Lady Hornets' run ends in semifinals
BIRMINGHAM – It was an unfitting end to a storybook season.
The Chelsea High School girls basketball team was stifled by Carver-Montgomery on Monday afternoon in the Class 6A semifinals, 41-28. In the program’s first trip to the state final four, Chelsea shot just 20% from the field on the day and struggled to find any offensive rhythm.
“I’m just really proud of my kids,” Chelsea head coach Jason Harlow said. “It’s a yearlong process if you want to be competitive at the [Class] 6A level.”
Chelsea (27-6) started strong, jumping out to a 10-8 lead after a quarter of play. But after that, the Carver defense smothered the Lady Hornets, who scored a combined eight points over the second and third quarters.
“Defensively, they’re so long. They’ve got about three or four girls that are bout 6-foot-1 and have exceptional length. Defensively, we were strong at times, but shots didn’t fall,” Harlow said.
Carver-Montgomery opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take the lead and never surrendered it. The Wolverines went on another 7-0 run later in the quarter and took a 24-14 lead into the halftime break.
The third quarter was a defensive slugfest, with Carver outscoring Chelsea 5-4. All of the Lady Hornets’ points came on free throws, and they went 14 minutes of game time between field goals. Sydney Schwallie’s 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter was Chelsea’s first bucket of the second half.
Carver advances to face three-time reigning state champion Hazel Green in the state championship game Wednesday.
It was by nearly every account the best season by a basketball team in Chelsea High School history, with the 27 wins being a school record and the final four appearance the first in school history.
“We’re all hurting right now. It’s not the outcome that we wanted, but ultimately, we’ll look back on this and be proud of the accomplishments over the course of the year,” Harlow said.
Mackenzie Titus had some success in the post early on in the game, but foul trouble limited her to just 19 minutes. She scored a team-high seven points in her final career game.
“This team played so hard,” she said. “I’m honestly grateful for the experience and I couldn’t have asked for more out of my team.”
Sophia Brown also tallied seven points, while guards Sydney Schwallie and Ellen Fleming scored five points each, with Schwallie leading the team with four rebounds and five steals as well.
After starting the season 10-5, Chelsea won its next 17 games leading up to the state semifinals. The Lady Hornets won all six regular season Area 9 games and won the area tournament as well.
Chelsea blew past Jasper and Oxford in the first two rounds of the state playoffs, before knocking off Huffman 58-43 on Feb. 23 in the Northeast Regional final. Those early-season losses to the likes of 7A powers Vestavia Hills and Spain Park set the stage for an impressive second half of the year.
“We’ve come a long way,” Schwallie said. “It’s been an honor to play with this team.”
Titus, Fleming, Mary Henley Carney and Halle Eidson concluded their Lady Hornets’ careers on Monday. Harlow hopes the foundation they have built will continue to be built upon in the coming years.
“It’s been an absolute joy and pleasure to coach them,” Harlow said.