Chelsea Girls’ Cruise Past Parma Western for District Title

The Chelsea girls’ basketball team earned its fourth D2 district title in five years Friday night with a 52-35 win over Parma Western.

Parma Western came into the game ranked fifth in D2, but it was a strong defensive showing by the Bulldogs that shut down the Panthers as they pulled away for the imprssive win.

Chelsea trailed 8-4 early, but the Bulldogs battled back to cut the Panthers lead to 10-9 after one.

Maggie McKale had a big first half sparking the Bulldogs. She scored five in the second to spark Chelsea to an 11-5 run to take a 21-14 lead at the half.

A Braiden Scheffler putback opened the second half to give the Bulldogs a 23-14 lead, but Parma answered with a 7-0 run to cut the Chelsea lead to 23-21.

Avery Lay took over from there with back-to-back triples and an and-one tp push the lead to 34-26.

Wester pulled back within six, but Audrey McCarley hit a triple to give Chelsea a 37-29 lead after three.

The Bulldogs lead grew to double digits in the fourth and they sank noine of 16 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Lay had a big night with 26 points to lead the Bulldogs.

Aleeah Wells finished with 13 points and McKale scored nine with all coming in the first half.

McCarley added three points and Scheffler two.

The Bulldogs will seek revenge in the regional semifinals at Pinckney Monday night when they face Haslett at 7:00 PM.

The Vikings ended the Bulldogs season last year 69-68 in a controversial finish.

Chelsea reached the finals by taking down Brooklyn Columbia Central 49-38 Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an 18-3 lead after one behind eight first quarter points from Lay.

McCarley opened the second with a triple to push the lead to 21-3, but the Eagles answered with a 10-0 to cut the lead to 21-13.

Chelsea rebounded with a pair of triples from Wells and a Scheffler three to quickly push the lead to 36-16 at the half.

The Bulldogs struggled in the third with Columbia crawling back into it, cutting the Chelsea lead to 44-28 after three.

Columbia pulled with ten 46-36 with 5:15 left, but the Bulldogs answered on last time with a Scheffler three to give Chelsea a 49-36 lead with five-minutes left.

There would only be two points scored in the final five minutes of the game as the Bulldogs slowed the game down and ran out the clock to take the eleven point win.

Lay led the Bulldogs with a team-high 22 points.

Wells added 13 points, McCarley and Scheffler six points each, and McKale two.

Chelsea improved to 18-4 overall on the season.