By Brad Greer

What a difference two halves of a game can make.

After hitting only 6-of-23 shots in the first half in their game against Delta, the North Delta junior high girls erased a 27-20 halftime deficit to defeat the Raiders 53-41 Tuesday night in the North Delta pre-season tournament.

The Green Wave, (2-0) jumped out to a 14-7 at the end of the first quarter on a pair of free throws by Hanna Greenlee, but after that things went downhill for North Delta in the second period.

Morgan Shook’s jumper cut the Green Wave lead to 17-15 with 4:13 left in the half. Emma Haynes’ layup less than a minute later gave the Raiders their first lead at 21-19. Michelle Tomlinson then scored off of a Miranda Cuff missed shot with nine seconds left to put the visitors ahead by seven at intermission.

The second half was all Green Wave as the home team outscored Delta 20-6 in the third period. Consecutive baskets by Jordan Pointer cut the Raider lead to 29-27 at the 4:02 mark of the third. Hannah Waldrip gave North Delta the lead for good at 35-33 with a put back of a Katelyn Still missed free throw. Still’s layup with 44 seconds left in the period her team a 40-33 lead going into the final stanza.

Waldrip led North Delta in with a game-high 14 points while Laci DuBravec and Pointer contributed with 11 points each. Bradi Beard and Greenlee followed with six points apiece while Still chipped in with five. Shook led Delta with 18 points.

North Delta connected on 20-of-63 shots for the game including 14-for-40 in the second half while holding the Raiders to only five field goals in the second half.

Meanwhile, the North Delta varsity girls had a much easier time of it in their match up with Tunica as the Wave jumped out to a 19-0 lead then cruised to a 57-8  thumping of the Blue Devils in a non-district game.

Sara Waldrip drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Wave a 33-6 lead at halftime. Linsey Herbert and Beard poured in 16 points while Waldrip added 15 on seven-of-11 shooting from the floor. Lauren Kimzey finished out the scoring with seven points as North Delta improved to 2-0 on the young season.

The tournament will conclude tomorrow with seven games on tap starting with North Delta’s seventh grade taking the floor against Marvell at 10:45. The Green Wave Junior High will see action at 5:00 versus Clarksdale Lee followed by the varsity girls as they face off against Lee, Ark.