CHS Lady Yellow Jackets have busy week; split four-game stint

The Chester High School Lady Yellow Jackets had a busy week November 30 through December 5, splitting four games.

The Lady Yellow Jackets hosted Steeleville on November 30, losing a close, 47-40 battle. On December 1, the ladies hosted Gibault Catholic and took home a 42-26 victory.

Chester then split its first two games of Black Diamond Conference play. The Lady Yellow Jackets beat Elverado, 60-50, on Dec. 3 and fell to Sesser-Valier, 42-32.

S'ville 47, Chester 40:

A three-point second quarter doomed Chester as the Lady Jackets fell to the Lady Warriors. With the loss, CHS dropped to 2-3 on the season.

Alexis McMath and Kaitlyn Dillow each had 11 points for Chester, while Logan Colvis chipped in seven. Emily Tudor (3) and Carlee Weir (2) also scored for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Steeleville's Mackenzie Pim scored a game-high 17 points for Steeleville, which improved to 2-4.

In the JV game, the Lady Yellow Jackets had a heart-breaker, losing 34-33 to fall to 1-1 for the season.

Chester 42, Gibault 26:

Chester roared out of the starting blocks in the first quarter, outscoring the Lady Hawks, 19-6 and led 34-17 at halftime.

As has happened several times this season, Chester came out sluggish in the third quarter and only scored two points on a Haley Middendorf field goal. Gibault responded by scoring six points, but the Chester lead stood firm at 36-23 going into the final stretch.

For the game, the Lady Yellow Jackets got great scoring from seven different players - led by Kaitlyn Dillow who had nine points. Dillow just missed a double-double as she grabbed 10 rebounds.

Logan Colvis and Alexis McMath added eight points apiece, followed by Haley Middendorf, Emily Tudor and Abby Myers with five points each.

Gibault was led by Catherine Deterding, who scored 12 points followed by Morgan Wiegand (5), Abbie Meyer (4), Alexis Chambers and Katie Knese with two points apiece.

Chester 60, Elverado 50:

The Lady Yellow Jackets hit the road on December 3 to compete against former BDC foe Elverado.

Chester exploded with 29 first-quarter points to lead 29-13. The tables turned in the second quarter as Elverado outscored Chester 20-7, but Chester still led 36-33 at halftime.

The game was tied, 48-48, going into the fourth quarter.

It the final period the Lady Yellow Jackets went to work and did what was necessary to win the game.

Haley Middendorf knocked down a pair of three pointers to get the lead and Elverado had to start fouling. CHS made six of 10 free throws down the stretch.

Chester's Alexis McMath led all scorers with 21 points. Middendorf added 14 points, followed by Carle Weir with eight points and Kaitlyn Dillow with seven.

Logan Colvis and Emily Tudor each had five points apiece.

The Jackets tied Elverado in the rebounding game with 29 rebounds apiece. Logan Colvis had 12 of those 29 rebounds, followed by Carlee Weir (4), Emily Tudor (4), Haley Middendorf (3), Kaitlyn Dillow (3), Maddie Hoffman (2) and Katy Hoffman (1).

In the JV game, the Lady Yellow Jackets lost a heartbreaker in overtime, 24-19. With the loss, CHS fell to 2-2 for the season.

S-V-W 42, Chester 32:

The Lady Jackets finished a very busy, draining week last Saturday in hosting the Sesser-Valier-Waltonville Red Devils at Colbert Gym on Rocky Bridges' Court.

The varsity game started out highly contested with Chester leading, 9-8 after one quarter of action. The Red Devils took a two-point lead, 22-20, into the locker room at halftime.

Chester started the third quarter with style as Emily Tudor drove hard to the basket and made a layup to tie the game at 22.

But CHS went ice cold at that point and S-V-W went on an 8-2 run to close out the quarter and extend its lead to 34-22.

Down the stretch, the Lady Yellow Jackets managed to cut their deficit to seven, 34-27, but S-V-W went on an 8-3 run to push the lead back to double digits.

Alexis McMath led Chester with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and four turnovers. Logan Colvis scored eight points and contributed four rebounds and one assist.

Other contributors included Haley Middendorf (six points, eight rebounds, two steals and one assist); Emily Tudor (three points, three rebounds and three turnovers) and Kaitlyn Dillow (two points, five rebounds and three turnovers).

Sesser-Valier was led by Jaylin Haley who scored 16 points, followed by Taylor Frank (8), Karson severs (7), Paige Tucker (5), Paolina Marlo (4) and Sami McCowen (2).

According to Sesser-Valier-Waltonville coach Rick Metcalf, the Red Devils were without the services of two key players in the contest.

According to YellowJacketradio.com, the CHS varsity has never won against the Red Devils since joining the BDC.

In the JV contest, Lady Yellow Jackets took a 36-31 victory to earn their first conference win and improve to 3-2 for the season.

Chester led 20-15 at halftime and 28-23 to end the third quarter. According to YellowJacket radio.com, the JV win over Sesser-Valier was the first win over the JV Red Devils.