The Varsity Girls Basketball team took down Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard to win the District Title on Friday night.

The Bulldogs played a close game, but ended up pulling out the win in the fourth quarter to finish the game with a score of 30-24.

The leading scorer for the Bulldogs was Abby Fullerton, with 9 points. Emily McCalla was the second leading scorer, with 6 points, and Madeleine Kennedy, Helena Schultz, Maddy Vasquez, Riley Davis and Briana Hay also scored for the Bulldogs.

Though many girls scored, this was one of the lower scoring games of the season. Gabriel Richard played a zone the entire game. Chelsea Head Coach Todd Blomquist suggested that this and a lack of confidence were reasons why the game was such a close, low-scoring game.

“We had a hard time putting the ball in the basket verus [Gabriel Richard’s] zone,” Coach Blomquist said. “Our zone offense right now is a little bit of struggle. We just didn’t play with the type of confidence we usually play with, especially for a district final in a one-and-done situation. We need to play with more confidence.”

On the other end of things, Blomquist said that control of tempo and senior leadership were big factors in winning the game.

“I thought we had a couple seniors finally make a couple plays,” Coach Blomquist said. “For example, I think Helena Schultz played well tonight. Even though we had a hard time putting the ball in the basket, we still controlled the tempo, we were in control. I thought it was important that we dictated the pace of the game.”

The Bulldogs ended the regular season with a record of 19-1, making school history by winning 19 consecutive games. Now, they are playing in the single elimination state tournament and, after winning districts, have a record of 22-1.

To advance to the district final game, Chelsea eliminated Onstead and Tecumseh from the state tournament. Districts were hosted at Onsted High School, and last Monday the Bulldogs beat Onsted on their home court with a score of 52-39. After advancing on Monday, the Bulldogs played a close game Wednesday against Tecumseh and defeated the Indians for the third time this year with a score of 25-21.

Tonight, the Bulldogs are looking to advance in Regionals as they take on River Rouge at Adrian High School at 7 o’clock. As they continue down the path towards winning the state championship, they are looking to play more loosely and have more confidence.

“[In future games], we’re just looking to have the right mindset,” Coach Blomquist said. “If we’re gonna go down, we might as well go down swinging instead of playing tentative. We have to quit playing tentative.”