By Brad Greer

Long before the opening tip of basketball season, coaches circle certain dates on the schedule marking a much anticipated matchup with an opposing team. There was little doubt the North Delta Lady Green Wave had Friday’s district game with defending MAIS Overall champion Kirk Academy circled early this year.

Led by Faith Bollinger and Ally Alford’s combined 45 points, North Delta put an end to the Raiderette’s 25-game district winning streak with a 73-44 victory to improve to 2-0 in district play and 10-5 overall. Kirk fell to 4-10 and 0-1 in district.

A milestone was passed early in the second quarter as Alford, who led North Delta with 24 points, surpassed the 2,000 point mark in her high school career with a three-pointer that gave North Delta a 16-11 edge.

The young Kirk team who returned only one starter off last season’s State AAA championship team fought North Delta nip and tuck throughout the first half. They   trailed by two points before Isabella Morrow banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Lady Wave a slim 28-23 lead at the half.

The second half belonged to North Delta as a smothering defense led to to easy baskets off a series of Kirk turnovers and the Lady Wave outscored the Raiderettes 28-8 in the third quarter.

Bollinger gave the home team at the time its largest lead of the game at 33-23 with a wide open three-pointer as part of a 20-0 run.

Eight straight points from Alford and four consecutive free throws by Morrow gave North Delta a 40-23 advantage late in the quarter. Breck Brewer added a free throw and soft jumper to give the Wave a lead after three periods of play.

Bollinger chipped in with 21 points while Eliza Morris and Morrow each added seven points. Shelby Grace Boone and Hannah Bollinger followed with five as Brewer and Sayle Stennett finished with three each.

North Delta connected on nine three pointers on the night. Campbell Thomas paced Kirk with 25 points.

(Varsity Boys)

Kirk  44, ND 36

North Delta let a 20-13 halftime lead evaporate as Kirk’s Chase Rose scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Raider comeback. Walt Miller led North Delta in the scoring column with 18 points on four three-pointers.

North Delta led the entire first half as Miller knocked down all four of his treys including back-to-back long range jumpers to give the Green Wave 20-11 cushion late in the first half.

Ryan Gibson was a perfect three-of-three from the floor in the first half for six points to follow Miller in the scoring column.

The second half was a different story as Rose caught fire with 12 straight third quarter points including his last one with 3:16 left in the stanza to give the Raiders a 24-22 lead. Jake Franklin later added a trey and two-point basket to extend the Raider lead to 32-22 with 1:21 remaining .

North Delta closed the margin to 40-36 with under a minute left in the contest on a three pointer by Colin Hartman only to have Rose seal the win for Kirk with a pair of free throws to make the score 42-36.

Gibson finished with six points while Chris Burchfield and Hartman added five each. Drake Barton had two points.

(Junior High)

The teams split the junior high games as the Kirk girls remained unbeaten with a 24-23 win. The ND boys held off a late Raider rally to take a 36-25 victory.

Paizlee Woods led the junior high Lady Wave with five points while Brewer and Sadie Gray registered four each. Beckham McCord, Libby Miller, Shelby Boone, Ellie Gray and Emily Wells all chipped in two points each.

Layton Wells paced the North Delta junior high boys with 10 points. Ridge Aldison, Grayson Alford and Nolan Long all contributed eight points  eachwith Martin Wolfe rounding out the scoring with two points.

Nd1:  Faith Bollinger makes a three-pointer during a 20-0 Green Wave run to open the second half against Kirk Academy Friday night. (Jeremy Weldon)

Nd3 :  Drake Barton challenges a shot against the Raiders. The North Delta Boys led at halftime but lost 44-36.  (Jeremy Weldon)