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Chester rallies late, pushes past Kelly girls for FSCB Holiday Classic consolation crown
It took three quarters of swapping leads, but Chester girls basketball dominated its way down the stretch to take a 61-55 victory over Kelly and claim the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic consolation title for 2024.
Led by the sharpshooting talent of junior wing Lexie Mott, Chester slung forward and out of a tight game, trailing in the third quarter but shooting forward to take a double-digit lead in the fourth.
Following a 1-point overtime loss that came down to the final 10 seconds against eventual fifth-place candidate Cape Central, the Jackets certainly punched above their seeding, and a consolation title is the perfect conclusion to a long week in Cape Girardeau.
“It's a great feeling because we came down here kind of struggling,” Jackets coach Jeff Mott said. ”We play in a tough conference over there, we got two teams in the top 10 in the state in Illinois and we've taken a few beatings.
“Coming in at 3-8 and going out at 6-9, we're really happy with that.”
For Kelly, there were plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the tight game, but it just wasn’t in the cards as the Jackets turned on the hot hand in the late third and into the fourth to pull away.
As hard as they rallied, cutting the game back down to two possessions at multiple points, the Hawks just couldn’t get over the hump as they dropped a thriller of a ninth-place final at the Show Me Center.
“It was a learning experience,” Hawks coach Matthew Blissett said. “We're a really young group, with five freshmen and three seniors. They're still learning to mix.
“They're still learning, but piece by piece they're starting to figure it out, and that's gonna help us out in the long run.”
Chester improves to 6-9 for the season, going 3-1 in the FSCB Holiday Classic with the only loss coming in overtime to a Day 4 team, a fitting ending to a marvelous run in the City of Roses.
Chester’s Lexie Mott led the Jackets with 21 points in the victory, while Rylie Conley’s 18 points with two triples made helped them pad the lead down the stretch, 14 of which came in the second half.
Kelly drops to 4-4 for the season, nearly going three consecutive victories but dropping this one down the stretch, going 2-2 in the Holiday Classic with two impressive wins over Scott City and Oak Ridge to get to the consolation final.
Paige Klipfel led the Hawks with 17 points scored in the loss, while Cecily Hall’s 13 trailed her. Klipfel nailed five 3-pointers in the game, 71 percent of Kelly’s team total.
The Jackets’ lone loss came in a heartbreaker, and ever since they’ve looked every bit deserving of a spot among the tournament’s greatest teams, and they proved that on Friday.
Meanwhile, for local Thomas W. Kelly High School, the road looked nearly the exact same but the Hawks simply couldn’t overcome a late surge from the traveling Jackets, hitting two 3-pointers in the third quarter to pull away.
After losing a large hand that made it special last season, the Hawks are recovering from their losses and finally making a name for themselves locally, even if it came to the tune of a tight loss on Friday.
“Going into the season, knowing that we lost six seniors and 90 percent of our scoring, a lot of people didn't think we would be able to compete,” Blissett said.