Five white jerseys face off against five gray ones. The clock starts and the team works like a well-oiled machine while years of built-up skill and teamwork are put into action as the Chelsa girls JV basketball team faces Tecumseh.

“The most important part of playing a game is to definitely understand your teammates,” freshman Bella Radomski said.

Knowing the team is a key part of working well together. Freshman Addie Howard and Lily McCalla demonstrated an excellent understanding of each other and the court during their game against the Indians.

“I couldn’t have played as well as I did if didn’t have some of my teammates,” McCalla said. “I had a lot of assists with Addie, and Addie had a lot of assists for me.”

Chelsea’s JV girls basketball team has communication down as one of their greatest strengths which leaves room for growth in other areas.

“I feel like we played better,” McCalla said. “We’re definitely progressing since the beginning of the season, but there’s still things we need to work on here and there, and we’re still trying to figure out positions and stuff like where we fit best.”

Part of getting better is learning from the past, and that’s exactly what the girls did, catching what could have been better and learning for the next game.

“We sped things up way too much, or we slowed things down way too much when we should have sped them up more,” freshman Kate McKenzie said.

The girls were optimistic about many parts of the game, giving themselves the hard-earned credit they deserve. Despite the score throughout the game, McCalla and her whole team played their best.

“[The] score is kind of like one of those things that’s hit or miss,” McCalla said. “I try not to pay too much attention to it. You just gotta play the whole game anyway.”

Even though Chelsea didn’t win this game, they have high hopes for the future.

“At the end of the day, we’re still first in our league, so this only bumped us down to second, which is still really good,” Radomski added. “We’re getting better as the season goes on.”