By Brad Greer

Free throw shooting at times can be the difference between winning and losing. For the North Delta girls basketball team it came down to be picture perfect.

The Lady Green Wave connected on nine-of nine opportunities from the charity stripe including four straight in the last 19 seconds of the game to take a hard-fought 50-46 victory over Marvell, Ark. Saturday afternoon.

Leading 46-44 with 19 seconds remaining, North Delta’s Hannah Waldrip knocked down two of her four free throws in the game to give the home team a 48-44 lead. After Marvell’s Whitney Howard scored a basket to make the score 48-46, Katelyn Still was quickly fouled with five seconds remaining.

The junior guard calmly sank both free throws to ice the game and help the Green Wave improve their record to 13-4 the season. Marvell fell to 12-5 on the year.

Laci DuBravec led North Delta in scoring with 17 points while Bradi Beard pulled down 10 rebounds and added nine points. Hanna Greenlee chipped in with eight followed by Charla Shea Darby with six points. Still contributed with four points and seven assists. Madison Greenlee finished out the scoring with two points. Howard led the Eagles with a game-high 23 points.

North Delta took a 27-21 halftime lead on Beard’s three point play with 32 seconds remaining in the first half. Marvell however caught fire in the third period out-scoring the Wave 18-10 to take a 39-37 advantage going into the final eight minutes with Howard nailing three three-pointers’ in the stanza. Beard’s basket  with 35 seconds left in the contest gave North Delta the lead for good at 46-44.

Marvell shot 15-of-35 (42 percent) from the floor while the Green Wave connected on 17-of-38 (44 percent) for the game.

Varsity Green Wave Boys

In varsity boys action, North Delta jumped out to a 18-2 lead after the first quarter before coasting to a 54-16 victory over the Eagles. Jim Tom Copeland led nine different Green Wave scorers with 15 points. Senior Bryan ‘B’ Nickle followed with 12 while Matthew Barefoot and Bailey Gurkert added seven points each for North Delta, who raised the record to 7-1 on the year.

Corbin Baker chipped in with five points while Renic Greenlee, Tyler Lee, John Cody Dalrymple and Derrick Shawn all finished with two points apiece.

Both North Delta cagers picked up district wins Friday at West Memphis, Ark. as the Lady Green Wave got 23 points from DuBravec in a 46-34 win. The Green Wave boys meanwhile came away with a 47-41 victory.

Beard added nine points and four steals while Darby registered seven points. Hanna Greenlee pulled down eight rebounds while dishing out five assists to go along with four points. Still passed out four assists and one point.

Shawn led North Delta (7-1; 2-1) with 14 points followed by Nickle with 10 points. Baker chipped in with nine points while Copeland finished with seven. Guckert added five points and Barefoot rounded out the scoring with one point.

North Delta will participate in the Magnolia Heights tournament December 28-30.