CHS girls shake off rust, advance to LJMWC semifinals
<span>The Chester High School girls basketball team took two and a half weeks off for the holidays and the time off showed on Tuesday.</span>
<span>Carlee Weir scored 14 points, while Logan Colvis and Kaitlyn Dillow combined for 18 more as Chester (9-4) was finally able to knock the rust off late in a 45-36 win over Marissa-Coulterville in the quarterfinals of the Lady Jackets Mid-Winter Classic.</span>
<span>"I think we just gutted it out," said Chester coach Pat Knowles. "Not playing for that many days and stuff like that, you could tell we were flat. We gutted it out and got the win, that's the main thing."</span>
<span>Chester advanced to face No. 2 seed Dupo in Thursday's semifinals, a game that occurred after the Herald Tribune went to press. Dupo beat Valmeyer, 48-22, in Tuesday's late game.</span>
<span>Chester led for nearly all of the contest, but it could be described as an "uncomfortable" lead. The Yellow Jackets saw their advantage trimmed to four, 15-11, on a 3-pointer by Marissa-Coulterville's Emily Skorcz with 4:15 left in the second quarter, but Weir responded with a trey of her own at the other end.</span>
<span>Chester took a 24-15 lead into the locker room at halftime and had a 10-point, 25-15, advantage early in the second half.</span>
<span>The Lady Meteors challenged again, pulling within five, 32-27, on a 3-pointer with 7:02 left in the game.</span>
<span>"We'd get up by 10 and the next thing I know, it's six or eight again," Knowles said. "Luckily, we had that little cushion and we had a good possession down here at one time for a four-point play and that pretty well helped us."</span>
<span>Weir scored 10 of her points in the first half, helping Chester take a 13-8 lead after first quarter.</span>
<span>"She's a freshman and she's got real good instincts," Knowles said. "Defensively, shoots the ball and makes a lot of freshman mistakes.</span>
<span>"But she's a good player and I coached her for two years in grade school, so she did a fine job."</span>
<span>Bailey Gale and Chelsea Hill combined for 18 points for Marissa-Coulterville, which dropped to the consolation bracket to face Valmeyer in Thursday's consolation semifinal.</span>
<span>"We had trouble keeping (Chester) off the glass," said Marissa-Coulterville coach Darin Degenhart. "The first half, I thought we weren't very aggressive, we didn't come out ready to go. The second half, I thought we picked up the intensity level and it seemed like we narrowed the gap.</span>
<span>"That was a huge possession, we had our hands on the ball numerous times and it seemed like we never could corral it."</span>
<span>Sparta and top seed New Athens advanced to Wednesday's semifinals after victories on Monday. Those two teams were set to face off at 7:30 p.m.</span>
Sparta 55, Elverado 28
<span>Kera Kiner scored a game-high 26 points and Nikki Kempfer and Savannah Oliver combined for 15 more to lead Sparta past Elverado in the LJMWC quarterfinals on Monday.</span>
<span>Sparta led 22-20 at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs held the Lady Falcons to only eight points in the second half.</span>
<span>Allie Whittington led Elverado with 11 points.</span>
New Athens 49, Trico 28
<span>Aliana Lance scored 18 points to lead three players in double figures, and top seed New Athens defeated Trico in quarterfinal action on Monday.</span>
<span>Abby Marlow added 11 points and Courtney Ragland contributed 10 for the Lady Jackets, who advanced to face Sparta in Wednesday's semifinals.</span>
Jade Kranawetter led Trico with 10 points in the loss.