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Carver-Montgomery defeated Chelsea 69-33 in the Sweet 16 of the 6A girls state basketball tournament on Friday, Feb. 15. (Reporter Photos/Keith McCoy)

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

MONTGOMERY – An outstanding season for the Chelsea Hornets varsity girls basketball team has come to an end in the Sweet 16 round of the 6A girls state basketball tournament after the Hornets fell to Carver-Montgomery 69-33 on Friday, Feb. 15 inside Garrett Coliseum.

The Wolverines jumped out to an early double-digit lead and shot lights out for the majority of the game, doing most of its damage from beyond the 3-point arc. Carver-Montgomery finished 9-of-21 from 3-point range as a team and also shot 44 percent from inside the arc.

Carver-Montgomery was led by junior Kristin Brown who finished as the game’s top scorer with 27 points. She alone accounted for six of the Wolverines nine made 3-pointers in the game.

It was a tough all-around game for Chelsea, who finished just 2-for-15 from 3-point range and shot just 19 percent from the field as a team.

Two of Brown’s 3-pointers came at the buzzer to end the first and second quarters as the Wolverines held a 33-15 halftime lead.

The hill was too big to climb for Chelsea in the second half as Pressley Rains made the Hornets first 3-pointer with 1:29 left in the 3rd quarter which only cut the deficit to 29. Rains was the only Hornet to finish in double figures with 13 points.

Carver-Montgomery outscored Chelsea in the paint 26-12 and finished with 19 second chance points compared to Chelsea’s two. Bre’Anna Rhodes did most of her damage inside the paint finishing with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting for the Wolverines.

Despite the tough end to the season, Chelsea had plenty of reason to celebrate its 2018-19 campaign, which included a 16-13 overall record, finishing undefeated in area play and winning the Class 6A Area 8 tournament championship. Just one year ago, the Hornets won just three games.

“The last time our girls made it to the Sweet 16 the only people that were alive were the coaches in the locker room so it’s just something to build on,” Chelsea first year head coach Jason Harlow said. “We’ve got quite a few kids coming back and so this feeling that you have in your heart it hurts, but you’ve got to use it as fuel and something to motivate you out in the hot days on the track and in the weight room. Just fuel to continue to work and get better so that we don’t feel this again in the future.”

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