Chester girls headed to Class 2A Freeburg Regional
It is hard to believe, but the Chester High School Lady Jackets basketball team has arrived at the final week of the regular season. The Jackets played their final road game at Trico Monday, Feb. 7, winning 38-28.
Chester will close the regular season Thursday, Feb. 10, at home when cross-county rival, Sparta comes to Colbert Gymnasium. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. and CHS will celebrate Alyssa Seymour and Kailyn Absher during Senior Night.
The Chester girls will only get one day off prior to beginning the IHSA Regional Class 2A Tournament. Chester, the 10th seed, plays at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, against No. 9 seed Belleville Althoff on their home court in the opening game of the Freeburg Regional.
<b>Chester 38, Trico 28</b>
In the third quarter the Lady Pioneers outscored Chester to pull within 6 points, but the Jackets held on down the stretch to win 38-28 in a hard-fought game.
The first half was predominantly Alyssa Seymour vs Trico as the senior strong forward scored 7-of-10 first quarter Chester points. In the second quarter Seymour reproduced her first period for 14-of-21 first half points.
After the halftime break Trico came back with a vengeance and outscored Chester.
Once again Seymour led Chester, scoring 5-of-8 Lady Jacket points and Camrynn Howie drained a 3-pointer.
"To be honest, we didn't play well offensively tonight," coach Clint Cowan said. "We continued to turn the ball over tonight, but when it counted late in the game, we took care of the ball and brought home a win."
Down the stretch the Chester girls outscored Trico 9-5 to secure the win. The Lady Pioneers had to foul Chester's Seymour in the fourth quarter to stop the clock. Seymour was sent to the line four times, making two of her free throws. She also added 4 points on layups.
Chester's other 3 points came from the freshman Rylie Conley, who has been a key contributor for the Jackets, coming up with 3-pointers at just the right times to help keep Chester alive in close games.
In the not-so-pretty win, CHS was led by Seymour's 25 points and 19 rebounds.
Fellow senior Kailyn Absher led the Jackets in steals with 5, was second in rebounds with 9, and scored 2 points.
Sophomore Camrynn Howie led the team in assists with 5 and also scored 5 points. Other offensive contributors included Jazzi Meredith (3), and Conley (3). For the game, Chester scored 13 2-pointers and made two 3-pointers. The Jackets were down a bit at the free-throw line having made just 6-of-16 free throws (37%).
"Our defensive play won us the game tonight," Cowan said. "I'm proud of our effort, but I need to see more offensive output and that is going to be our main focus in the last couple of practices."
With the win, the Lady Jackets improved to an overall record of 13-15 and remained 3-6 in the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division.
<b>IHSA Class 2A</b>
There are four regionals that feed into the Nashville Sectional: Anna-Jonesboro, Benton, Breese Central, and Freeburg.
Sub-Sectional A, Benton Regional: Benton, McLeansboro, Harrisburg, Eldorado, Johnston City, and West Frankfort. Anna-Jonesboro Regional: Carterville, DuQuoin, Metropolis-Massac County, Vienna, Anna-Jonesboro, and Murphysboro.
Sub-Sectional B, Freeburg Regional: Freeburg, Breese Mater Dei, Columbia, Belleville Althoff, Chester and Red Bud. Breese Central Regional: Breese Central, Nashville, Pinckneyville, Greenville, Trenton-Wesclin, and Sparta.