By Brad Greer

After dropping a 70-44 verdict to Marshall last week, the last thing North Delta wanted to do is start off 0-2 in District 1-AA play. Jim Tom Copeland took care of that problem

The junior forward poured in a game-high 22 points, 20 of which came in the first half, to help guide the Green Wave to a 58-42 victory over Kirk Monday night.

With the win, North Delta  improves to 3-3 and 1-1 in district while the Raiders fell to 1-4 on the season.

In other games, the North Delta Lady Green Wave shot 14 percent (5-of-35) from the field, falling 45-16  to No.4 ranked Kirk. The North Delta Junior High squads split a pair games as the girls edged Kirk 32-27 while the boys fell 32-14.

In the varsity boys contest, North Delta jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the first quarter as Copeland hit his first five shots from the field.

The Wave expanded the lead to 32-17 with 1:26 remaining before intermission as  Corbin  Baker rattled home a three-  pointer followed by a pair of free throws by Bryan Nickle. Baker finished the night with eight points while Nickle added four.

North Delta shot 41 percent (23-of-56) from the floor and 9-of-13 from the free throw line on the night.

Chris Brown followed Copeland with nine points while Tres Brasell and    Geri Lamm both registered four. Derrick Shawn chipped in with three and Ethan Frink and Bailey Guckert had two points.

In the varsity girls contest, neither team could find the bottom of the net as Kirk took a 4-2 lead after the first quarter as Bradi Beard scored North Delta’s only bucket with 42 seconds remaining in the period.

Katie Lee Jones scored off a Green Wave turnover with 3:18 left in the second quarter to give  Kirk (11-1) an 11-4 lead. North Delta closed the margin to 13-8 at halftime as Beard hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw. That would be the last point the Green Wave would score until 6:26 left in the game on Beard’s jumper which made the score 34-10.

Kirk blew the game open by out-scoring North Delta 17-0 in the third quarter. Holly Wells canned a pair of treys while Allye Lundy hit a three-pointer to make the score 30-8 after three quarters.

Beard led North Delta, (8-6; 1-1) with seven points followed by Crystal Contreras, Lauren Kimzey and Sara Waldrip with three points each. Kourtney Norris added six rebounds and two blocked shots.

Charla Shae Darby scored 11 points to lead the North Delta Junior High girls in victory to improve to 8-1 on the season. Claire Gant followed with eight points, four steals and four assists. Callie Blake Masterson added four points and five steals.

Julianna Morrow added three points while Erin Snider  pulled down 12 rebounds, two points and three steals. Courtney DuBravec added two points and four steals. Hastings Neal also added two points.

Hunt Howell led the North Delta Junior High with five points. Taylor Morris and Renic Greenlee both added four each while Alan Larson rounded out the scoring with two points.

North Delta will visit Indianola today starting at 3 p.m. before returning home next Friday  to take on West Memphis.