CHS falls on the road to Red Bud and Carlyle in Week 8 and battles for a win against Anna-Jonesboro to start Week 9
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Lady Jackets had a phenomenal Week 8, but it was phenomenal from a negative standpoint not a good standpoint. The Jackets came off of a decent showing in Week 7 with two wins and a loss at the 2024 Lady Jacket Mid-Winter Classic to take the 3rd Place trophy.
In Week 8 Chester had a two-game road trip to Cahokia Conference Illinois Division No. 3 Red Bud (2-2) on Monday January 8 and to No. 1 Carlyle (undefeated at 5-0) on Thursday January 11. In both contests the Lady Jackets ran into a huge buzz saw losing to Red Bud, 64-34 and Carlyle, 55-44.
To start Week 9 CHS began a rare three-game home stretch hosting former River-to-River, Mississippi Division foe, Anna-Jonesboro, in a hotly contested battle that went right up to the final seconds with Chester winning, 46-44.
Red Bud 64 – Chester 34
After one quarter Red Bud led 15-13. The second period was devastating for the Jackets as the Lady Musketeers outscored the Lady Jackets, 19-7 to lead, 34-20 at the half. The third quarter was hard again for CHS as Red Bud outscored the Jackets 13-4 to extend its lead to 47-24. Down the stretch, the Lady Musketeers outscored Chester, 17-10 to win, 64-34. With the loss, Chester dropped to 11-9 overall and 1-4 in the Cahokia Conference.
In the loss the Lady Jackets had offensive production from seven players led by Lexie Mott with 13 points. She was followed by Rylie Conley and Aubrey Colvis who scored six points apiece, Jessica Stumpe who scored three points, and Jazzi Merideth, Camryn Luthy, and Emma Diskey who added two points apiece.
Jessica Stumpe led the team in rebounding with five boards. The Jacket recorded eight assists led by Rylie Conley, Jesse Stumpe, and Camryn Luthy with two apiece. Jazzi Merideth and Jesse Stumpe led in steals with three apiece. As a team, the Lady Jackets committed 32 turnovers. When CHS played the Musketeers during the Sparta Tournament November 17, Red Bud beat Chester by two points, 55-53.
Red Bud had nine players contribute to its 64-point total including Dilley (15), Hess (11) Friess (10), Minemann (8), T. Carter (7), Wagner and E. Carter (4 apiece), Mueich (3), and Geralds (2).
Carlyle 55 – Chester 24
Carlyle jumped out to a 15-3 lead after one quarter of play. In the second period the Lady Indians outscored CHS 20-5 to lead 35-8 at halftime.
In the third quarter Carlyle outscored Chester 10-8 and led 46-16 after three periods. In the fourth quarter, the Indians outscored the Lady Jackets again, 10-8, to win the game, 55-24. The first time that Chester played Carlyle this season on November 30 at CHS, the Lady Indians beat CHS 64-18.
Chester was led by Lexi Mott who scored 12 points. She was followed by Rylie Conley (5), Aubrey Coleman (3), Jesse Stumpe (2), and Aubrey Colvis (2). Lexi Mott and Jesse Stumpe each grabbed 4 rebounds apiece. Aubrey Colvis had Chester’s only block. The Jackets grabbed a total of 21 rebounds and committed 19 turnovers.
With the loss, the Lady Jackets ended a trough Week 8 with an overall record of 11-10 and a Cahokia Conference Illinois Division record of 1-5.
Carlyle was led by Persing and Hoffman who each had 11 points. They were followed by E. Meyer (10), Schmeink (9), Rolfinermeyer and Harris who each scored 4 points apiece, and Edwards, K.J. Meyer, and A. Meyer, who each scored 2 points apiece.
Chester 46 – Anna Jonesboro 44
Chester’s Lexie Mott (33) goes in for a layup in the opening quarter of the game Tuesday January 16 when the Lady Jackets hosted Anna-Jonesboro in a non-conference matchup. Mott is met by Lady Wildcat Ariana Turner (41) at the basket. Turner committing a hard foul and preventing Mott’s shot from hitting its mark. That did not stop Mott, however, as she went on to lead all scorers with 30 points in a very competitive battle with AJ. Mott completed a double-double with 30 points and 18 rebounds in the 46-44 win over the Lady Wildcats. Jim Beers Photo
After a devastating Week 8 the Lady Jackets returned to the friendly confines of Colbert Memorial Gymnasium to begin a three-game home stand. The Anna-Jonesboro Lady Wildcats were the first challengers of Week 9.
The first quarter was long and hard fought with the Lady Wildcats biting and clawing to a 10-0 run to start the game. The Wildcats led, 10-0 at the 5:04 mark. Jazzi Merideth got the Lady Jackets on the scoreboard at the 4:48 mark and AJ led, 10-2.
AJ’s Jayda Shepard answered by draining a 3-ponter at the 3:37 mark to extend AJ’s lead to 13-2. Jayden Girardi added a 2-pointer at 2:51 to give the Cats a 15-2 lead. Chester’s Lexie Mott, the Lady Jacket’s lead scorer, had been silent until the 2:35 mark when she sank a pair of free throws. AJ led, 17-4.
The Wildcats were playing tough defense and kept Chester from scoring another field goal until the final 38.4 seconds when Emma Diskey hit a shot. Lexie Mott added another free throw with 2:35 to play in the first period. Lillian Diskey sank a pair of free throws to round out the Jacket’s nine points.
To close out the first quarter, which took what seemed like forever, the Wildcats added another five points to lead by 13 points, 20-7, after one quarter of play. The first quarter was all Anna-Jonesboro.
The second quarter was a different story with Chester outscoring AJ 19-7 to take a one point lead, 28-27, into the locker room at halftime. Behind the scoring of Lexie Mott and Jessica Stumpe, Chester tied the game, 22-22 at the 3:08 mark. At that point, the Jackets had outscored the Lady Cats, 13-2 in the opening five minutes of the second quarter. In that run Mott added 11 points and Stumpe added two.
In the final three minutes Jazzi Merideth hit a bucket, and Lexie Mott knocked two free throws. AJ’s Ariana Turner hit a free throw and Jayda Shepard and Kansas Craig both sank baskets. The game was tied at 27-27 with 13.6 seconds to play in the first half. With just 3.2 seconds on the clock, Lexie Mott came to the free throw line and gave Chester its one point lead, 28-27 as she sank a free throw.
In the first half, Lexie Mott led the team with 18 points followed by Jazzi Merideth (4), and Jessica Stumpe, Lillian Diskey, and Emma Diskey with two points apiece.
After halftime both teams picked up their defenses and the game became much more physical. After a 4-minute stalemate, AJ’s Smith broke the ice with a hard drive to the basket and gave the Lady Wildcats a brief 29-28 lead at the 3:59 mark.
Lexie Mott responded immediately with a pair of made free throws to retake the lead 30-29 at the 3:58 mark. CHS senior Camryn Luthy responded with a bucket of her own at 2:50 to extend Chester’s lead to 32-29.
To close out the third quarter, AJ’s Kansas Craig knocked down a shot to get the Cats within one point, 32-31, and at the buzzer, AJ’s Jayda Shepard connected for a bucket to retake the lead, 33-32, after three hard-fought quarters.
The 4th quarter was a continuation of the battle that had been going on since the first quarter, however, the aggressiveness, agitation, and hard-play increased.
Chester’s Emma Diskey started things off with a basket at the 5:45 mark to retake the Jacket’s lead, 34-33. Just 20-seconds later Chester fouled back-to-back times and Jayda Shepard and Kansas Craig each sank two free throws apiece to retake the AJ lead, 37-34 at the 5:25 mark.
With just 4:40 remaining in the game, Chester’s Emma Diskey grabbed a huge rebound and stuck-it-back into the basket for a 2-pointer and CHS trailed by just one point, 37-36. AJ responded with a basket at 4:20 to extend its lead to 39-36.
On the next play Lady Jacket Lexie Mott took the ball to the hoop for a basket and Chester trailed by just one point again, 39-38, at the 3:42 mark. Somewhere during the Mott scoring or immediately thereafter, here was a technical foul called on a Chester player. That call fueled the emotions of some of the Chester fans and that resulted in a fan rejection.
AJ was awarded four free throws and got possession of the ball following the free throws. Fortunately, AJ’s Jayda Shepard made just one of the four free throws and Chester’s defense held AJ scoreless on the ball possession, so the damage amounted to just one point with AJ leading, 40-38 following the technical four.
Immediately following that mishap, Chester’s Lexie Mott made a basket to tie the game, 40-40 at the 2:51 mark. With just 1:52 to play in the game, Chester Head Coach, Jeff Mott called a time out.
Following the time out, AJ’s Jayda Shepard made one free throw to retake the lead for AJ, 41-40, with 1:36 to play. Just 26 seconds later Chester’s Lexie Mott went to the free throw line after a very aggressive foul and made her free throw to tie the game again, 41-41 with 1:13 remaining in the contest.
Chester’s defense played clean and well in the final minute of the game to keep AJ from making a lead change again. At the 31.7 mark Chester’s Lexie Mott scored to give Chester a two-point lead, 43-41.
With 16.6 left to play, AJ’s Jayda Shepard made another free throw to get within one point, 43-42. Chester called another time out at that point. Following the time out, Lexie Mott made two free throws to extend Chester’s lead to 45-42 with 10.1 seconds remaining in the game.
Mott was fouled again and with CHS in the bonus, Mott missed her first free throw but made her second to extend the Lady Jacket lead to 46-42 with only seconds left on the clock.
At the buzzer, AJ’s Ariana Turner scored a 2-pointer, but it was too-little-too-late as Chester won the game, 46-44.
The Chester High School Lady Jackets and the Anna-Jonesboro Lady Wildcats greet each other in the traditional post-game sportsmanship ritual Tuesday January 16 when the two teams faced off in a non-conference battle. Chester won, 46-44, in a heated, highly competitive contest, but in the end, everyone acted in a sportsmanship manner and shook hands to a hard-fought, exciting, last-second game that went right down to the wire. Jim Beers Photo
Chester was led by Lexie Mott who scored 30 points under very challenging circumstances. Mott also recorded a double-double grabbing 18 rebounds, (8 offensive and 10 defensive). She further added 1 assist and 1 steal to her stats.
Mott was followed by Emma Diskey (6 pts, 3 rebounds & 1 steal), Jazzi Merideth (4 pts, 1 assist, 1 steal, & 1 rebound), and Jesse Stumpe, Camryn Luthy, and Lillian Diskey with two points apiece. Stumpe added 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Luthy added 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Lillian Diskey added 1 rebound.
As a team, the Lady Jackets recorded 46 points, made 15-of-28 two-pointers (54%), made 0-of-20 three pointers (0%), made 15-of-48 shots from the field overall (31%), and made 16-of-21 free throws (76%). The Jackets also recorded 6 assists, 7 steals, grabbed 37 rebounds, and committed 21 turnovers.
Anna-Jonesboro was led by two players who scored in double figures including Jayda Shepard (18) and Kansas Craig (12). Other offensive contributors included Raelyn Sadler and Ariana Turner who each scored 4 points apiece, and Savanah Smith, Jayden Girardi, and Emma Craig who each scored 2 points apiece.
The Lady Jackets defeated visiting Steeleville 48-33 last night and they will host Marissa Saturday night to complete a rare three-game home stand.