Lady Wave defeats Delta Academy

By Will Dickins
The North Delta Lady Green Wave hosted Delta Academy Tuesday night, with the varsity girls winning 53-23 and the junior high winning 41-15
ND HS Girls 53, Delta 23
North Delta took a quarter to get going, but eventually pulled away for a 30-point win over the Delta Academy Lady Raiders.
Lady Green Wave Ally Alford was in attack mode early in the first quarter after a few early Green Wave miscues to start the game.  She then found Faith Bollinger for an easy basket and drove to the hoop for a lay in the next time down the court.
Defensively the Lady Waves played a woman-to-woman defense with double teams being set up on the wings to create turnovers. That it did with North Delta consuming 28 steals over the course of the game.
Alford scored three more points in the first quarter followed by a Payton Scott field goal to make the score 9-6 to conclude a tightly contested first quarter.
A quick seven points by Alford and Hannah Bollinger sparked the Green Wave to begin the second quarter.  After that, the game began to get sloppy as North Delta reached the bonus at the 5:22 mark.
The rest of the points were acquired by free throws.
Defensively, Blakely Denman was flying around making her presence known. One moment she was taking a big shot on the wall and the next she was taking a charge.
The Green Wave 1-3-1 zone created many turnovers and quick fouls in transition leading to free throws. The teams would head in to the half with the score being 25-12 in favor of the Green Wave.
Early in the second half, a loud boom was heard and felt as Denman’s hustle plowed her into a wall. This time she could not get up as she injured her ankle on the play. The Lady Waves, prayerful and ready, continued to play their game.
The offense became more loose which saw Alford hit two threes in the third quarter to go along with a layup and mid range shot. She paced the offense the entire night in route to 28 points.
Whether it was a floater off of a drive or a shot behind the arc, Alford was feeling it that night. Around the three minute marks in both of the last quarters, North Delta stepped into a 1-3-1 zone to confuse the Lady Raiders.
The constant pressure and more consistent offense helped the Lady Waves handle Delta Academy for a 53-23 win.
Alford led the team with 28 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
Other scorers include Denman, one point, two rebounds, one steal; Donaldson, one point, three rebounds, one assist, one steal one block; Faith Bollinger, 10 points, three rebounds, seven steals; Hannah Bollinger, three points, two rebounds, four steals; Scott, seven points, two rebounds, three steals; Isabella Morrow, three points, three rebounds, four steals; and Maci Kirkland, five rebounds, four steals.
ND JH Girls 41, Delta 15
The Lady Green Wave demolished the competition Tuesday night, 41-15.
The Junior High Girls started things out with a full court press to blank the Raiders of Delta Academy in the first quarter.
The fantastic defense turned into fantastic offense as steals turned into easy points on the other end.
At the end of the quarter, the game seemed already over with North Delta ahead 17-0.
The second quarter was the Ema Cay Donaldson quarter as she scored all 10 points in that period making it 27-6 at halftime.
The game slowed down in the second half with the Lady Green Wave playing half court defense with North Delta pulling away for a 41-15 victory.
Scoring for North Delta were Ally Alford (10), Faith Bollinger (2), Donaldson (10), Griffin Rico (1), Beckham McCord (2), Ashlynn Melton (2), Libby Miller (2), Sydney Talley (2), Isabella Morrow (5) and Caroline Williamson (5).
The Lady Green Wave traveled to Winona Christian last night. They are off during the Thanksgiving holidays and return to action Tuesday, November 29 at Desoto School in Arkansas at 3:30 p.m.