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The Chelsea Hornets started area play off with a win over the Helena Huskies thanks to a 24-point night from Jordan Garcia on Friday, Jan. 3 at Chelsea High School. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

CHELSEA – With a physical and energetic game in front of them, the Chelsea Hornets used any momentum they gained to pull away and start area play off with a dominant victory.

Chelsea defeated the Helena Huskies 69-48 on Friday, Jan. 3 at Chelsea High School, giving Nick Baumbaugh and his squad some positives to take into the rest of the area schedule.

In a game that was scrappy from the very beginning, Baumbaugh was proud of the way his kids fought on both sides of the court in order to pull out the convincing win.

“We’ve been talking about trying to play for 32 minutes, and we haven’t done that,” Baumbaugh said. “We’ve fallen short in a lot of games and I challenged them to play 32 minutes tonight and they did it. The defense was really good in the half-court and it caused a lot of problems for Helena. I’m really excited for my kids.”

The momentum immediately pushed in the Hornets’ direction off the tip, as sophomore Jordan Garcia handled it in the frontcourt and drove to the basket to score the game’s opening points.

Garcia kept his fast start going with a 3-pointer later in the quarter to make it a 7-2 Chelsea lead, but the Huskies kept things close with a 3-point shot from Kevin Pinkard on the ensuing possession.

Nearing the end of the first period with the score sitting at 11-8 in favor of Chelsea, Helena’s Denton McDonald forced a turnover and turned it into a fastbreak layup, cutting the deficit to one.

However, after the Hornets went up three shortly after, Chelsea senior Camden Harper hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to six. The first quarter later ended with a 18-14 Hornets lead.

The second quarter came around and Garcia continued his team’s momentum. He began the period with another 3-point basket from the top of the key, helping him reach double figures in the first half alone.

Garcia continued to put on a show with multiple two-point baskets throughout the quarter before being forced to the charity stripe the rest of the way before the break.

The show did not stop there however, as Brandon Griffith came alive for the Hornets, hitting two monumental 3-pointers to help finish the half, giving them a 34-25 lead at the intermission.

The second half was quieter on both sides from a shooting perspective, but the free throws controlled much of it.

The Huskies began to chip into the Chelsea lead little by little thanks to the shot of Joseph King, getting as close eight points down. The Hornets had an answer to that though, as another Griffith 3-point shot and a Truitt Jennings floater from just outside the paint forced Helena into a timeout.

Chelsea took a 49-34 lead into the fourth quarter, which showed senior Aiden Owens hitting a tough floater inside and gave it all the energy it needed to finish this game strong.

Griffith was fouled on a 3-point shot that he was able to hit, getting the team hyped up and seeing a win near. Garcia later hit another 3-pointer of his own in the corner, before Griffith responded on a later offensive possession with a layup through traffic.

Their performance helped seal off the 21-point victory, giving the Hornets a 1-0 boost in area play.

Baumbaugh was impressed by the play of both Garcia and Griffith, admitting how crucial their contributions are to success.

“Jordan has been like that for us all year. He’s been averaging about 12 or 13 points a game, so we expect that from him,” Baumbaugh said. “For us, Jordan and Aiden (Owens) can’t do it all, they just can’t. We need other guys to step up and hit big shots and Brandon did that tonight. He’s done it in spurts throughout the year, but tonight he hit huge ones, had the big and-one in the corner. That’s what we’ve got to have is other guys stepping up with Jordan and Aiden.”

Garcia led all scorers on the night with 24 points, but was one of three Chelsea players to reach double figures as Griffith and Owens both dropped 16 of their own. Harper also put up five points while AJ Malone scored four on the night.

For Helena, Elijah Hudson led the team with 12 points on the evening, with Pinkard just behind him at 11. King neared double figures for the night with nine points, while Drew Davis put up seven. Nate Ferguson also scored five points and McDonald contributed four.

For Baumbaugh, the performance he saw from his team was pleasing, but he knows that area play is an entirely new schedule and his team needs to take it slowly.

“It’s coach cliche, but you’re doing one game at a time,” Baumbaugh said. “You’re just doing them one at a time, that’s how you’ve got to go through it, can’t think of it in any other terms like that. Our guys stepped up and played really really well. I’m proud of them tonight.”

The Hornets improve to 6-13 on the season and will carry their 1-0 area record into their next game when they take on the Pelham Panthers on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. at Chelsea High School.

The Huskies drop to 10-7 but will also return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 7 when they take on the Spain Park Jaguars at 7 p.m. at Spain Park High School.

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