By Brad Greer
The Tunica Institute girls basketball team had a devil of a time  in their District 1 -1A opener against North Delta.

The  Blue Devils scored only two points in the first half as the Lady Green Wave jumped out to a 16-2 halftime lead then cruised to a 41-12 victory at home Tuesday night.

North Delta improved to 7-3, 1-0 in district while Tunica remained winless on the season falling to 0-5.

Samantha Massoth scored the first six points of the game as North Delta raced out to a 12-0 first-quarter lead. Sara Waldrip recorded a pair of field goals while Madison Greenlee added two points in the opening period. Massoth and Waldrip led North Delta in scoring with 12 points each.

Caitlin Brown’s jumper at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter got Tunica on the board but by that time it was too little too late as Massoth and Lauren Kimzey each  scored a pair of baskets right before halftime.

The Lady Green Wave were 19-of-58 shooting from the floor for 32 percent on the night while Tunica connected on only 6-of-35 shots. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 26 times compared to only eight for North Delta.

“This was our first division game and it was a big win for us, you always want to  get that first conference game out of the way. We played Tunica earlier in the year in a pre-season tournament so we knew a little bit about them,” said North Delta head coach Phil Douglas.

The second half was not much easier for Tunica than the first as the Wave ran out to a 23-2 lead as Massoth canned a jumper and Linsey Hebert banked in a three-pointer.Waldrip added six of her 12 points in the period as North Delta took a 29-6 lead going into the final stanza.

Greenlee followed Waldrip and Massoth in scoring with six points while Hebert added five and Kimzey chipped in with two.

“Samantha shot the ball really well the last few games and that has not been her role, but she has worked hard on her outside shooting and has come a long way on that aspect of her game. Madison Greenlee played an excellent game tonight. She did the little things that will not show up in the box score, but she had quite a number of steals and assists,” said Douglas.

North Delta will host North Sunflower tomorrow starting with the junior high games at 1:p.m

North Delta’s junior high girls also had a easy time with Tunica Tuesday night winning 46-6. Bradi Beard led the Wave in scoring with 12 points followed by Hannah Greenlee’s eight.