Fall at Benton, 59-35, and at home to Okawville, 74-24
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Chester High School Lady Jackets had a tough week 9 with back-to-back losses, one on the road at Benton and one at home to Okawville
Chester High School’s three senior Lady Jacket Basketball players pose for a photo this 2023-2024 season. Left to right are Jazzi Merideth (12), Emma Diskey (35) and Camryn Luthy (13). They will appear at CHS Colbert Gymnasium two more times in the regular season, once tonight when CHS hosts Red Bud, and for the last time in their high school careers when the Lady Jackets host Sparta on Senior Night 2024 Thursday February 8. Jim Beers Photo
Benton 59-Chester 35
The Lady Jackets traveled to Benton High School Monday January 22 for their 25th game of the 2023-24 season. The Lady Rangers belong to the River-to-River Conference, thus the game was a non-conference game for Chester.
The opening quarter was competitive with the Rangers outscoring the Lady Jackets by just 3 points, 11-8. Lexie Mot led the Jackets with 4 points in that frame. Jesse Stumpe and Camryn Luthy each added 2 points apiece. The Lady Rangers were led by two players, Glover and Johnson each with 4 points apiece.
The second period hurt the Jackets with Benton outscoring CHS, 16-5. The Lady Jackets did not hit even one field goal in the second 8-minutes of the game. The only points scored by Chester were from the free throw line from Lexie Mott (2), Emma Diskey (2), and Lillian Diskey (1).
The Rangers had six players score including J. Webb (5), Brandon (4), Johnson (2), B. Barry (2), Mitchell (2), and Glover (1). Benton led, by 14 points at halftime, 27-13.
After halftime things did not get any better for the Lady Jackets as the Lady Rangers doubled Chester’s offense, 18-9.
In the 3rd Quarter Chester’s Lexie Mott had a good outing scoring six points on back-to-back field goals and 2-of-3 points at the free throw line. Jazzi Merideth made one basket and Lillian Diskey hit the front end of a trip to the free throw line.
The Rangers were led in the third period by M. Webb and Frailey who each hit a trey and a deuce. Benton extended its lead to 23 points, 45-22, after three quarters of action.
The final frame was a close one with Benton just outscoring the Chester girls by one point, 14-13.
The Lady Jackets were paced by sophomore Lillian Diskey who drained a three ball and made 2-of-4 free throws for five points. Aubrey Coleman also connected for a trey and made her only trip to the free throw line for four points. Rylie Conley and Emma Diskey rounded out the YellowJacket’s 13-point effort with baskets.
The Lady Rangers were led by B. Barry who made 3-of-4 free throws and back-to-back 2-pointers for seven points. Groves came off the bench to hit a bucket and make 1-of-2 free throws. McCormick also came into the game and scored a field goal, and Frailey sank 2-of-4 free throws. At the final buzzer Benton had 59 points and Chester had 35 points.
In the loss, Chester was led offensively by Lexie Mott who scored 12 points, and grabbed 4 rebounds. Lillian Diskey added seven points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 1 assist. Aubrey Coleman and Emma Diskey each scored 4 points apiece. Coleman recorded 2 rebounds and 1 assist and Diskey had 1 rebound.
Jesse Stumpe, Rylie Conley, Jazzi Merideth, and Camryn Luthy each added 2 points apiece. Stumpe added 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Merideth had 1 rebound and 3 assists. Rylie recorded 3 rebounds and Diskey grabbed 1 rebound. Aubrey Colvis had 3 rebounds, 1 assist and Chester’s only block. Camryn Luthy recorded 2 rebounds and had Chester’s only steal.
The Lady Jackets made 9-of-31 two-pointers (29%) and 2-of-14 three-pointers (14%), and made 11-of-45 shots from the field (24%). From the free throw line CHS was 11-of-20 (55%).
The Lady Rangers had 10 players contribute to their 59-point effort and none scored in double figures. The team effort was led by B. Barry who scored 9 points. She was followed by Johnson (8), Brandon (8), Frailey (7), Mitchell (4), Glover (4), McCormick (2), and Groves (2). From the free throw line Benton was 18-of-30 (60%).
With the loss, the Lady Jackets fell to an overall record of 13 wins and 12 losses for the 2023-24 season. Since the game was non-conference, the Cahokia Conference record stayed at 1-5.
Okawville 74-Chester 24
Thursday January 25 the Lady Jackets returned to Colbert Gym at Chester High School to host the Okawville Lady Rockets. The first time that the two teams met this season was Thursday December 7 at Okawville. The Rockets beat CHS that trip by a score of 73-19. The trip to Chester was an improvement, but not significantly enough to allow the Jackets to pose a major threat.
In the JV game the JV Okawville Rockets led 15-2 after one quarter of play and 28-10 at the half. After three quarters of competition Okawville led, 36-18 and won the game, 49-22 after four quarters.
The first quarter of the varsity game was all Okawville as the Lady Rockets outscored Chester, 18-4. The score was tied, 2-2 at the 7:11 mark, but that would be the closest that Chester would get the rest of the 32-minute game. The Lady Rockets then went on a 16-2 run to end the quarter. During that period, Lexie Mott and Aubrey Coleman were the only Lady Jackets to score.
The second quarter started with Okawville’s Alayna Kraus scoring on a short drive to the hoop and the Rockets led, 20-4. Chester’s Lexie Mott answered that basket with one of her own and at the 7:19 mark Chester trailed, 20-6.
Okawville’s Jenna Hackstadt hit a bucket at 6:24 to give OHS 22 points. Chester’s Lexie Mott sank a pair of free throws at the 5:25 mark and CHS trailed, 22-8. Ten seconds later Okawville’s Kraus hit a free throw to give the Rockets 23 points. Chester’s Jazzi Merideth answered with a huge 3-pointer 30-seconds after that, and the Jackets trailed by 12 points, 23-11.
Okawville closed out the final 4:18 of the first half with a monster 19-0 run to take a huge 31-point, 42-11, lead into the locker room at halftime. During that rampage, Okawville’s Kraus scored 8 points, Caroline Tepe, Raelyn Obermeier and Kenley Hackstadt all drained 3-pointers. In the first half, Kraus scored 19 points.
The Rockets opened the first 3:00 of the second half on a 10-0 run to lead 52-11 at the 5:28 mark. Lexi Mott broke the ice with Chester’s first points of the second half with a basket at the 4:59 mark. Emma Diskey followed a minute later with a bucket to give the Jackets a 4-0 run and trail, 52-15.
Okawville’s Obermeier answered with a 3-pointer at 3:31 and OHS led, 57-15. Chester’s Emma Diskey sank a shot at 2:49 to give the Jackets 17 points. Chester trailed 57-17. The rest of the 3rd Quarter Okawville would outscore Chester, 11-3 to lead by 48 points, 68-20, after three quarters.
The entire 4th Quarter was played with a continuous clock with the Lady Rockets outscoring CHS, 6-4 to win the game, 74-24. In the last quarter Chester’s Aubrey Colvis scored all four of the Lady Jacket’s points on a field goal and two free throws.
In the loss Chester was led by Lexie Mott who scored 8 points, followed by Aubrey Colvis (5), Aubrey Coleman (4), Emma Diskey (4), and Jazzi Merideth (3). The Jackets scored five more points against the Rockets this game (24) than they did back in the first meeting on December 7 (19) and they held Okawville to just one more point (74) than they did on December 7 (73).
Okawville was led by two players who scored in double figures, Alayna Kraus who scored 22 points and Caroline Tepe who scored 10 points. Other scorers included Brynn Rhodes (9), Raelyn Obermeier (9), Madisyn Wienstroer (8), Jenna Hackstadt (7), Kenley Hackstadt (3), Maggie Sawicki (3), Mallory Bening (2), and Brecklyn Rennegarbe (1).
With the loss Chester dropped to even their overall record to 13 wins and 13 losses. The Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division loss dropped the Lady Jackets to 1 win and 6 losses in the Cahokia Conference.
The Lady Jackets will have a long week 10 with two road games and one home game.
They host Red Bud on Thursday February 1 and travel to DuQuoin Saturday February 3.
The Lady Jacket’s regular season will close Thursday February 8 when Chester hosts Sparta on Senior Night.