Chester Girls Varsity Basketball team is undefeated in the early goings

The regular season is still in a young stage and the Chester Academy High School girls basketball program has already established itself as a top team to beat in the area.

Through the first two weeks of the regular season, Chester had an undefeated record. They are scheduled to travel to play Tri-Valley on Jan. 4.

Seniors

“My seniors are the leaders of the team (Lexi Tierney, Aniyah Lamb, Janelle Lopez, Isabel Trevisano, and Ava Perez),’’ Chester Head Coach Lindsay Rock said. “They do a lot behind the scenes, they help teach our philosophy and team goals, promote positivity and keep communication fluid between the team and coaches.’’

Juniors

The coach noted that two top returning varsity level student athletes who are members of the junior class include Allison Bono (point guard) and Trinity Delgado (forward and center).

Goals for the season and for each game

“While winning a Section and going undefeated are important goals, we have more specific goals game by game,’’ Rock said. “We want to hold our opponents’ top scorers to under 10 points, make our help defense and communication flawless and decrease our amount of turnovers. I’d like to see every single girl work hard every day and improve on the fundamentals of both offense and defense.

“We lost three seniors from last year but have six strong returners,” the coach added. “We play some tough teams that I believe we will compete with.

“Everyone (is a top team to beat in the Division including) Seward, who we beat by three points,’’ Rock said. “Outside of our league Middletown, Pine Bush, Valley Central and O’Neil (are the top teams to beat).’’

Chester tallied an impressive overall record of 6-1 last season.

The return of Chester fans

“The COVID pandemic makes it hard for everyone - players, coaches, referees, administration and the community,’’ Rock said. “We are just happy to be back playing with fans. Chester students are super supportive with both girls and boys basketball. Having them at games creates a feeling of security for the team. Parents and other family members have been great throughout this whole process and I’m happy they get to see the girls play.

Fund raiser for former coach Peter Rickard in January

“My main goal is to help the girls feel a little bit of normalcy this year. Mental health is the number one priority, but I believe being active and competing helps a whole lot. We are doing a big fundraiser for Peter Rickard who used to coach at Chester. He tur ed the program around. I wish I got to know him but he sadly passed away from cancer. Our fund raiser will be sometime in January during a game.’’