Lady Waves open season with four wins

By Will Dickins
It is time to pull off the cleats, and put on the basketball shoes. North Delta basketball is here. North Delta began its basketball season Thursday night with four wins over Lee Academy from West Memphis Arkansas.  The games included the Junior High girls, the Junior High boys, the High School Girls, and the High School boys.
ND Girls 51, Lee Academy 47
In a closer game, the North Delta Lady Green Wave held on with a strong first half showing.  The young but talented team fought hard in what turned into a back and forth affair.  With it being so close, North Delta never gave away their lead.
In the opening minutes, Faith Bollinger, Hannah Bollinger, and Ally Alford started off with three layups.  Things would go similarly with the Lady Green Wave getting the majority of their looks from inside early on.
Lee Academy fought back late in the first quarter ending the first with an and-one opportunity.  The quarter ended with the score sitting at 16-11 in favor of the Wave.
The second quarter saw North Delta gain separation as they scored 20 points compared to Lee Academy’s 14.  Ally Alford found her groove in the second quarter pacing the Green Wave with 12 points in the second quarter.
Lee Academy had no answer for her as she slashed to the bucket to either put it in for a layup or earn a trip to the foul line.  The half ended 37-25 ND.
The second half started slower for the Lady Green Wave. They only scored five points while allowing Lee Academy to score only eight points in an ugly third quarter offensively.  The third quarter ended with the score being 42-33.  With the final quarter now here, Lee Academy began to chip away at the lead.  The game had gotten sloppy with North Delta soon in the bonus needing to hit free throws for the majority of the final quarter.  The only field goal came from Blakely Denman.  While the Green Wave seemed slow on the offensive side, the defense began to give up momentum.  With 2:55 left in the game, Lee Academy went to the line and made one of two free throws to make it 47-42.  The game was close, and the clock was winding down.  North Delta found a way to limit the damage while getting the ball to Alford for free throws.  She hit four crucial free throws to go along with one from Hannah Bollinger to seal the victory for the Green Wave with the final score being 51-47 North Delta.  Leading the way in scoring was Alford with 24.  Other scorers were Denman, seven; H. Bollinger, six; Maci Kirkland, five; F. Bollinger, four; Ema Cay Donaldson, three; and Isabella Morrow, two.  They face Lee Academy in West Memphis again next Friday after playing Desoto Academy.
ND JH Girls 36,
Lee (Arkansas) 10
The North Delta Junior High Lady Green Wave took care of Lee Academy fairly easily in the first game.  They used a 22 point first quarter to get most of the points needed for the win.  That quarter saw six different players score.  The game started with a few quick stops and fast break points by the Green Wave before a full court press began to frustrate Lee Academy.  A forced turnover after turnover quickly turned into piles of points and before long, the score was 22-2 in favor of the Green Wave.  After the first period ended, Libby Miller did most of the scoring.  She had 12 of the last 14 points in the game.  She ended the game with the most points with Ally Alford follower her up with 10 points.  Other scorers included: Hannah Bollinger(4), Isabella Morrow(2), Faith Bollinger(2), Blakely Denman(2), and Ema Cay Donaldson(2).  The double teams and the pressuring defense held Lee Academy to 10 points.  They earned more than two points in one quarter with that one being the third quarter with four points.  North Delta won 36-10.