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Caroline Brown and Sadie Schwallie’s hot hands powered Chelsea to a dominant win over Oak Mountain as Brown logged a 25-point night and Schwallie scored 20 ahead of a tough test against Hoover. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – The Chelsea Hornets followed up on their season-opening win over Calera with another victory over a county foe.

The Hornets defeated the Oak Mountain Eagles 71-34 on Friday, Nov. 15 in their home opener at Chelsea High School, winning the first leg of the rivalry series between the two U.S. 280-area foes.

Caroline Brown and Sadie Schwallie were on fire from the field early as Schwallie was a perfect 6-for-6 in the first quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers, to score 14 opening quarter points and Brown hit five baskets from the field to score 12 points in the first.

As a result, Chelsea blitzed ahead to a 33-7 lead as the team’s trademark defensive prowess kicked in on the other end of the floor to keep the Eagles at bay despite a pair of 3-pointers from Caroline Kester.

Brown continued to lead the way in the second quarter with four more field goals to score nine more points before halftime. In the end, she had 22 points at the halftime break.

That was complemented by baskets from Schwallie, Haley Trotter, Juliann Bass and Kamryn Hudson to add 17 points to Chelsea’s first-half total.

Oak Mountain got a little more offensive momentum after Zy Walker scored four of the team’s 11 second quarter points, adding to baskets from Kester, Meredith Renfrow and Joy Damron.

However, the Hornets continued to pull away in the second and took a 50-18 lead into halftime.

Chelsea spread the ball around in the third quarter and got multiple field goals from both Bass and Schwallie as the Hornets outscored the Eagles by 11 during that span.

The Chelsea defense also continued to be strong as most of the damage in the third came from a pair of Lucy McKeown 3-pointers.

The Hornets took a 67-26 lead into the fourth quarter and saw out the 37-point win from there in a slower fourth quarter.
Brown led both teams in scoring with 25 points. Sadie Schwallie also scored 20 points as she went 9-for-11 from the field. Hudson had eight points, Bass scored six points and Trotter earned four points.

As for Oak Mountain, Kester was the top scorer with 14 points off four 3-pointers. Walker scored eight points and McKeown had six points from a pair of 3-pointers.

Chelsea went back to work the next day on Saturday, Nov. 16 for a neutral site game against the Hoover Buccaneers at Priceville High School. While the Hornets lost to the Bucs, they still put up a solid performance against the reigning state champions in a 62-51 loss.

The Hornets will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. against Homewood on the road.

The Eagles will travel to Mortimer Jordan for a road test of their own on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. Oak Mountain is still in search of its first win under Aimee Harris.

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