No. 3 Chelsea too much for Ida in Regional semifinals

FOWLERVILLE – Ida didn’t have a lot of choices.

The Blue Streaks knew going into the semifinals of the Division 2 girls basketball Regional at Fowlerville that No. 3 Chelsea was a good 3-point shooting team.

But the Bulldogs also were bigger and more athletic than Ida.

“Our goal was to try and play some zone against them,” Ida coach Tim Leonard said. “We could not find too many teams who had played zone against them during the season. We found out why. I think they had seven 3s at the half.

“But to be quite honest, we were kind of between a rock and a hard place. We didn’t match up with them size-wise. We wanted to try to stay inside to control their penetration and get rebounds. Chelsea did a nice job of knocking down their shots.”

Chelsea wound up with nine 3-pointers in the game and overpowered Ida 71-39.

The tone was set early.

Chelsea led 20-6 after one quarter and the lead ballooned to 43-16 at the half.

“Their starting five could all shoot 3s and they were all quick,” Leonard said.

The veteran of 32 girls basketball seasons who owns 560 career wins came away impressed.

“They’re probably the best team I’ve seen in a long time,” Leonard said.

Ida's Jessica Schrader held her own, tying for high scorer in the game with 17 points.

“Sometimes I forget that she’s only a sophomore,” Leonard said.

Schrader had to make an in-game adjustment.

“She did a nice job after not getting through on a couple of drives early and having her shot blocked,” Leonard said. “She started pulling up for a jump shot. She did a nice job of adjusting.”

Mackenzie LaRoy was the only senior on the roster for an Ida team that finishes with a 15-10 record.

“It’s been fun to watch her grow over the four years,” Leonard said. “She’s come a long way.”

The underclassmen on the roster learned a lot of valuable lessons during the season. They had to overcome adversity when Grace Capling, one of their top players, went down with a season-ending injury after 12 games.

“I have to give the girls a lot of credit,” Leonard said. “We started out well, then Grace goes down. They could have easily hung their heads and not picked themselves up.

“But they came through as a team. Everybody stepped up in different games to try to do their part. They made up the points that Grace would bring and also what she did on the boards.”

The potential is there for a strong season in 2023-24.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Leonard said. “Fundamentally, we have to do a little better job.”

Chelsea (25-1) advances to play 20-5 Lansing Catholic, a 46-33 winner over Tecumseh Tuesday, in Thursday’s 7 p.m. Regional final.

CHELSEA: McKale 0 0-1 0, Wells 8 (1) 0-0 17, McCalla 6 (2) 2-2 16, Knight 1 1-1 3, Valik 7 (2) 0-0 16, Scheffler 3 (2) 1-1 9, Day 1 (1) 0-0 3, Ratliff 1 0-0 2, Bareis 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 (9) 4-5 71.

IDA: Scheer 1 0-0 2, Hennessey 2 2-2 6, Allen 1 0-0 2, Schrader 5 (3) 4-6 17, Albring 2  (2) 0-0 6, LaRoy 1 (1) 0-0 3, Tarry 1 (1) 0-0 3. Totals 13 (7) 6-8 39.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: No. 3 Chelsea too much for Ida in Regional semifinals