By Brad Greer

Both the North Delta girls and boys basketball teams closed the regular season at home Tuesday night with mixed results.

After a slow start, the Lady Green Wave exploded on an 11-0 run in the second period then cruised the rest of the way for a 49-23 victory over the Lee Academy Fillies. Junior Sara Waldrip recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds to go along with five assists and four steals as North Delta improved to 20-10 on the year.

Lee however earned a split in the  pair of varsity games as the boys outscored North Delta 24-10 in the fourth quarter to earn a 64-50 win in a game that was considerably closer than the score indicated.

 With the game knotted at 40 after three quarters, the Colts scored the first six points of the fourth period before the Wave closed the gap to 52-48 on a Taylor Herron layup with 3:33 left to play. Lee pushed the lead back to six at 56-48 on Anthony Steen’s short jumper and Douglas Smith put back his own miss with under two minutes remaining.

Lee then converted seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch to put the game  away. Taylor Tidwell sank a pair of free throws to put the visitors ahead 60-50 with 1:01 showing on the clock.

  The third quarter saw four lead changes and three ties as North Delta led by as much as six only to have the Colts to battle back and tie the game. Geri Lamm scored on a cross-over layup and Jim Tom Copeland, who led the Wave with 15 points, converted a three-point play for a 36-30 lead. Lee battled back to tie the game on True’s baseline jumper. Steen, a Alabama football signee, knotted the game with a kiss off the glass as the buzzer sounded.

   Tres Brassell followed Copeland with 12 points while Tyler Herron, one of two seniors on the Green Wave roster, added nine. Corbin Baker registered eight points while senior Bateman Greenlee had four. Bryan Nickle and Lamm rounded out scoring with two points each. Chase Crumpton led the Colts with 14 points.

   In the girls matchup, Lee’s Katie Carter scored on a layup at the end of the first quarter to tie the game at 4-4, after that it was all Green Wave as Laci Dubravec nailed a trey followed by Bradi Beard’s layup staked North Delta to a 11-4 lead. Waldrip swished a three-pointer at the 6:15 mark then added a pair of free throws to make the score 16-4. Kalynn Duholy ended the Fillies drought with a three-pointer with 3:00 left before intermission.

After taking a 20-11 lead at halftime, the Lady Wave outscored the Fillies 29-12 in the second half. Linsey Hebert’s pair of free throws early in the fourth expanded the margin to 32-17. Hebert later canned a three-pointer from the right corner for a 39-17 lead. Back-to-back buckets by Waldrip gave the home team its largest lead at 47-23 with 1:19 left to play.

Dubravec followed Waldrip in the scoring column with 11 points to go along with three steals. Herbert dished out three assists and eight points while Hannah Waldrip and Samantha Massoth had four points each. Lauren Kimsey chipped in with three points and four steals.