Her team was relaxed on Friday, but Chester girls basketball coach Marilyn Milton said that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“We came out lackadaisical at the half,” Milton said. “We played a little more relaxed than we needed to be.”

Chester led by 13 at the break, saw that advantage dwindle to just 4 points in the third and pulled away late for a 56-42 win over Fairfield Central.

Chester led by a score of 28-15 at the half thanks to eight points from Olivia Gaines and a pair of 3-pointers from Neek Carter. The team hit a long dry spell in the third, though. Shateal Reynolds scored six straight points for Fairfield to cut the lead to 30-26. A 5-0 spurt, with all the points provided by Gaines, built Chester’s lead back up to nine entering the fourth.

The struggles from the floor continued for Chester in the final frame, with the team connecting on just four field goals (giving them six for the half). The team did a better job of working the ball inside, though, and drew enough fouls to take 19 free-throws in the fourth, which was enough to boost Cjester to the final 14-point margin of victory.

Gaines and Quasha Woods both finished in double figures for Chester.

“The most important thing is we got the win,” Milton said.

The win moved Chester to 18-1 overall, 6-0 in region play.

In the boys contest, there were several new faces on the court. In addition to interim coach Andrew Dean, there were first-time starting nods for a couple of players and expanded roles for others. The results were good, with Chester trailing Fairfield Central by only a point at the break and leading for a time in the third. Fairfield pulled away starting midway through the third, though, for a 61-52 victory.

With the score 27-26 Fairfield at the break, Chester surged ahead with an 8-2 run thanks to a pair of baskets by Darren Williams and one each from Deitric Butler and Tony Wright, both of whom got more minutes than normal.

Fairfield fought back, closing the third and opening the fourth with a 21-6 run. Chester continued to fight and got the deficit down to seven on two occasions, but could never quite catch up.

Williams scored 21 to lead Chester.

Dean said he tinkered with the line-up because he wanted to put some speed on the floor and wanted to work in a 1-3-1 defense. He said the team fought hard through the game but came up a bit short.

“Offensively we tried to put a few things in that we haven’t had a chance to rep enough in practice yet,” Dean said. “We’re trying to figure out what works.”

Chester remained winless in the region and dropped to 5-12 overall. The team was at Lugoff-Elgin last night.

Lewisville and Great Falls had their games postponed because of the weather Friday. Lewisville will make up its game with Buford this Friday.

February 2, 2010 | Chester News & Reporter (SC)
Author/Byline: Travis Jenkins | Section: Sports