Lady Jackets win at home, lose 2 on road
The CHS Lady Jackets basketball team had a great win over Red Bud last week, let the Lady Rockets of Wesclin escape with a 6 point victory and fell to the Lady Indians of DuQuoin Saturday.
CHS had three games in Week 10, two on the road and one at home. The Lady Jacket squad - which consists of just seven players - has battled hard all season and completed 27 games with 12 wins and 15 losses. They are 3-6 in the Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division.
The starting five play most of the game, with just two sophomores to come off the bench to provide much-needed rest in times of fatigue or foul trouble.
Head Coach Clint Cowan, Assistant Coach Amber Skorcz and volunteer Assistant Coach Rick Powley have done an amazing job of getting the most out of their "Magnificent 7." The players never give up; they always fight hard, always give 100% and have gone far above and beyond what most fans thought would be possible.
<b>Wesclin 45, Chester 39</b>
Chester played well at Wesclin Monday, Jan. 31, in a rematch of their first conference game of the season Nov. 29, a 60-49 loss to Wesclin at Colbert Gymnasium.
At Wesclin, The Lady Jackets led 11-9 after one quarter, trailed by just 3 at halftime 24-21, and tied the game 33-33 after three quarters. The fourth quarter was hard-fought and back-and-forth, but the Rockets managed to outscore the Jackets 12-6 down the stretch to keep the win at home, 45-39.
In that fourth quarter, Wesclin went to the free-throw line 11 times, making five of those free throws. Chester did not see the free-throw line even once in the final eight minutes. For the night the Lady Jackets got to the line just four times (1-for-4). The Rockets went to the line 24 times and made 12 (50%).
In the loss, Chester was led by senior Alyssa Seymour, who contributed 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for yet another double-double.
Junior Camrynn Howie scored 7 points and recorded 6 assists, which gave her a total of 121 assists for the season and broke the previous school record of 118 assists for a single season set by Destiny Williams in 2018-2019. Howie now holds the school record with five games remaining in the season.
Senior Kailyn Absher scored 4 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Jazzi Merideth added 5 points to round out the Lady Jackets' offensive production.
"We played well tonight. We rebounded well, we just didn't shoot well. I am happy for Camrynn for setting the new school assist record. She's a great team player and it shows," Cowan said.
"We were up by 2 points late in the third quarter and turned the ball over four straight times. We continued to turn the ball over in the fourth quarter. You can't do that against good teams like Wesclin," Cowan continued. "Turnovers cost us the game. We beat ourselves. Things like that happen. We just need to get back up, brush ourselves off, and get the next one."
<b>Chester 46, Red Bud 38</b>
The Lady Jackets returned to the friendly confines of Colbert Gymnasium on Rocky Bridges Court Tuesday, Feb. 1, to take on the Red Bud Lady Musketeers. CHS has faced the Musketeers three times this season, losing two and winning one.
The Jackets came into the game aiming to even the record.
Chester led from the opening tipoff but never by more than 4 points. Seniors Chloe Wild (4), Sam Kolweier (3), and Hannah Sievers (2) kept the Musketeers in the game.
Chester's Seymour (4), Merideth (4), and Riley Conley gave the Lady Jackets the 10-9 lead after the first quarter.
Neither team could get going to start the second quarter, but sophomore Lyla Hess hit a bucket to give Red Bud their first lead of the game, 11-10 at 4:28. Seymour answered with a basket at 3:59 to retake the lead. Musketeer Sievers answered with one of her own to take back the lead.
With 2:53 remaining in the half, Chester's Merideth was called for her third foul, sending Red Bud's Hess to the line. Hess made both of her free throws, extending the Musketeer lead to 15-12. Emma Diskey came off the bench replace Merideth.
Chester ended the half on a 7-0 run by Seymour to take a 19-15 lead into the locker room. During that run, Seymour made a layup to bring CHS within one point, 15-14 at 2:28. She was then fouled on her way to the hoop and made a free throw to tie the game 15-15 at 2:04.
Seymour retook a Chester lead, 17-15 at 1:30 then scored on a drive to the hoop to give Chester a 19-15 lead at the buzzer. In the first, Seymour scored 13 of Chester's 19 points. Merideth added 4 and Conley had 2.
After halftime, Red Bud came out with a 4-0 run to tie the game. Chester returned the favor with a 7-0 run to take a 26-19 lead, compliments of Howie, Seymour and Conley with a 3.
The third run of the third quarter came from Red Bud as Hess and Addi Dilley hit back-to-back baskets to bring the Musketeers within 3, 26-23.
The Lady Jackets finished the quarter in exciting fashion as Seymour hit a bucket with 50 seconds to play and Conley connected for her second trey of the quarter at the buzzer to extend Chester's lead to 8 points, 31-23 to end the period.
The fourth quarter was a real shootout with both teams scoring 15 points. Red Bud's Hess started the battle with a 2-pointer at 6:48. Chester's Merideth answered with a 2-pointer eight seconds later, making it 33-25.
Just 30 seconds after that, Red Bud's Dilley hit the first of three 3-pointers for the final stretch to bring the Musketeers within 5 points, 33-28 with 6:10 remaining.
Chester answered with a 7-0 run as Seymour made two free throws at 5:05 and followed with a hard drive to the basket for 2 more points at 4:45. She was fouled and made her free throw. To close out the run, Howie stole the ball and drove the length of the floor for a bucket at 3:48. Chester led by 12 points, 40-28, with 3:48 to play.
Just when the Jackets appeared to have the game in the bag, they turned the ball over three times in a row. Red Bud took advantage of the Chester errors and had a 4-0 run to get within 8-points, 40-32, with 2:08 remaining.
At the 1:12 mark Merideth connected for 2 points to extend the CHS lead to 42-32. At 1:07 Cowan called a time out to map out the last minute of the game. Immediately afterward, Chester turned the ball over again. Red Bud could not capitalize on that turnover and Chester got the ball back with 53.6 seconds to play. Red Bud had to start fouling to stop the clock.
In the final seconds, the Musketeers sent Howie to the line six times. She made four of those six. In the final 43.7 seconds, Red Bud's Dilley popped a pair of 3-pointers to bring the Musketeers within 8 points, 46-38. That would be the difference in the game at the buzzer.
In the win, Chester was led by Seymour with 23 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double in two games. Conley, Howie and Merideth scored 8 points apiece. Absher grabbed 9 rebounds.
Howie dished out another nine assists to lead the YellowJackets and break her own season-high assist record, which she just set the night before.
"We played great tonight! We came out and responded well after a tough loss the night before at Wesclin. The game was back-and-forth and a big play that opened it up was at the end of the third quarter as time expired and Rylie Conley hit the big 3-pointer. That really sparked us," Cowan said.
"We took care of the ball and finished plays down low. We moved the ball well on offense, and that sparked us. That got us going! We ran the floor and ran our run-and-gun offense.
"This was a huge conference win for us and set up a potential big matchup for us at home Thursday, February 10, with Sparta on Senior Night.
"We have a chance to finish fourth in the Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division. Some people had us finishing last. I am proud of our girls and what they have done this year!"
<b>DuQuoin 46, Chester 26</b>
The Jackets traveled to DuQuoin Saturday, Feb. 5, to challenge the Lady Indians. Neither team scored in the opening two minutes, but Chester buzzed to an 8-2 lead at 4:47.
Absher stepped up and hit a pair of buckets early, followed by Conley and Seymour with 2 points apiece. Following a Howie foul, S. Hill hit two free throws to break the Lady Indian drought. CHS led, 8-4, at 3:55.
With 2:28 to play in the first quarter, Merideth knocked down a shot to extend Chester's lead to 10-4. DuQuoin's Mocaby drained a 3-pointer at 1:59 to get within 3 points, 10-7 and the Indians hit another bucket with 1:25 remaining to get within one point, 10-9.
In the final 1:25, Chester turned the ball over and DuQuoin missed three shots. CHS had possession with 4.5 seconds to play, but they held the ball as the buzzer sounded.
The Lady Indians outscored Chester 10-4 in the second frame to take a 19-14 lead at halftime. During that quarter Chester's Howie and Seymour were the only Lady Jackets to score with 2 points apiece.
Chester could not get anything going. Six turnovers gave DuQuoin the opportunity to take and keep the 14-10 lead until Seymour made a layup at 2:12.
DuQuoin went on a 5-0 run to start the second half. Conley hit a bucket at 4:39 for CHS, and Seymour made a layup and two free throws to put Chester within 4 with 3:02 left in the third.
In the final three minutes, the Jackets missed three shots and could not score again after defending well and getting the ball back with 1.5 seconds on the clock. DuQuoin added 5 more points to lead 29-20 after three quarters.
A very tired Lady Jacket squad was outscored 17-6 down the stretch and lost the game, 46-26.
In the game Chester was paced by Alyssa Seymour with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Absher had 8 points, followed by Conley (4), Merideth (2) and Howie (2). Howie dished out 7 assists to make her season total 137. The Jackets made 4-of-5 free throws (80%).
With the loss, Chester fell to 12-15 overall.
"The game was close until the fourth quarter," Cowan said. "We didn't shoot well or rebound well, and we turned the ball over way too many times. Put all of that together and that is a recipe for disaster.
"We were down by just 5 at the half but came out and turned the ball over too much in the second half. We also couldn't get rebounds. When you give good teams like DuQuoin two or three shots at the basket, they're going to hit baskets.
"Simply put, we had an off night against a very good team. These things happen, so we need to put it behind us and move to the next one."
Cowan said he expected the team to finish strong heading into their final week of the regular season. "This has by far been the best group of girls I have coached, and I hate to see it coming to an end," Cowan said.
Chester will play their final home game of the regular season Thursday, Feb. 10, when Cahokia Conference rival Sparta comes to CHS Colbert Gym for a 6 p.m. game on Senior Night.
The Jackets will play in the IHSA Sub-Sectional Saturday, Feb. 12, at Belleville Althoff. Tipoff is at 1 p.m.