By Brad Greer

It was a case of de ja vu all over again for the North Delta boys basketball team as, for the second time this season, they upset No.4 ranked Delta 45-33 Saturday night.

Led by Chris Brown’s 14 points, the Green Wave outscored Delta 23-8 in a pivotal fourth quarter to secure the victory. Junior forward Jim Tom Copeland added 11 second-half points including eight in the final period as North Delta improved to 13-8 on the season. Delta fell to 16-6 and was led by Wesley Aldridge with a game-high 18 points.

“For the last few weeks we have been really working hard on defensive ball pressure and it paid off tonight, “ said North Delta head coach Brad Wilson. “Jim Tom gave us the spark we needed there in the fourth quarter. With the offense we run, I felt like we could get him the ball in the paint and wear them down in the second half,” said Wilson.

A low-scoring first half saw North Delta take a 15-14 halftime lead. The swarming Green Wave defense caused 13 turnovers in the second half. With the score deadlocked 22 at the end of three quarters, the Green Wave stretched the lead to six points at 32-26 with 5:13 remaining in the game on Copeland’s putback of a Gerri Lamm missed three-pointer.

North Delta missed a golden opportunity to stretch the lead to double digits  as Bryan Nickle missed a pair of technical foul shots followed by a turnover on the following possession. Nickle would later redeem himself by sinking a pair of free throws  to give the Wave a 38-28 lead with 1:08 left to play.

“It was one of those nights where we were a little inconsistent at the free throw line. We work on them every day at practice and hopefully we will get better,” said Wilson.

North Delta was 10-of-17 at the stripe while the Raiders hit 6-of-8 from the line.

Delta jumped to a 9-2 lead in the first quarter on a pair of  treys by Aldridge before the Green Wave took their first lead of the game at 13-12 late in the half on Brown’s trey and layup off a turnover.

Nickle followed Brown in the scoring column with 13 points while Lamm added five. Derrick Shawn chipped in with two points.

Lady Green Wave

In the varsity girls matchup, Marley Anne Schiele’s 29 points led the No. 2 ranked Raiders to a 62-30 romp over the host Green Wave. Shelby Taylor contributed with 10 points for Delta, (24-2) who avenged a 51-48 loss to North Delta back on Dec.12.

Delta scored the first 11 points of the game before a Laci DuBravec three-pointer got the Lady Wave on the board at the 1:48 mark of the first period. The Raiders took a 35-18 lead at intermission on a pair of treys by Schiele and Taylor.

Sara Waldrip and DuBrevec led North Delta, (18-12) with seven points each while Hannah Waldrip and Lauren Kimzey added three. Madison Greenlee, Hanna Greenlee, Jordan Pointer, Kourtney Norris and Crystal Contreras all had two points.

Both North Delta varsity teams were swept Friday night by Memphis Home School with the girls losing a 37-33 verdict while the boys fell 52-40.

Sara Waldrip led the Lady Wave with nine points while Katelyn Still registered seven. Senior Linsey Hebert added six points and three assists. Norris pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with four points. DuBravec also had four points while Madison Greenlee scored three points and seven boards.

Copeland and Nickle led the boys in a losing cause with 14 and 12 points while Brown followed with eight points and Shawn with six.

North Delta will close district play today at home against Indianola starting at 3 p.m.