Former Chester player, Alyssa Seymour, is starting center for Greenville
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – College basketball has started and many collegiate teams nationwide are starting their competitions with non-conference, exhibition games to get the ball rolling. Southern Illinois University is no exception as the Lady Salukis hosted Division III Greenville College last Wednesday November 1 at the SIU Banterra Center.
Chester’s Alyssa Seymour (44) poses for a brief photo immediately following the exhibition game between the Souther Illinois University Lady Salukis and the Greenville Lady Panthers Wednesday November 1 at the SIU Banterra Center. Seymour, in her second year at Greenville, is now the starting center for the Panthers. SIU, a Division I school, defeated Greenville, a Division III school, 94-34, but both teams enjoyed the competition and benefitted from the exhibition. In the loss, Seymour led her team in rebounding with 12 rebounds. She also was second-highest scorer for the Panthers with eight points. She also added a block assist. Jim Beers Photo
The game was exciting for most fans just for the fact that Lady Saluki Basketball was back in action. For a few others in the area that game had a more meaningful slant to it due to the fact that a former Chester High School player, Alyssa Seymour, was the starting center for the Lady Panthers from Greenville.
Seymour was a basketball standout at both Chester Grade School and Chester High School during her junior high and high school basketball playing days as a CGS Junior Jacket and CHS Lady Jacket.
Miss Seymour was named to the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division All-Conference Team her senior year at CHS, finishing 4th out of all of the girls nominated. She was also named “Honorable Mention” to the Class 2A All-State Team, finishing 19th overall out of the entire Class 2A voting in the State of Illinois.
Greenville’s Alyssa Seymour (44), formerly of Chester High School YellowJacket fame, drives to the basket for a scoop layup Wednesday November 1 when the SIU Lady Salukis hosted the Lady Panthers in exhibition. The Division I Salukis beat the Division III Panthers, 94-34. In the loss, Seymour, who was Greenville’s starting center, scored eight points (second highest on her team) and she led her team in rebounding with 12 rebounds. She also added a block assist. Jim Beers Photo
Seymour was on the winning “Purple Team” at the 2023 43rd Annual Lions Club International All-Star game Friday March 25, 2022 in her senior season. In that win, Seymour led in scoring with 10 points and was named the game’s “Most Valuable Player”.
Her senior season at CHS, Alyssa averaged 16.5 points per game and grabbed 13.3 rebounds per game. She established herself as the all-time leading rebounder with 843 boards.
She further set the single-season rebounding record with 386 rebounds her final year at CHS. Her senior year at CHS Seymour recorded 386 rebounds, nine assists, 41 steals, and 23 blocks. She led the team in both rebounds and blocks.
Greenville starting center Alyssa Seymour (44), formerly a Chester High School Lady Jacket basketball player, is heavily guarded by SIU’s Laniah Randle (4) and Se’Quoia Allmond (40) in the first quarter of the SIU vs Greenville exhibition game Wednesday November 1 at the Banterra Center at SIU. It was Seymour’s first collegiate start and her first time playing against a Division I team. She took it in stride and led her team in rebounding with 12 boards and scored 8 points in spite of being heavily guarded. She is a sophomore at Greenville and playing on the Panther’s squad for her second season. Jim Beers Photo
Miss Seymour originally signed a letter of intent Wednesday April 6 at a ceremony at CHS to play at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) in Belleville. After going through summer workouts at SWIC with the Lady Blue Storm, Seymour decided that playing for SWIC was not going to be the best fit for her.
Just days after starting school at SWIC, the opportunity arose at Greenville College to play basketball for the Lady Panthers. Seymour fell in love at Greenville! She had to shift gears extremely quickly, but in just days, she was enrolled at Greenville and became a member of the Division III Greenville Lady Panthers Basketball Team.
Against SIU Greenville naturally struggled. SIU is a Division I program while Greenville is a Division III program. In the first half, the Lady Salukis outscored the Lady Panthers, by 40 points, 57-17.
Once Greenville adjusted to SIU’s up-tempo and depth, the Panthers played much better in the second half. SIU still outscored them, 37-26, but Greenville adjusted and only trailed the Salukis by 11 points in second half scoring. The Dawgs eventually won by 51 points, 94-43.
The event gave the Salukis an opportunity to see what new players were going to do with the SIU system. It also allowed the Salukis to get the cobwebs brushed off to begin the season. Greenville got a taste of Division I basketball and found out that they could battle against a bigger school and not walk away disgraced.
Laniah Randle led the Salukis with 21 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Three other SIU players scored in double figures including Sydney Prochaska (13), Seairra Hughes (12), and Quierra Love (10).
Se’Quoia Allmond and Seairra Hughes both had team-high steals with seven apiece. In the win, the Lady Salukis recorded a total of 44 forced turnovers on the Panthers.
The Greenville Lady Panthers never gave up, even though they were against great odds facing the Division I Salukis. From the pre-game warm-ups until the final buzzer, the Panthers maintained great spirit, drive and fight. Good attitudes and sportsmanship prevailed on both sides of the court and the evening had a friendly atmosphere from both teams.
Immediately after the game, both teams joined center court and formed a huge circle with alternating players from each team. It was a time to pray and for bringing everyone together, regardless of who won or lost.
The Greenville team had a very young squad with just one senior, two juniors, five sophomores, and nine freshmen. Chester’s Alyssa Seymour is a sophomore both class wise and in her second season as a Lady Panther. The SIU vs Greenville game was her inaugural (first time) starting for the Panthers, and starting period in her brief collegiate career.
For the game, Seymour scored eight points and grabbed 12 rebounds. She was second in scoring for Greenville behind Carolina Hoffman who led the team with nine points. Seymour led the team in rebounds with 12. The closest other rebounder grabbed just two rebounds. Seymour also added one block assist.
SIU had the biggest scoring run of the game with 15 points in the second quarter at the 3:43 mark. Greenville had a 5-point run in the first quarter at the 5:16 mark.
The Salukis led in scoring the entire game. SIU had 54 points from turnovers. Greenville had seven points from SIU turnovers. The Salukis had 56 points in the paint compared to Greenville’s 22 points in the paint.
SIU recorded 41 fast-break points. Greenville had 13 fast break points. SIU’s bench provided 39 points compared to 14 points from the Panther’s bench.
The Salukis led 32-8 after one quarter. In the second quarter SIU outscored Greenville 25-9 to lead, 57-17 at halftime.
In the third quarter the Dawgs outscored the Panthers 24-18 to lead, 81-35, and to close out the game, SIU outscored Greenville 13-8, to win the contest, 94-43.
When asked about her reaction to playing against Division I SIU Alyssa said, “It was certainly a lot different playing against a D1 school. I felt comfortable in that I was pretty evenly matched most of the night. They had a deep bench but ours was pretty dep too. Most of the game I felt as if we were at least competitive.”
The Greenville Lady Panthers leave Thursday November 9 for a weekend tournament in Georgia. The Salukis host Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) Tuesday November 7 at the SIU Banterra Center. Game time is 6:00 p.m.