The Chester Yellow Jackets girls’ basketball team defeated Marissa-Coulterville 32-27 on Jan. 7 to win the 16th annual Lady Jackets Mid-Winter Classic.
The Chester Girls went into the half down by 6 points but had a good 3rd and 4th quarter helping them to win 32-27. Rylie Conley led the girls in scoring with 15 points and even hit a big 3 at the end of the game to secure the Yellow Jackets win. Camryn Howie had 7, Lexie Mott had 5, Aubrey Coleman had 3, and Jazzi Merdieth and Jessica Stumpe both had 1.
Camrynn Howie took home MVP of the tournament and Lexie Mott finished as a member of the all-tournament team.
Chester opened up the Mid-Winter Classic with a 52-28 win over New Athens.
The girls had a slow start to the game, leading just 10-7 after one quarter, but found a rhythm and went into halftime up 25-10. The Chester girls’ continued to build on this lead throughout the game before eventually gaining a 24-point lead.
Camrynn Howie led the Lady Jackets in scoring with 17 points, including 15 in the first half. Emma Diskey tallied 12 points and Lexie Mott ten. Rylie Conley and Jazzi Merideth scored four points each. Jessica Stumpe netted three points and Aubrey Coleman two.
The Chester Yellow Jackets girls’ played their second game of the mid-winter classic tournament vs Dupo. The Chester girls’ won 54-28. The girls got off to a hot start ending the first quarter up 24-9. Chester continued to build on this lead throughout the game before eventually gaining a 26-point lead to end the game.
Howie led Chester with 19 points, four assists and four steals. Mott tallied 12 points with five steals and four rebounds. Emma Diskey had seven points and four rebounds. Conley had six points. Stumpe netted four points and hauled in seven rebounds. Merideth had three points and six rebounds. Lillian Diskey nailed a three-pointer and Wolff had five rebounds.
Sparta and Marissa registered wins on the first day of the 16th annual Lady Jackets Mid-Winter Classic.
The tournament runs through Saturday, Jan. 7.
There has been a change in the Saturday schedule. Cobden is dropping out of the tournament because of a conflict with its homecoming, so there will be no seventh place game. The consolation championship has been moved up to 4 p.m. The third place game will be at 5:15 p.m. and the championship will be at 6:30 p.m.

Over Christmas break, the Lady Jackets went 2-2 and advanced to the championship of the consolation bracket in the Christ Our Rock Lutheran Winterfest Tournament.

Chester opened with a 60-23 loss to Hamilton County on Dec. 27. Conley led Chester with eight points. Howie and Stumpe netted four points each. Merideth, Wolff and Emaa Diskey tallied two points each. Mott scored one.

Chester beat Sandoval 30-26 on Dec. 28. Howie scored 12 points with four steals and four assists. Merideth had seven points and four steals. Diskey had five points and Conley four. Mott pulled down ten rebounds and scored two points.

Chester advanced to the consolation championship with a 46-42 win over Anna-Jonesboro on Dec. 29. Mott had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Conley scored 11 points with three three-pointers. Howie scored seven points and Emma Diskey six. Wolff had four points and six rebounds. Merideth scored three points and Stumpe two.

Chester lost to Vandalia 57-23 in the consolation championship on Dec. 30. Emma Diskey scored six points with six rebounds. Howie had four points and six rebounds. Coleman scored three points. Mott had two points and six rebounds. Also scoring two points each were Merideth, Wolff, Stumpe and Lillian Diskey.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Ace Smith

Chester members of the all-tourney team were MVP Camrynn Howie (left) and Lexie Mott (right).