CHS gets quality, 52-51, win over Carterville to end 2025 and beats Massac County, 50-35, to kick off 2026
By Jim Beers
CHETER – The Chester High School Lady Jackets have reached the halfway mark of the 2025-26 basketball season. In the process they have earned an 8-8 overall record (.500), and a Cahokia Conference Illinois Division record of 1-3.
Sparta Tournament
The Jackets won the 2025 Consolation Championship of the Sparta Tournament. It was the season opener for the Lady Jackets November 17-21.
After losing the first game of the tournament in a very close match-up with Trico, 42-38, Chester went on to finish the tourney with back-to-back wins. CHS beat Red Bud, 35-31, and Johnston City, 59-36, to win the Consolation Championship. The Jackets opened the season with a 2-1 record. In the process, Lexi Mott and Jessica Stumpe earned All-Tournament honors.
Saxony Tournament
The Lady Jackets repeated their Sparta Tournament performance at the 2025 Saxony Tournament December 13-19. Chester lost the first game against Woodlawn, 44-39, then won vs. Oakridge, 57-49, and finished with a quality win, 56-33, over Scott City. They had another 2-1 tournament record at Saxony.
Carterville Round Robin Tournament
Just after the Christmas break, the Lady Jackets competed in the 2025 Carterville Round Robin Tournament. The Jackets lost the first two games of the event, but ended with a very impressive win over the tournament host, Carterville.
In Game 1 December 29, Chester fell to Anna-Jonesboro, 63-54. Game 2 December 30, the Jackets lost, 62-27, to Sesser-Valier. In the closer that afternoon on December 30, the Lady Jackets had a fantastic, very impressive, 52-51, win over tournament hosts, Carterville, in a one-point thriller.
Seven Single game contests
Besides the three tournament appearances, the Lady Jackets played seven single games with three victories and four losses.
The Jackets won November 24 in the season home opener vs. Johnston City, 47-30. Tuesday December 9 CHS beat Sparta, 46-33 on the road, and Saturday January 3, Chester returned home for a post-Christmas break match-up against a really good Massac County Lady Patriots Team, winning, 50-35.
The four pre-Christmas break losses included to Gibault Catholic, 49-43, December 2. December 8, Carlyle defeated the Jackets, 60-31. This was the first Cahokia Conference game. December 11, Chester played their second conference game at Okawville, losing to the Lady Rockets, 79-38. Finally, December 22, the ladies fell to Wesclin, 54-33, in the third conference game of the season.
Back-to-back impressive wins; one to end the 2025 portion of the season, and one to begin the 2026 portion of the season
Chester 52-Carterville 51
In the final game of the 2025 portion of the season, the Lady Jackets played a very impressive game against the Carterville Lady Lions in the 2025 Carterville Round-Robin Tournament. In that thriller, Chester’s Aubrey Coleman hit a buzzer-beater to win the game, 52-51.
Carterville led the game by just one point, 11-10, after one quarter of play. Lexi Mott led that period with four points and Riley Lochhead, Aubrey Coleman, and Marlie Caby each added two points apiece.
Chester ramped-up the tempo in the second quarter and outscored Carterville, 14-11, to take a two point, 24-22, lead into the locker room at halftime. Aubrey Coleman led the charge in that second quarter with a three-pointer and a two-pointer for five points. Lexi Mott made a pair of field goals for four points. Lillian Diskey popped a three-pointer and Jessica Stumpe made a field goal to round-out the 14-point effort.
Both teams came back after halftime with increased effort. The Lady Lions won the third quarter by two points, 16-14.
In the Lady Jacket’s 14-point effort, Lillian Diskey and Aubrie Coleman led the charge with five points apiece. Both players hit three-pointers. Diskey also hit a two-point field goal and Coleman made back-to-back free throws. Lexi Mott rounded out the quarter with a pair of two pointers. Carterville tied the game, 38-38, after three quarters of action.
The final period was an exciting, knock-down-drag-out, with both teams battling to the nail-biting final buzzer.
In that winning frame, both Aubrie Coleman and Lexi Mott scored four points apiece. Coleman had two field goals and Mott had a field goal and two free throws. Sophomore Marlie Caby knocked down a trey for three points. Jessica Stumpe added a traditional two-point field goal, and Lillian Diskey made a free throw to round out the Lady Jacket’s 14 points.
With just seconds left on the clock, the Lady Lions enjoyed a one-point, 51-50, lead. To end the game and secure the quality victory, Chester’s Aubrey Coleman, a senior, sank a shot to win the game, 52-51.
The Lady Jackets had offensive production from six players to help get the win. Aubrey Coleman and Lexi Mott both scored 16 points apiece to lead the Jackets. Lillian Diskey just missed double-digit scoring with nine points. Marlie Caby added five points and Jessica Stumpe scored four points. Senior Riley Lochhead rounded out the Chester scoring with two points.
As a team, Chester shot 70 percent (7-of-10) from the free throw line. They also recorded five 3-pointers and 15 two-pointers. The win improved Chester’s overall record to 7-8.
Carterville was led by three players who scored in double figures. M. Toliver led all scorers with 22 points. K. Diel added 12 points and M. Kries added 10 points. Other offensive contributors included K. Henriksen (3), L. Seaman (2), and A. Sykes (2). As a team, the Lady Lions shot 73 percent (8-of-11) from the free throw line. The Lions also made three 3-pointers and 17 two-pointers.
Chester 50-Massac County 35
The Lady Jackets continued their success to open the second half of their 2025-26 season Saturday January 3 when they hosted a very good Massac County team at Colbert Memorial Gymnasium.
JV Game: Massac County 47-Chester 14
The CHS JV Lady Jackets played the JV Lady Patriots to open the evening of basketball. The JV match up tipped off at 5:00 p.m. A very young JV squad had a hard time keeping up with the Lady Patriots and eventually fell, 47-14, to a deep Massac County squad that featured two juniors, two sophomores, and 11 freshmen.
Varsity Game: Chester 50-Massac County 35
The varsity game tipped off with the Lady Jackets facing what appeared to be a taller, very athletic Lady Patriot team that consisted of four seniors, four juniors, four sophomores, and three freshmen. It didn’t take long for the Lady Jackets to establish the fact that they were not going to allow the Patriots to control the game.
It took just one minute for Chester’s Lexi Mott to score the first points of the game (7:04). Massac County struck at 5:49 with two free throws by their 6’0 forward, Lydia McCraw, who would turn out to be a constant threat throughout the game. Her basket tied the game, 2-2.
Three seconds later, Chester’s Jessica Stumpe hit a free throw to give the Jackets a 3-2 lead at the 4:52 mark. Massac County’s Kenna Hight answered with a basket at 4:18 to take a very brief, 4-3 lead, but that would be the last time that the Patriots would lead the rest of the contest.
The rest of the first quarter, the Lady Jackets successfully orchestrated an 8-0 run to take an 11-4 lead into the quarter break. Lexi Mott started the run with back-to-back free throws after which Aubrey Coleman went on a rampage scoring three consecutive baskets for a 6-0 run of her own to end the first quarter.
Massac County’s Kenna Hight started the second quarter with a basket just a minute into the quarter. CHS still led, 11-6. The Jackets answered that initial strike with a nice 5-0 run as Lillian Diskey hit a bucket followed by an Aubrey Coleman three pointer. That small run gave the YellowJackets a 16-6 lead at the 5:43 mark. That run encouraged Massac County Head Coach, Justin Kindle, to call the first time out of the game.
Following the time out, before action could be resumed, Massac County was called for a technical foul for attempting to enter Harley Durham into the game. Durham was not entered into the official book, thusly causing the technical foul.
Chester’s Lillian Diskey hit one of the two technical free throws and CHS had another point without any time running off the clock. Chester extended the lead to 17-6 with the clock still at 5:43. Once play did resume, the Jackets completed a 5-0 run on back to back baskets by Aubrey Coleman, one a two pointer and the second a YellowJacket 3-pointer, the second of the game. Chester led, 22-6, at the 3:21 mark.
Massac County’s Maia Jones broke the Lady Patriot draught with a basket at the 3:12 mark. CHS led, 22-8. Chester’s Lillian Diskey answered with a bucket of her own at 2:45 to extend the CHS lead to 24-8.
Lady Patriot Lydia McCraw answered Diskey’s bucket with one of her own with 1:55 left in the second quarter to give the Patriots 10 points. McCraw would strike again with 1:12 to play in the half when she sank one of two free throws. Chester took a 24-11 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Things got rather interesting in the third quarter when Massac Country came out with an 11-0 run in the first three minutes to get within two points, 24-22, of catching the Lady Jackets. During that 11-point run, Kenna Hight (4), Radiance Lee (3), Lydia McCraw (2), Sadie Kaylor (1), and Logann Miller (1) combined to get the Lady Patriots knocking on Chester’s door.
With 3:40 left in the third quarter, the Lady Jacket started a 10-5 run of their own to close out the period with a 7-pont lead, 34-27, heading into the final stretch. During Chester’s run Lillian Diskey hit a free throw and drained a trey, Jessica Stumpe made both free throws, and Lexi Mott sank a pair of free throws and made a fantastic layup off of an Aubrey Coleman assist at the buzzer. Chester led, 34-27.
Chester took care of business down the stretch to secure the win with 16-8 scoring and tough, feisty defense and cool heads. Senior Lexi Mott led the way with eight points from three field goals and perfect 2-for-2 free throw shooting. Sophomore Marley Caby came through with a pair of buckets, and Lillian Diskey and Aubrey Coleman came through with field goals.
Massac County was fueled by their senior standout Lydia McCraw who scored six of the Patriot’s eight points with four free throws and a layup. Kenna Hight scored the other Patriot’s two points. At the final buzzer, Chester proudly boasted a 50-35 victory over a good Massac County team.
In the win, the Lady Jackets had three players score in double figures. Aubrey Coleman and Lexi Mott each scored 16 points apiece. Lillian Diskey added 11 points. Marley Caby scored 4 points and Jessica Stumpe added three points. Chester made 11-of-14 free throws (78%). The Jackets made three 3-pointers and 15 two-pointers.
The Lady Patriots were led by Lydia McCraw who scored 17 points. Kenna Hight added 10 points followed by Radiance Lee (3), Sadie Kaylor (2), Maia Jones (2), and Logann Miller (1). Massac County made 10-of-20 free throws (50%). They also had 1 three-pointer and 11 two-pointers.
The win improved Chester to 8-8 overall and they remain 1-3 in the Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division.
Next up for the Lady Jackets will be the 19th Annual Lady Jackets id-Winter Classic Basketball Tournament. The event is Monday through Saturday January 5-10. Chester will play their first game Tuesday January 6 at 7:30 against New Athens.
Chester’s Lillian Diskey (21) finishes her free throw attempt in the first half of the CHS vs Massac County game Saturday January 3. For the night Diskey was 2-for-4 (50%) from the free throw line, and she scored in double figures (11) in with 50-35 win over the Lady Patriots of Massac County. Jim Beers Photo
The CHS Lady Jacket defense did a great job on defense Saturday January 3 in the 50-35 win over the Lady Patriots of Massac County. Shown here Lillian Diskey (21), Jessica Stumpe (24) and Aubrey Coleman (31) protect the lane against the Patriot offense. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Lexi Mott (33) boxes out Massac County’s 6’0 center Lydia McCraw (50) and Maia Jones (32) as Chester’s Marley Caby gets set to fire a short jumper. The Jackets beat Massac County 50-35 to improve to 8-8 on the season.
Chester’s Lillian Diskey (21) drives hard to the basket in the first half of the CHS vs Massac County game Saturday January 3. Diskey was one of three Chester Lady Jackets to score in double figures with 11 points. Chester won, 50-35 over a very good Lady Patriot team. Jim Beers Photo
CHS Head Lady Jacket Basketball Coach Jeff Mott takes a time out late in the game against Massac County Saturday January 3. The Jackets won the game, 50-35, over the Lady Patriots to improve to 8-8 overall and start the 2026 portion of the season with a victory. Jim Beers Photo
Lady Jacket Jessica Stumpe (24) had a great night rebounding and going after loose balls in the 50-35 win over the Massac County Lady Patriots Saturday January 3. In this photo Stumpe battles against Patriots Lydia McCraw (50), Kenna Hight (24) and Sadie Kaylor (13). Jim Beers Photo
Aubrey Coleman (31) goes hard to the basket off of a coast-to-coast fast break drive Saturday January 3 against Massac County. For the night Coleman was one of two top scorers for Chester with 16 points. Coleman recorded five 2-point field goals and a pair of important 3-pointers. Shown here Coleman goes up against the tallest player on the court, No. 50, Lydia McCraw. Jim Beers Photo