CHS Lady Jackets win first conference game of 2008-09 vs. DuQuoin

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester High School Lady Jackets Basketball Team had a busy schedule last week with three games in five days. It was also a week of lots of ups-and-downs for the Ladies.

CHS started out the three-game stint with a season opening win in the SIRR Mississippi Division Conference win over rivals DuQuoin. That game was at home Tuesday, December 2 in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Colbert Gym. CHS won, 47-41, in a most exciting contest.

Thursday, December 4 the Jackets made the long trip to Cobden to take on a very good Lady Appleknockers team that won 20 games last season. Unfortunately Cobden hasn't lost much from last year's 20-5 squad and Chester had a hard time containing the Appleknock-ers. The result was a 64-30 loss. It was a long ride home for the Lady Jackets.

Saturday, December 6 Chester hosted a rare morning match up against another very good Trico team. Against a much bigger Lady Pioneer squad, the Yellow Jackets fought hard throughout the game and kept the score very respectable.

CHS narrowed the Trico lead to only five points with little over a minute to play, but the Jackets had to foul late to stop the clock and Trico made most of their charity shots to win the game by only nine points, 46-37.

Dani Helmers, however, played the game of her life against Trico holding 6'1" Brittany Grace to only 12 points. Helmers also out rebounded Grace and broke the Chester Lady Jacket's school rebounding record in the process with her 24 boards. The loss was a moral victory for the Jackets.

Against DuQuoin Tuesday Chester led 14-6 after the first quarter and 26-13 at the half. The third quarter was not kind to CHS, however, and the Jackets could only muster up five points. The Lady Indians, on the other hand, connected for 14 points and narrowed Chester's lead to only three points, 30-27, after three quarters of play.

Both teams scored 14 points in the final period and the Lady Yellow Jackets started out their 2008-09 conference season with a win over DuQuoin, 47-41.

For the game sophomore Jade Jolly led the Jacket's offensive attack with 13 points. Fellow sophomore, Hilary Best followed with 10 points. Other contributing Yellow Jackets were Jordan Clendenin (6), Marci Tressler (6), Emily Beers (4) and Shelly Lyons, Jamie Springer, Kinzie Buchheit, and Dani Helmers all with two points apiece.

Rebounding leaders included Jordan Clendenin with eight boards, Hilary Best with seven and Emily Beers who grabbed five boards. Clendenin also dished out five assists and had four steals.

Prior to the announcement of the starting lineups the Lady jackets made a special presentation to Dan Geisen of Andy's Auto Body of Chester. Geisen is the sponsor of the 2008-09 Lady Yellow Jacket's schedule posters which are now available to anyone who would like one. The Jackets thanked Geisen center court prior to the game with an autographed poster and a big tribute for being such a big Yellow Jackets fan.

With the win Chester improved to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the Mississippi Division of the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference. Just two weeks prior DuQuoin defeated the Yellow Jackets, 48-39 in the opening game of the DuQuoin Tip-Off Classic. The win for CHS was not only sweet revenge, but it got Chester off to a great start in the 2009 SIRR race.

Thursday the Jackets traveled to Cobden for a non-conference match up with the Lady Appleknockers. Cobden has a great program that beat CHS 71-19 a year ago at Colbert Gymnasium. The trip to Cobden this year was disappointing as the Jackets lost 64-30, but the margin of loss was not as bad as last year as the jackets are a much improved team.

Cobden jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first quarter and led 31-16 at the halftime break. Following halftime, the Appleknockers put in another 22 points to Chester's eight to lead 53-24 going into the final quarter. The last period Cobden outscored CHS 11-6 for a final score of Cobden 64- Chester 30.

Dani Helmers, who had been experiencing a bit of a funk as of late, came out of her slump to lead the Jackets with 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, a pair of jump balls and two blocked shots. She also dove on the floor for a loose ball, had a deflection and earned four hustle marks on the hard play chart.

Seniors Marci Tressler recorded five points, Jamie Springer connected for four, while Emily Beers, Hilary Best and Kinzie Buchheit each contributed two apiece. Jade Jolly had an off night only scoring one point on a free throw.

The loss dropped Chester to 2-4 for the season overall. The non-conference game did not affect the 1-0 standing in the SIRR Mississippi Division.

Saturday the Jackets hosted a rare morning game with Trico. The Lady Pioneers boasted a big lineup that featured 6'1" Brittany Grace, 6'0" Beth Davis and 5'10" Chelsea Jarrett. The trio gave Chester fits last year when the Lady Pioneers soundly defeated the Jackets by 22 points, 45-23.

Dani Helmers, who played like a champ against Cobden on Thursday, made the decision to contain Grace Saturday at home in front of the Chester faithful. Helmers once again played very hard and held Grace to only 12 points.

More importantly Helmers frustrated Grace and the Lady Pioneers on the boards as she grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds for the game breaking the CHS record for rebounding by two boards. The former record was held by a duo of former Lady Jackets.

Brittany Heins set the record in 1999-2000 when she grabbed 22 boards in a single game. Two years later Crystal Mathis tied that record in 2001-2002 when she also grabbed 22 boards in a single game.

Against Trico, Dani Helmers broke the school record with her amazing 24 rebounds against a team that was the tallest that the Jackets had faced all season long. Combined with her 18 points, three deflections, three jump balls, and three assists, Helmers really played the game of her life against the Pioneers.

Chester got scoring from seven players. Helmers led with 18 points followed by Emily Beers and Kinzie Buchheit and Hilary Best with four apiece, and Marci Tressler, Jamie Springer and Jordan Clendenin with two apiece.

Helmers led in rebounding with rebounds followed by Best with eight, Jamie Springer and Kinzie Buchheit with two apiece and Emily Beers, Missy Lyons and Marci Tressler with one each. All total, Chester out rebounded Trico 38-19.

Dani Helmers and Emily Beers dished out three assists to lead the Jackets while Jordan Clendenin, Jade Jolly and Hilary Best each dished out two apiece. Missy Lyons, Marci Tressler, Jamie Springer and Kinzie Buchheit each had an assist apiece. Clendenin led the Jackets in hustle marks on the hard play chart.

Trico was led by Danielle Stephenson who scored 21 points and kept the Lady Pioneers alive. Brittany Grace followed with 12 points and Chelsea Jarrett put in seven points. Other Pioneers who contributed included Amelia Duncan (3), Stephanie Cochran (2) and Shelbi Beisner (1).

Chester coach Sarah Niebrugge thought that the Jackets had a chance to win late in the game when with less than a minute to play CHS got within five points.

Stephenson was hot down the stretch, however, and scored seven of Trico's 11 pints points in the fourth quarter to secure the win for Trico. The Jackets had to resort to fouling as the clock ticked away and Stephenson made five of her six free throw attempts to maintain the Lady Pioneer's lead. Trico won, 46-37, but the game was much closer than the score indicated.

With the loss, Chester dropped to 2-5 overall. The non-conference loss did not affect the conference record of 1-0. Chester is definitely playing hard, tough basketball this year and hopes to be able to improve on last year's record of 4-18 overall and 1-8 in the SIRR.