The Chelsea Girls Basketball team beat District Four team Lenawee Christian High School this past Friday night  with a score of 47 to 31.

The Bulldogs controlled the game despite Lenawee Christian entering the game ranked sixth in their division.

Young players like Maggie McKale (‘25) and Avery Lay (‘25) stepped up and assisted the Bulldogs in getting a strong lead from the start of the game.

Lenawee’s game was Mckale’s first start so far this season and it was well deserved. Mckale scored the first two points of the game and ended with a total of five points in the opening quarter.

“I think our game this weekend went really well,” Mckale said. “I thought everyone contributed a lot whether it was cheering really loud on the bench, playing smart defense, getting good rebounds, having good offensive possessions, or limiting turnovers.”

Lay is one of the team’s most consistent underclassmen who had a huge night. With a double-double of 10 points, 15 rebounds, seven steals, and five blocks, Lay is a freshman who plays a big role that can sometimes be overwhelming. However, Lay handles it with ease, never failing to produce results and doing it with a great attitude.

“I can’t always control if the shots are gonna fall, but I can always control my hustle and effort,” Lay said. “As a team we maintained good energy and mindsets throughout the entire game and I think this led us to our win.”

The team communicated that their defense while playing at Lenawee was incredible. Having such a young team can make it hard to achieve a tight strung defense, but the Bulldogs have stepped up and executed no matter the circumstance.

Captains Leila Wells (‘24) and Megan McCalla (‘23) had an amazing game this past week as expected. Wells came out of the game with a total of 14 points and 3 rebounds and McCalla with 11 points and 6 rebounds. These two girls never fail to make an impact on the game, and stepping up at Lenawee is just one example.

“I think because we are so young, we [can] all work together to help lead the team,” McCalla said. “We tend to have a couple of girls who consistently step up and make the right calls.”

The rest of the team concludes that Wells and McCalla never fail to produce results and make the right calls while leading the team. The girls notice that the two are great communicators, persistent producers, hard workers, and are very encouraging.

Chelsea improved to a record of 5-1 with the big win last week. The Bulldogs will take on reigning D2 state champions Portland, away this Wednesday. It will be a tough match for the bulldogs, but if the team continues to have good leaders and focus on their defense, fans should expect Portland to get the short end of the stick.