Beat AJ, 46-44; Win against Steeleville, 48-33; lose to Marissa, 37-24
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – After having a disastrous Week 7 in back-to-back games on the road at Red Bud, 64-34 and Carlyle, 55-44, the Chester High School Lady Jacket Basketball Team flew high and stung hard in Week 8.
Chester beat Anna-Jonesboro, 46-44 in a close, hard fought game on Monday January 16, and won again against Steeleville, 48-33 on Thursday January 18, for back-to-back victories. In the last game of Week 8 the Jackets fell apart vs Marissa, losing, 37-24, in a rare Saturday morning game.
Chester 48-Steeleville 33
The Lady Jackets hosted the Steeleville Lady Warriors Thursday January 18. The Warriors are led by Head Coach Clint Cowan, who was Chester’s Head Coach last year.
The Lady Jackets jumped out to a 15-7 lead against Steeleville behind the efforts of Lexie Mott (8), Aubrey Coleman (3), Jesse Stumpe (2), and Emma Diskey (2). The Lady Warriors stayed up with the Jackets in the opening five minutes trailing by only three points, 8-5. CHS then went on a 7-2 run to close out the first quarter leading 15-7.
Lexie Mott started the second quarter with a quick bucket to extend Chester’s lead to 17-7 at the 7:35 mark. The Lady Jackets then completed a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 27-7 at the 4:41 mark. During that run, Chester’s Jazzi Merideth and Rylie Conley drained 3-pointers and Camryn Luthy, and Lillian Diskey each hit 2-point shots.
Steeleville then closed out the second quarter with a 9-4 run of its own behind Rylan Reiss’s seven points and two free throws by Emma Mulholland. Chester’s four points came from Aubrey Colvis and Aubrey Coleman who each hit 2-point jumpers. At halftime, Chester led by 15 points, 31-16.
To open the second half, Jessie Stumpe hit back to back buckets for a 4-0 run and a 35-16 lead at 6:33.
Steeleville then unleashed an 8-0 run on Chester to come within 11 points, 35-24, with just 3:17 to play in the 3rd quarter. During that 8-0 run Rylan Reiss hit a 3-pointer, a 2-pointer and a free throw for six points and Avery Roberts added a two-point basket.
It was a quarter of runs as Chester answered Steeleville’s 8-point run with a 7-0 run to close out the period. In that Chester run, Lexie Mott scored five points on two field goals and a free throw, and Aubrey Coleman hit a basket. Chester extended its lead to 18 points, 42-24.
Steeleville’s Rylan Reiss began the final quarter making three free throws to complete a 3-0 run. CHS still led, 42-27 with 4:59 to play in the game.
Chester’s Lexie Mott gave Chester its first points of the 4th quarter at the 4:27 mark and CHS led, 44-27. Jesse Stumpe made a free throw just 27-seconds later to extend the lead to 45-27 with 4:00 to play.
To close out the final four minutes the Lady Warriors outscored CHS, 6-3. Gabi Hood sank a free throw at 3:32 and Chester led, 45-28. Lillian Diskey answered with a huge 3-pointer at 2:26 to give the Lady Jackets their final points of the game to lead, 48-28.
To close out the final 1:33, Steeleville’s Rylan Reiss hit a shot and teammate Bailey Cole drained a 3-pointer with .40 to play. Chester killed the final 18.1 seconds and the Jackets won the game, 48-33.
In the win, the Lady YellowJackets were led by Lexie Mott who recorded 17 points, 12 rebounds (for the double-double), 2 steals, 1 assist, and 2 blocked shots.
Eight other Lady Jackets also contributed including Jesse Stumpe with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal; Aubrey Coleman with 7 points, 2 steals and 1 assist; Lillian Diskey with 5 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal; Rylie Conley with 3 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals; Jazzi Merideth with 3 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, and 1 assist.
Camryn Luthy, Aubrey Colvis, and Emma Diskey each scored two-points apiece. Camryn Luthy added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Aubrey Colvis had 1 rebound and 1 block. Lillian Diskey recorded 2 rebounds and a steal. Riley Lochhead added 1 assist and 2 steals.
Steeleville was paced by freshman Rylan Reis who scored 21 points. She was followed by Bailey Cole (5), Emma Mulholland (4), Avery Roberts (2), and Gabi Hood (1).
With the win, the Lady Jackets completed back-to-back wins and improved to an overall season record of 13-10.
Marissa-Coulterville 37-Chester 24
The Lady Jackets hosted the Marissa-Coulterville Lady Meteors in a rare early Saturday morning game January 20. Both teams agreed to play a two-quarter junior varsity game prior to the varsity match-up.
The JV tipped-off at 11:00 a.m. and played just two eight-minute quarters or halves. Marissa only had a total of 12 players in its entire program including 6 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 2 juniors and 1 senior, so they did not have enough players to play two full, 32-minute games. The Marissa JV was on top, 23-19, when the final buzzer sounded.
Approximately 30 minutes after the JV game concluded, the varsity game tipped-off. Both coaches noted prior to the start of the game that neither team appeared to be very motivated to play early on Saturday morning. Both teams seemed to be tired, lethargic and not too excited to be there.
Marissa-Coulterville put the first 3 points on the board right away. The Jackets didn’t score until the 5:23 mark and trailed, 3-2, after Lexie Mott hit a pair of free throws. A minute later, Mott stole the ball and scored a basket giving CHS four points and a slim, 4-3 lead at 4:48.
To close out the first quarter, the Lady Meteors went on an 8-0 Marissa run to lead, 11-4 after one quarter of play. In the first quarter Marissa had five players contribute to its 11-point total including freshman Kennedy Trieb (4), Hannah Kruse (2), junior Kearston Alstat (2), freshman Peyton Biekert (2), and junior Annie Villarreal (1). All four of Chester’s points came from Lexie Mott.
The second quarter caught the Lady Jackets still sleeping as the Meteors outscored them, 9-6, to lead by ten points, 20-10 at the half.
In the second frame Jesse Stumpe, Lexie Mott and Emma Diskey each scored two points apiece for Chester’s six points. Trieb continued to pace the Lady Meteors with four points. Freshman Payten Perry, senior Mia Lanier, and junior Hannah Kruse (1) teamed up to give the Meteors their nine points.
After the halftime break the Jackets continued to struggle. Camryn Luthy gave Chester its first four points on a free throw and later with a huge 3-pointer. Lexie Mot added a basket at the 5:10 mark and CHS completed a 6-2 run that resulted in a score of Marissa 22-Chester 16.
That six-point deficit would be as close as the Lady Jackets would get as the Lady Meteors would complete a 13-3 run to close out the 3rd quarter and lead by 12 points, 31-19 after three periods.
Things didn’t get any better for Chester down the stretch. In the opening two minutes Marissa’s Peyton Biekert and Hannah Krause combined for four points to complete a 4-0 run and extend their lead to 16-points, 35-19.
The Jackets did make a nice 5-0 run in the next 90-seconds as Jesse Stumpe hit a 3-pointer and Lexie Mott made two free throws to get Chester within 11 points, 35-24 with 4:32 to play in the game.
The next two minutes were a deadlock as both teams buckled down on defense. The score was still locked at 35-24 with 2:03 remaining.
Chester had to eventually foul to stop the clock and Marissa-Coulterville’s Payten Perry sank a pair of free throws to give the Lady Meteors a 37-24 lead. That is how the game would end with the Jackets unable to score in the final minutes.
In the loss Chester was led by Lexie Mott who just missed her third double-double in as many games as she scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds. She also recorded 3 steals, 1 assist and 1 turnover.
Offense was hard to come by from the remainder of the Lady Jackets. Jesse Stumpe scored 5 points, grabbed six rebounds, had 1 steal and committed 5 turnovers. Camryn Luthy had 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 turnover. Rylie Conley scored 2 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, and committed 2 turnovers. Emma Diskey scored 2 points, grabbed 1 rebound, dished out 1 assist, and committed 4 turnovers.
As a team the Lady Jackets grabbed a total of 25 rebounds, dished out only 4 assists, recorded 5 steals, and committed a total of 20 turnovers. They had no blocks. From two-point range Chester was 6-of-28 (21%) and from 3-point range the Jackets were 2-of-8 (25%). Overall, CHS shot 8-of-36 from the field (22%). From the free throw line the Jackets made 6-of-14 attempts (43%).
The Lady Meteors were led by Payten Trieb who scored 11 points. She was the only Marissa-Coulterville player that scored in double figures. She was followed by Hannah Kruse (7), Payten Perry (6), Annie Villarreal (5), Peyton Biekert (4), Mia Lanier (2), and Kearston Alstat (2). The Lady Jackets held Marissa’s top scorer (Peyton Biekert) to just 4 points).
With the loss, the Lady Jackets fell to an overall season record of 13-11. Next up for Chester will be a re-scheduled game at Benton Wednesday January 24. That game was originally supposed to be played Monday January 22 but was cancelled due to the ice storm Monday.
The Jackets will close out Week 9 with a home game Thursday January 25 when Chester hosts Okawville. JV game tips off at 6:00 p.m.
Chester’s Lexie Mott (33) and Marrisa-Coulterville’s Peyton Biekert (32) jump ball to tip-off the Saturday morning January 20 match-up between the Lady Jackets and the Lady Meteors. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Lexie Mott (33) takes the ball away from Steeleville’s Emma Mullholland (22) in the Thursday January 18 game at CHS. The Jackets won, 48-33 over the Lady Warriors. In the win Mott led the Jackets with her second double-double of the week with 17 points and 12 rebounds. She also added 2 steals, 2 blocked shots, and 1 assist. Jim Beers Photo
Lady Jacket Lillian Diskey (21) (far right) fires a 3-pointer in the win over the Steeleville Lady Warriors Thursday January 18 at CHS Colbert Gym. For the night Diskey, a sophomore, scored 5 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 1 assist and recorded 1 steal. The Jackets won, 48-33. Jim Beers Photo