By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

MOBILE – The Chelsea Hornets are on a roll after a slow 3-9 start thanks to their fifth win in a row as part of a strong performance at the 2018 William Mitchell Memorial Tournament hosted by UMS-Wright between Thursday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 29.

Chelsea was able to win two straight games against Cottage Hill and tournament host UMS-Wright in the first two rounds to clinch a spot in the championship against Jackson High School, a 5A team that was 13-2 ahead of the title matchup.

But the Hornets didn’t let that or a slow start phase them, as for the second time in three years they were able to win the championship game by a final score of 40-35 thanks to late free throws from Jacob Tierney and Holton Smith to ice the game.

For the third consecutive game, however, Chelsea (8-9) got off to a slow start in the opening quarter.

Jackson’s defense gave the Hornets all sorts of problems limiting them to just three points. Chelsea had chances to put points on the board, but just couldn’t convert.

The good news was it wasn’t just Chelsea’s offense that struggled as Jackson also had shooting woes in the first quarter putting up just six points of its own to take a slim 6-3 lead at the end of one.

Just as they had done in the previous three games, the Hornets shook off the rust and bounced back with a strong offensive quarter in the second period.

They were able to outscore Jackson 14-7 for the majority of the frame before Jackson knocked down a half-court shot at the buzzer to make the halftime score 17-16 in favor of Chelsea.

Despite that big shot, the Hornets had swung the momentum of the game completely in their favor heading into the half.

They used that to fuel a strong start out of the locker room in the third quarter.

Chelsea came out and used solid defense from Robert Marquet and Smith to force several turnovers which led to easy points on the other end.

Once the quarter came to an end, the Hornets had outscored Jackson 15-3 to take a 32-19 lead into the final period.

Jackson, however, was able to bounce back from the disappointing third quarter with a strong effort in the final period, which featured a 16-5 run to eventually cut Chelsea’s lead to two points at 37-35.

That’s when Tierney and Smith stepped up and hit three of four from the free throw line before Matthew Lanzi picked up some key rebounds to secure the 40-35 win in the final minute.

Lanzi led Chelsea with 11 points and was named to the All-Tournament team, while Daniel Washington posted 10 points and was named the tournament MVP.