Chelsea Rolls to Fourth Straight District Title

The Chelsea girls' basketball team made a statement Saturday by claiming its fourth straight Division 2 district title with a 70-41 win over Wixom St. Catherine of Siena at Pinckney.

The Bulldogs had a chip on their shoulder after being a third seed in the toughest district in the state and showed that despite being the third seed, that they were not the "Underdawgs" of the district.

After defeating Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 41-37 in an epic battle between two state-ranked teams the Bulldogs made quick work of St. Catherine Saturday.

The Stars were the higher seed in the bracket due to a higher MPR percentage, but the Bulldogs had been ranked in the state all season and Chelsea showed they deserved the state-ranking with the pasting of St. Catherine.

Chelsea jumped to a 16-10 lead after one behind five first quarter points and triples from Avery Lay and Braiden Scheffler.

Leila Wells took over in the second with 10 points, which included a three-pointer that put her over the 1000 point mark for her career.

The Bulldogs celebrated Leila Wells 1000th career point after the win. Photo by Mike Williamson

Lay added six points in the quarter to help Chelsea take a 32-16 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs would push the lead to over 20 in the third quarter before the Stars would rally back to cut the lead to 14, but a Lay basket at the buzzer pushed the lead back to 18 at 50-32.

Scheffler and Wells hit back to bac triples early in the fourth to put any St. Catherine hopes of a comeback to rest, increasing the lead to 57-35.

The lead would continue to grow as the Bulldogs closed out the game with a 13-6 run to cruise to the district title.

Chelsea won its fourth straight D2 district title Saturday. Photo by Mike Williamson

Wells finished with a team high 25 points to lead the Bulldogs.

Lay finished with 14 and Megan McCalla 13. Scheffler hit four triples for 12 points, Maggie McKale four points, and Grace Ratliff two.

The Bulldogs improved to 24-1 and tied the school record for wins in a season to match the 2019 squad that reached the state quarterfinals.

Chelsea moves to the Fowlerville Regional where they will face Ida (15-9) at 7:00 PM Tuesday.

Tecumseh (20-4) and Lansing Catholic Central (19-5) will play in the other Regional semifinal at 5:30 PM. 

Photos by Mike Williamson