By Brad Greer

For the first time as North Delta’s girls head coach, Phil Douglas finally got the monkey, that is known as Kirk Academy, off his back.

Tuesday night, the Lady Green Wave snapped a nine-game losing streak dating back to 2006-07 season with a 52-41 victory over the Raiders.

Laci Dubravec led North Delta (18-8; 4-1) with 14 points on four three-pointers. Hanna Greenlee added 12 points while Beard and Still registered eight points each.

Hastings Neal provided seven points while Darby finished with three points.

Kirk (17-5) was ranked No. 4 by The Clarion-Ledger going into the game.

Not many things have gone right this season for the North Delta boys basketball team. For one night however everything seemed to fall into place.

Led by Renic Greenlee’s season high 20 points, the Green Wave had no trouble picking up their third win out of four games with a 62-26 blowout victory over Marvell, Ark.Monday night.

Eleven players got into the scoring column as North Delta (3-12) took a 19-2 lead after the first quarter and 37-11 at intermission.

Greenlee scored the first seven points for the Wave while Sam Copeland’s putback of his own missed shot made the score 9-0 at the 4:44 mark.

Marvell’s only score of the quarter came on a field goal with 59 seconds remaining. Zach Inman added a three-point play with five seconds left to close out the period.

Colby Pirtle opened up the second quarter with a three-pointer to extend North Delta’s lead to 22-2. Junior guard Jonathan Mackey converted a pair of turnovers into easy layups later in the stanza after the Eagles hit three straight three-pointers that closed the margin to 24-11 with 3:18 remaining before halftime.

“It has taken some time, but I feel the guys are finally playing with a little bit more confidence in themselves. We knew it would take about half the year for the starters to get into a groove on the court. They are giving 100 percent at practice and are spending extra time in the gym. We have talked about finishing the season strong and getting ready for the post-season and right now we feel good about how we are playing,“ said North Delta head coach Brad Wilson.

Mackey followed Greenlee with nine points while Copeland added eight. Brett Harrington and Inman chipped in with six points while Tylor Lee, Luke Williams, Harly Ashby, J. J. Kilpatrick and Hunt Howell all registered two points each.

Green Wave vs. Kirk

Kirk held off North Delta 52-48 in varsity boys play. Renic Greenlee led the Wave with 17 points followed by Copeland with 13. Mackey and Lee added six each while Luke Williams chipped in with two.

Lady Green Wave vs. Marvell

In varsity girls play, the No. 5 ranked Lady Green Wave jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter of play before cruising to a 40-12 win over the Eagles.

Claire Gant led the way with nine points while Bradi Beard and Hanna Greenlee added eight each. Charla Darby contributed with five points. Julianna Morrow followed with four points. Callie Blake Masterson pulled down seven rebounds to go along with four steals and two points.

Hannah Waldrip and Katelyn Still rounded out the scoring with three and one points.

North Delta will host Marshall tomorrow starting at 2 p.m.