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Chelsea saw its five-game win streak come to an end against No. 6 ranked Homewood on Thursday, Jan. 3, after coming back to force overtime. (For the Reporter/Larry Dancy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

HOMEWOOD – Chelsea’s five-game win streak was snapped in a tightly contested road game against 16-4 Homewood on Thursday, Jan. 3, but not without forcing the No. 6 team in the 6A classification to overtime.

Chelsea’s continued growth and confidence over the last month as been impressive to watch, and it has led to extremely good play on the defensive end of the floor.

Early in this contest, that trend continued.

While the Hornets were only able to muster six points in the opening period, continuing a trend of slow starts offensively, they were able to once again use a strong effort on the defensive end of the floor to limit the Patriots to just six points as well.

Chelsea was able to get its six points from three different players, while Homewood got its six points from Logan Padgett, who was just kicking off what became a difference-making type of night.

In the second quarter, the game took a bit of a turn in favor of the Patriots as Chelsea’s defensive effort wasn’t quite as strong.

Padgett posted four more points in the quarter, but the difference in the period was the three combined 3-pointers from Erik Schablow and Kennedy Kuria.

That, as well as a 4-4 mark from the free throw line in the frame, allowed the Patriots to post 15 points in the period. And while Chelsea had points from four different players in the quarter, all four were only able to knock down one basket for a combined eight points, which allowed Homewood to take a 21-14 lead into the half.

The Patriots had clearly gained some momentum, and coming out of the halftime break, they didn’t relinquish it.

Thanks to two more 3-pointers, four more points from Padgett and a 3-3 mark at the free throw line, Homewood was able to post 13 points in the quarter and extend its lead to nine points at 34-25 heading to the final frame.

Chelsea, however, ended the quarter with some momentum thanks to its first double-digit quarter of the game with 11 points.

While the Hornets were down by their largest deficit at the end of any quarter, they seemed to have a new sense of belief and confidence at the start of the final period.

Chelsea was not only able to knock down a couple of 3-pointers from KJ Hall and Holton Smith, but also got four points from post player Daniel Washington for the second quarter in a row. All of that production combined with Jacob Tierny knocking down his two free throws in the quarter and Andrew Messier hitting a jumper, the Hornets posted 14 points offensively, but all of that was possible due to strong play on the defensive end leading to easier buckets.

Trailing for much of the quarter, Chelsea was forced to play the foul game, but still only gave up one basket from the field, which allowed them to climb back into the contest.

Then, when they needed free throws, the Patriots struggled to close the game out. They hit just three of their seven free throws in the period, including a 1-4 mark from Padgett.

With those struggles, Chelsea was able to erase the nine-point deficit to tie the game at 39-39 to force overtime after trailing the entire game.

In the overtime period, however, the Hornets lost the defensive touch that has helped them be so successful during their win streak.

Padgett, who struggled in the fourth, was able to hit three of his four free throws, while also adding two field goals for eight points in overtime. He was just a part of a strong effort as the Patriots went 7-8 from the free throw line to post 15 points in a short period of time.

The Hornets got four more points from Washington in the period and four from Tierny, but found no other scoring opportunities to drop the game by a final score of 54-47.

Chelsea was led by Washington with 16 points, while Hall added eight points. The Hornets saw nine of their 10 players score in the game.

Homewood also saw balance with eight players scoring, led by Padgett with 24 points.

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