. Most teams have a very difficult keeping up with the Hornettes.
For the game, Marci Tressler and Jade Jolly led the Jackets with six points apiece. Hilary Best scored four points and Emily Beers sank a shot for two points making it 18 points for the hometown Lady Yellow Jackets.
Nashville was led by Tiernay McKay and Jennifer Moeller who each had 12 points apiece. Haley Fark scored ten points followed by Annie Borowiak (9), Melanie Rhine (8), Mackenzie Newman (8), Breanne Pelker (5), Kayla Scharr (4), Caitlin Jasper (3), Jenna Morris (2) and Reena Ruggles (2).
With the loss Chester took a 3-8 overall record and a 1-3 SIRR Mississippi Division Conference record into the Christmas holidays.
The JV game was similar to the Varsity game with the Hornettes winning, 72-25. Nashville jumped out to a 22-9 first quarter lead and led by 28 points, 37-9, at the half.
In the third quarter Nashville seemed to pick up the pace even more outscoring Chester 27-14 for a 64-23 third quarter lead. In the final period the Jackets could only muster up two more points. Nashville, on the other hand, scored another eight for a final score of Nashville 72 - Chester 25.
Jade Jolly paced the Yellow Jackets with nine points, one blocked shot, one steal and she drew a foul and deflected the ball once. Chester got even scoring from eight other players. Megan Marcinkowska, Kellie Dillow, Hilary best, Allison Miller, Rebecca Young, Shelby Helmers and Ariel Gales each scored two points apiece.
Nashville was led by Breanna Pelker who put in 22 points. She was followed by Kourtney Heggemeier (16), Jolie Wall (10), Caitlin Jasper (10), Melanie Rhine (4), Jamie Redman (4), Annie Borowiak (3) and Keisha Stezkorn (3).
With the loss the JV Jackets fell to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the Mississippi Division of the River-to-River Conference.