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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – The Pelham Panthers took on their county rivals, the Chelsea Hornets, on Tuesday, Nov. 14 and came away with a 54-49 victory at Chelsea High School.

Both teams came out solid offensively with Chelsea holding a 21-16 lead after the first quarter.

The offense picked up in the second quarter for the Hornets while the Panthers cooled down. Chelsea scored another 15 points in the quarter to take a 36-25 lead into the halftime break.

Chelsea went into the half with all the momentum, but Pelham responded in the second half. Even with multiple players in foul trouble, the Panthers dug deep in the 3rd quarter. Pelham scored 15 points and held Chelsea to only eight.

Chelsea led 44-40 going into the fourth quarter. Early in the quarter, Joe Wimberly fouled out, but the Panthers rallied together as a team to make up for his absence.

The Pelham defense held to only five points in the final period as the Panthers’ strong second half defense continued even without Wimberly.

Egypt Daniel hit a big three-pointer in the quarter to give the Panthers the lead, and Sam Tolbert came up with a critical offensive rebound in the final minutes to help seal the victory.

Daniel led Pelham in scoring with 10 points, Dynarian Long with nine points and Wimberly and Sam Tolbert with eight points.

The Panthers are back in action on the road against Bessemer City on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m.