The Chester Yellowjackets will be playing in front of their home fans against the Red Bud Musketeers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Chester has struggled recently with four losses in a row, while the Musketeers will arrive with five straight wins.
Last Monday, Chester came up short against the Warriors and fell 44-31. Chester has struggled against the Warriors recently, as their match on Monday was their eighth consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, Chester had strong showings from Lexie Mott, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Rylie Conley, who scored nine points along with three steals.
Even though Red Bud has not done well against the Bulldogs recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. Red Bud came out on top against the Bulldogs by a score of 40-33. Given Red Bud's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 241st, while the Bulldogs are ranked 554th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lyla Hess was nothing short of spectacular: she scored 22 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points she has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Emma Carter, who scored two points along with ten rebounds and two blocks.
Chester dropped their record down to 13-14 with that loss, which was their seventh straight on the road. As for Red Bud, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-7 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Chester have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27.7 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Red Bud struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Chester took a serious blow against the Musketeers in their previous meeting back in January, falling 64-34. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Red Bud's Addi Dilley, who scored 15 points along with six steals. Now that Chester knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
