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The Chelsea Hornets’ players now have a Final Four berth of their own to claim as they breezed past Benjamin Russell to make their first trip to Birmingham in four years. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

(Reporter Photo/Andrew Simonson)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTGOMERY – While the Chelsea Hornets had little to worry about on the court in their Elite Eight victory over the Benjamin Russell Wildcats, they had bad memories in the back of their mind.

Specifically, they had the 2022 Northeast Regional final where the Hornets blew a 15-point halftime lead to Oxford with Haley Trotter and Sadie Schwallie on the bench as freshmen.

Chelsea coach Jason Harlow vowed at halftime to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.

“We talked about that in a locker room, we had a 19-point lead going into the half and things kind of came full circle, and it was those kids I felt like closed the game in the second half,” Harlow said. “They made good decisions, and they’ve shown phenomenal leadership the second part of the year. I couldn’t be more proud of it.”

This time, the Hornets slammed the door shut with five third-quarter 3-pointers to win 56-27 at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Wednesday, Feb. 19. And as a result, they wrote a new chapter in their history: a return to the Final Four for the first time since 2021.

“It’s an amazing feeling, and we’re hoping we can make the best of it second time around,” Harlow said.

The teams started the game a bit slow offensively, but Trotter got more opportunities to score on extended offensive possessions. She scored seven of the Hornets’ eight points in the first.

On the other end of the floor, Benjamin Russell mustered just three points that didn’t come until late in the first quarter. That defensive effort allowed Chelsea to take an 8-3 lead into the second quarter and set it up for big things to come.

Trotter responded to a quick basket from the Wildcats with a three-point play just 50 seconds into the quarter. While Benjamin Russell took a timeout shortly after trailing by 11-5, the deficit would soon balloon out of control.

Schwallie knocked down her first 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to nine, but the biggest offense of the half came a couple of minutes later. That was when a Trotter layup off an inbounds play led to three baskets in 30 seconds thanks to backcourt steals and quick layups from Kamryn Hudson and Caroline Brown.

The Wildcats then took another timeout trailing 20-7 with 3:19 left, but Chelsea continued scoring on the offensive end thanks to Trotter, Brown and Hudson. The Hornets closed the half on a 12-0 run in the final 5:27 of the second to take a commanding 26-7 lead into the break.

After getting most of their offense from the post and transition in the first half, the Hornets made a statement from deep in the third. Schwallie knocked down a trio of 3-pointers while Pryor and Brown hit shots from long range as well to increase the lead to 38-12.

Chelsea utilized the charity stripe for much of the remainder of the third, but Pryor took it back downtown to close it with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to put her team up 46-17 ahead of the fourth.

The switch to deep shooting came from a change in Benjamin Russell’s defense to a box-and-one defense on Trotter. With her being shadowed, that opened up opportunities for Schwallie, Pryor and Brown to hit from deep, and they took advantage.

“When they went box-and-one on Haley, we had talked about possibly seeing one of those types of defenses down the stretch,” Harlow said. “So we were ready for it, and a credit to Sadie Schwallie. She did exactly what we needed her to do when they came out in that look, and Haley set some good on the ball screens and Sadie knocked down some shots, so just senior leadership all around.”

From there, the Hornets used their double-digit lead to cruise to a spot in the Final Four as they finished off a 29-point victory.

Trotter led Chelsea with 24 points and seven rebounds. Brown scored 11 points and added six assists, five rebounds and two emphatic blocks. Pryor nearly secured a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds and Schwallie scored nine points in the playoff victory.

However, Harlow said their defense helped set them up well with their length and ability to play the system well. He said that that side of the ball has been the foundation for their success.

“I think our length gives people problems, and this team’s bought in since early in the year to play in the defensive side,” Harlow said. “We talked about that, ‘There’s a chance in this arena that shots won’t fall, there’s the chance that, maybe we turn the ball over a couple times, we don’t want to do that, but regardless of where we play for the rest of the year, we can play phenomenal defense, we can play great defense,’ and so I felt like we came out to play from the tip where we were a little bit shaky against Hueytown in the regional semifinal, and then in the final, I felt like we really came out with a lot of enthusiasm and grit and guarded at a high level. I’m proud of them.”

That defensive effort will be key again in the Final Four when they face the winner of Thursday, Feb. 20’s game between Fort Payne and Mountain Brook on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at noon at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena at the BJCC.

While he knows his Hornets are in for a challenge, he also knows that if they play their style of basketball the best they can, it will give them a chance to play for a state title.

“Everyone that’s going to be at the BJCC, we’re going to see a thousand different offensive sets and a lot of different offensive looks, but every team that’s there guards at a high level, so it starts with taking care of the basketball and playing phenomenal defense to give yourself a chance,” Harlow said.

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