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On a night when Haley Trotter earned the 1,000th point of her Chelsea career, the Hornets star dominated in the first half to help her team earn a 35-point win over Spain Park. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By TYLER RALEY | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – After suffering just their fourth loss of the season, the Chelsea Hornets surged back into the win column on Tuesday, Jan. 23, defeating county and area foe Spain Park with an impressive first half offensive showing.

The Hornets dropped their second meeting with Hewitt-Trussville last Friday in a 39-22 defensive battle, but turned the offense up a notch in the 50-15 win over the Jaguars. The win makes it 22 on the season for Chelsea, and improves its record to 3-2 in the area.

The Hornets’ offensive explosion in the first half was largely due to the performance that Haley Trotter put on in the first quarter.

On a night where Trotter earned her 1,000th career point in her Chelsea career, she scored 12 of the 22 that were put up in the opening period.

Trotter scored six more in the second quarter, putting her at 18 heading into the halftime break.

As has been the trend this season, Trotter was the team’s leading scorer by a large margin, putting up 21 points in total to go along with her three rebounds, three steals and one block. She was the only player on the floor to score double figures.

She kept her success from the line going as well, going a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe on the night.

The Hornets backed their offense up with a phenomenal showing on the defense in the opening period as well, only allowing a singular point from a free throw early on. While it would be its best quarter defensively, Chelsea never allowed more than seven points in a single quarter throughout the entirety of the game.

The second quarter only helped to ensure Chelsea’s victory, putting up 15 points with the help of three 3-pointers from Caroline Brown, Baylor McCluney and Sadie Schwallie.

The finish of the first half allowed the Hornets to comfortably go to the locker room up 37-5.

Chelsea spent the rest of the game slowly rolling down the clock, putting up 11 points in the third quarter behind two more buckets from behind the arc, courtesy of McCluney and Schwallie. This gave the Hornets a 48-8 lead heading into the closing period.

The final quarter was pretty silent offensively, as the Hornets finished off the 50-15 win.

The victory marks the third time this season that Chelsea has held its opponent to less than 20 points. Two of those have come against the Jags.

In addition to Trotter’s 21 points, McCluney scored nine points for the Hornets and Schwallie had six points.

Teagan Huey led Spain Park with six points in the loss.

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