With a new look to this year’s squad the Chelsea girls’ basketball team appears to be picking off where it left off with an impressive 54-51 win over a strong Grass Lake team in the season opener Monday night.

The Bulldogs returned two starters from last year’s squad and will be without all-state guard Leila Wells for the first time in four years after she moved on to play college ball at Virginia Tech.

Returning are seniors Avery Lay and Braiden Scheffler and both will be expected to lead the young Bulldogs squad this season.

The Bulldogs also have an old “new” coach on the bench with the return of Todd Blomquist after a four-year hiatus. Blomquist is the Bulldogs all-time wins leader with 307 victories in his previous 20 years at the helm of Chelsea.

Chelsea had a tough test in its opener at Grass Lake.

The Warriors are projected by many as one of the top teams in Division 3 this season and many think they have a shot at winning the state title.

Between the hot shooting of Lay and some clutch free throw shooting in the final quarter, the Bulldogs pulled out the win over the Warriors.

Both teams came out hot with the Warriors taking an 18-15 lead after one quarter.

Lay and Scheffler scored five points each in the second as the Bulldogs outscored Grass Lake 13-10 to tie the game at 28 at the half.

The Bulldogs defense slowed the Grass Lake outside shooting and held the Warriors to just six points in the third to build a 37-34 lead after three.

Chelsea built a 41-36 lead with just over five minutes left, but Grass Lake answered with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 41.

The Bulldogs rebounded with a 10-2 run for a 51-43 lead, but Grass Lake wasn’t done.

The Warriors scored five straight to cut the lead to 51-48 with 12 seconds left in the fourth.

Freshman Audrey McCarley was fouled and calmly sank a pair of free throws to push the lead to 53-48.

The Bulldogs made a mistake and fouled the Warriors on a three-point attempt and Grass Lake sank all three free throws to cut the lead back to two 53-51 with five second left.

McCarley was fouled again and split a pair of free throws for a three-point lead and the Warriors last second three-point attempt was not good and the Bulldogs held on for the win.

Chelsea was led by Lay with a team-high 27 points, including 12 in the first quarter to keep the Bulldogs close.

Maggie McKale was huge in the paint in the fourth quarter with three huge baskets for the Bulldogs and finished with 10 points.

The freshman McCarley was clutch by hitting three of four from the line in the final 12 seconds and finished with six points.

Addie Howard hit four big free throws in the third quarter and finished with six points, while Scheffler chipped in with five points.

The Bulldogs return to the court Saturday when they make a long road trip to the U.P. to face the Sault Area Blue Devils in Sault Ste. Marie.