By Brad Greer

If there is one thing fans can expect when North Delta Lady Green Wave and  Indianola Colonels meet on the hardcourt is a tough, defensively-played basketball contest.

Friday night’s meeting between those teams proved no different as the Lady Waves picked up their first District 1-AA win with a 47-39 victory.

Led by Hastings Neal’s 17 points and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch by Julianna Morrow, North Delta held off a late Colonel rally to even its district record at 1-1 on the season and 9-4 overall.

With North Delta leading 31-21 after three quarters of play, Indianola’s Breanna Holmes lay up closed the margin to 39-36 with 1:28 left to play. Callie Blake Masterson’s two free throws and Charla Darby’s front end of a one-and-one  at the line gave North Delta a 42-36 cushion with 1:03 remaining in the contest.

The Lady Colonels made one last run as a three-point play slashed the deficit to 44-39 with under a minute left in the contest. Morrow however dashed all hopes of an Indianola comeback as the junior connected on three straight free throws in the 39 seconds left that sealed the victory for the home team.

North Delta connected on 17-of-21 shots from the charity stripe including 9-of-12 in the pivotal fourth quarter.

Both teams shot 81 percent from the line as North Delta ended the night shooting 12-of-26 from the floor while the Colonels hit for 42 percent (14-of-33) on the night.

After a slow-paced first quarter that saw the Waves take a 6-4 advantage, Indianola went on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter to take a 12-6 lead only to have Darby and Neal connect on back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 12.

The duo would later strike again to hit a pair of threes with under two minutes to go in the half to give North Delta a 21-17 lead at halftime.

Darby followed Neal in scoring with 14 points while Claire Gant added six. Masterson and Morrow chipped in with four points while Erin Snider registered seven rebounds and two points.

Indianola (boys)- 49
North Delta- 44
Unlike their varsity counterparts, the free throw line was unkind for the North Delta boys as the Green Wave  could only convert 2-of-11 shots from the line in a narrow 49-44 loss to the Colonels.

Despite their misfortune, the Green Wave battled to the end as the contest was not decided until the final seconds when Christian Kirk’s layup sealed the victory.

After missing a potential game-tying three-pointer with 36 seconds left to play, Sam Copeland’s basket got North Delta within three points at 47-44 with seven seconds remaining.

Will Hartzell led the Green Wave in scoring with 13 points. Renic Greenlee followed with seven points. Tylor Lee added six while Tyler Beard and Hunt Howell registered five each.

Other scorers included, Jonathan Mackey four points, Copeland two points and Bailey Sullivant with one point.

NDJH
The North Delta junior high squads came away with splits as the Lady Green Wave won 36-24 while the boys took a 65-30 defeat.

Janie Brasell paced the Lady Waves with 11 points while Ginger Stephens added eight. Sarah Johnson and Caroline Dickins followed with seven while Megan Bollinger and Haley Lamm finished with two and one point each.

Will Kidder led the junior high boys with 16 points while Joseph Wright followed with four. Peyton Neal and Tripp Savage added three points. John Haga Lewis and Austin Pointer rounded out the scoring with two points.

The North Delta seventh grade boys also came out victorious with a 17-8 win. Avery Rowland led all scorers with seven while Harris Cole, Neal, Miles Garner, Eli Bryant and Graves Baker all contributed with two points each.

North Delta will be back in action today at 3 p.m. as it hosts Marshall Academy.