Chelsea, MI. – On Thursday, February 27th, the Chelsea Bulldogs Special Olympics basketball teams hosted their rival Dexter in two games. They split the series with a victory in Game 1 and a close loss in Game 2.
The Blue team took the court first and jumped to an early 10-2 lead. But Dexter returned fast after a time-out and scored 8 points in a row. Chelsea fought back and went into the halftime with a 16-14 lead.
After the halftime break, both teams battled hard and the Bulldogs entered the final stanza of the game with a 24-18 lead. Chelsea held on in the fourth playing great defense and making several great shots to hold on and take a 32-23 Bulldog victory.
The Bulldogs blue team was led in scoring by Lee Chambers with 8 points, and Antoine Dale, Parker Doan, Kyle Tremble, Jacqueline Pampuch, and Tyler Baxter each scored 4 points. Christina Ozminowski and Aden Castile scored two points each.
Special Olympian and 7-time MHSAA state track champion Jacob Nelson was the referee for the game and was very busy rolling up and down the court making great calls throughout the game.
In game 2 it was the Gold team taking the court. Dexter took a big 8-0 early lead. Dexter scored 10 points before the Bulldogs got on the board. Dexter took a 14-4 lead into the halftime. But the Bulldogs came out strong in the third and cut the lead 16-10 heading into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs did a great job on defense while Sam DeRosia made a couple of big shots in the quarter.
In the fourth, it was a tough defensive battle but Dexter was able to hold on for an 18-16 victory. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Charlie Sims with 10 points, DeRosia with 4, and Amy Martzolff with 2.
