A few days after defeating Gabriel Richard to win the district championship, the Chelsea girls basketball team headed up to Linden to face Olivet in a (very dimly-lit) gym.
The Bulldogs brought a small but vocal student section:
Chelsea kept it close through the first half, but Olivet pulled away in the second half to bring Chelsea’s playoff run to an end.
The boys basketball playoffs started with two games in Onsted: Chelsea vs Ida and Milan vs Onsted.
In the first, Chelsea defeated Ida by a comfortable margin.
When I turned to get shots of the players on the bench, several players noticed my camera pointing in their direction and…well…
In the second game, Milan faced Onsted — and a substantially partisan hometown crowd. Despite the raucous support for Onsted, Milan managed to built an ostensibly comfortable 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
It may have been a decidedly pro-Onsted crowd, but the Milan student section had a noticeable presence:
Late in the game, Milan’s seemingly comfortable 15-point lead disappeared entirely; with less than a minute to play, Onsted completed its remarkable comeback by taking a one-point lead. Milan was left with one chance to prolong its season…
…and that’s exactly what they did thanks to the layup pictured above. And there was much rejoicing — though after surrendering a 15-point lead and managing to win only by a last-second shot, there was just as much relief as there was rejoicing.
Gibraltar Carlson faced Lumen Christi in the playoffs. Why did I shoot a game between Gibraltar Carlson and Lumen Christi, you might ask? Well, I had two reasons: first, it was in Chelsea, and second, Carlson is covered by the downriver Heritage newspaper.
The first period of the game was reasonably competitive, but after that it was nearly all Lumen Christi.
Carlson scored a goal later in the third period…
…but it was too little, too late.
After recently completed a renovation of its community pool, Dexter held a ribbon cutting to celebrate.
After the brief ceremony, they opened the pool to the kids who had gathered to enjoy the renovations.
A day after the boys ended their regular season, the Chelsea girls played in their district championship game against Gabriel Richard.
Thanks in large part to excellent free throw shooting late in the game, Chelsea eked out the win.
As usual, Chelsea ended its basketball regular season with its big rivalry game at Dexter; as usual, the game drew a big crowd that produced a fantastic atmosphere.
The evening started with Dexter’s senior night festivities, including 6’9 Cornell-bound senior Dave LaMore…
…the national anthem…
…and the introduction of Chelsea’s starting lineup…
…and then things got interesting. Dexter decided to have some fun with their introductions: to the delight of the crowd, they shut off the gym lights, turned on a couple spotlights and gave the starting five an introduction to remember.
That’s LaMore being introduced as the Dexter student section, highlighted by one of the spotlights, gives him a rousing welcome.
Dexter girls basketball faced Ann Arbor Huron in the playoffs. Huron had given Dexter big problems during the regular season, so the Dreadnaughts desperately wanted to get a win over the River Rats,
Dexter played an excellent first half, building a double-digit lead by halftime.
The second half wasn’t as kind to Dexter, though, and Huron came back to take a slim lead late in the fourth quarter.
But Dexter fought back, retook the lead and used excellent defense to force a turnover and a foul on Huron’s last possession to seal the win.
And there was much rejoicing.
Finally, on a humorous note: sometimes signs just aren’t enough to get your message across.
If you can’t read it, the sign says “Please Do Not Sit Above This Sign”.
In the first round of the playoffs, Chelsea hockey faced rival Lumen Christi. Due to the Chelsea/Ypsi basketball game that overlapped the hockey game, I could shoot only the third period of the game. That meant I missed Chelsea’s building a lead over LC and instead arrived just in time to see LC tie the game.
That was actually the go-ahead goal in the third period, but the sentiment was the same.
Because it’s an intense rivalry, the Chelsea students aren’t afraid to let the LC players know what they think:
He’s not celebrating a goal; he’s jumping to avoid the player on the ice. The puck is under the logo.
The go-ahead goal shown in the first picture proved to be the winning goal for LC, bringing Chelsea’s season to an end.
Oh, and is hockey a rough sport? Uh…yeah. Look what can happen even with a full face shield!
Chelsea boys basketball welcomed Ypsilanti for senior night. One senior saying farewell to the Robin Raymond Gymnasium (hey, don’t rule it out) was Patrick Roberts, a four-year varsity basketball player — and a talented multi-sport athlete — for the Bulldogs.
Patrick Roberts salutes you, Real Seniors of Genius.
Since the Ypsi paper needed photos and the Chelsea paper was saving its space for the huge season-ending Chelsea @ Dexter rivalry game later in the week — and because I had to leave at halftime to cover the last period of Chelsea’s first-round hockey playoff game — the bulk of my photos from the game feature Braves. (Yes, I’m aware there’s a different official school mascot. No, I have no interest in using it. Yes, I have company: a vast sea of Ypsi graduates who don’t care for the change.)
Girls basketball playoffs started at the very end of February. Chelsea began in the Milan district against Onsted:
Chelsea had a rough first half but closed strong for the win, prompting much happiness.
After the victory, the Bulldogs stuck around to watch part of Milan vs Ida.
Speaking of Milan vs Ida…
Milan, a team with far more losses than wins, fell victim to the MHSAA’s silly all-inclusive playoff system and lost badly at the hands of a far superior Ida team. As time wound down on Milan’s season, one senior smiled at the still-vocal Milan student section…
…and got a hug from her little sister after the game.
(Fun fact: her little sister made an earlier appearance on this blog.)