Chelsea, MI. – The Chelsea girls basketball team held off the Golden Eagles of Columbia Central in the District 52 semifinal game Wednesday night 49-38. The Bulldogs started strong scoring the first 9 points of the game and the Eagles didn’t score until after 3 and a half minutes when they hit a free throw. The Bulldog’s defense was very solid as senior Avery Lay made several great plays early on forcing turnovers and driving downcourt making several great shots.
Freshman Audrey McCarley came off the bench and hit a big three-point shot to give the Bulldogs a huge 18-3 lead after the first quarter. She led off the second quarter with another big three. But the Eagles didn’t give up and fought back scoring 7 points in a row and cutting into the Bulldog’s lead. Columbia’s Rylee Knapp hit a three-pointer cutting further into the Bulldog’s lead. But the Bulldogs came right back with more big baskets from Lay and great defense by Addie Howard and took a 36-16 lead into the half.
Columbia came out strong in the third quarter and both teams battled hard and the Bulldogs entered the final stanza with a 44-28 lead. Columbia stepped up their defense big in the fourth only giving up 5 points to the Bulldogs and Knapp hit a few more three-point shots along with a couple of big baskets from freshman Leelyn Brown but it wasn’t enough as the Bulldogs took the victory.
The Bulldogs were led by Gand Valley commit Lay with 22 points while Alleah Wells finished with 13 and Braiden Scheffler and Audrey McCarley had 6 each.
Columbia Central was led by Knapp with 12 points all off three-pointers, while her teammate Gabby Gaydosh had 10 points. Brown finished with 6 points and Cecilia Slat had 6 points off two three-point shots made. Columbia finished the season with a 12-11 record.
Chelsea (17-4) will play host to Parma Western (21-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. after they defeated Michigan Center (19-3) 54-41.
