Chelsea reaches Jacksonville for 2nd straight year

Chelsea punched its ticket to Jacksonville earlier this week, defeating Fort Payne in the sub-regional round of the Class 6A state playoff on Tuesday night.

The Hornets needed overtime to secure a 68-64 victory and lock up its second straight appearance in Regionals, as Matthew Marquet hit a pair of free throws to give his team the deciding lead.

Marquet's free throws came with 30 seconds to play in overtime to give Chelsea the 65-64 edge. The Hornets hit three more free throws in the final seconds to come away with the big win.

Chelsea (13-17) held a 17-9 lead after a quarter of play, as Aaron Washington drained a trifecta of three-pointers.

Washington knocked down two more threes and converted a layup at the buzzer to end the second quarter and send the Hornets into halftime with a 34-23 lead.

Even after extending the lead to 43-25 in the third quarter, Fort Payne refused to go down. Wanya King hit a pair of threes and Chelsea sputtered, allowing Fort Payne to close the gap to 46-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

King finished with 26 points for Fort Payne, 13 of those coming in the fourth quarter, as the team came back to tie the game. King even had a chance to win the contest, but his shot at the end of regulation missed.

Chelsea will play Center Point on Monday at 1:30 p.m., in Pete Mathews Coliseum at Jacksonville State University in the Class 6A Northeast Regional semifinal round.