Chelsea Girls Impressive in Pair of Season Opening Wins

Coming off a year that saw the Chelsea girls’ basketball team set the school record for wins in a season with 25, the Bulldogs appear to not have missed a beat with a pair of impressive wins to open 2023-24.

Chelsea opened the season by rolling over Marshall 73-33 Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 18-8 lead after one quarter behind eight points from Leila Wells and five from Ella Day.

A 19-8 run in the second quarter blew the game open to give Chelsea a comfortable 37-16 lead at the break.

Wells and Avery Lay scored eight each in the period to push the Bulldogs lead to 21 at the half.

The Bulldogs defense locked down in the second half, allowing the Redhawks just seven points the rest of the way and the commanding lead grew to 61-20 after three as Chelsea cruised to the season opening win.

Wells finished with a team high of 21 points with Lay right behind with 19.

Day added 13 points and Braiden Scheffler eight. Freshman Alleah Well chipped in with five points, Meghan Bareis three, Maggie McKale and Caroline Knight two each.

The hot-shooting Bulldogs connected for 13 three-pointers against Clarkston Thursday night and rolled to a 71-45 victory over the Wolves.

Chelsea came out firing from the start with five triples in the opening quarter and shot out with a 20-0 run before Clarkston even got on the board.

Lay hit three triples in the quarter while Layla Wells and Bareis each hit one from beyond the arch for a 22-5 lead after one.

Clarkston tried to claw its way back into it by outscoring Chelsea 14-12 the second, but the Bulldogs still held a 34-16 lead at the half.

The Wolves would get back within 12 in the third, but the Bulldogs would close the quarter out strong and pushed the lead back to 53-31 with a pair of triples by Scheffler and one by Alleah Wells and would cruise in the fourth.

Leila Wells finished with a team high 27 points to lead the Bulldogs.

Lay added 17 points and Alleah Wells 12. Scheffler chipped in with 10, Bareis three, and Knight two.

The Bulldogs host Parma Western Monday night.

Photos by Dawn McCann