By Brad Greer

Move over Kirk, there is a new queen of District 1AA girls basketball.

Led by  Katelyn Still’s 14 points and three assists, the North Delta Lady Green Wave dethroned the three-time champion Raiders 38-34 in overtime Saturday afternoon at Carroll Academy. North Delta reached the title game with a 43-23 victory over Marshall Friday night.

With the victory, No. 4 ranked North Delta (28-8) ran their win streak to 12 games while the Raideretts saw their record fall to 26-6 on the season.

Both teams advanced to the Academy North AA State tournament that started last night at North Delta. The Lady Wave received a first-round bye and will face the Central Hinds/ Manchester winner tomorrow night at 6:30.

Saturday’s title game proved to be a defensive battle from the opening tip until the final basket as both teams where held to 30 percent field goal shooting. Team leading scorers  Carman Woods and North Delta’s Bradi Beard were held to nine and 10 points each.

Woods sent the game into overtime with a long range jumper to tie the game at 30 with 28 seconds remaining in regulation. The Lady Wave’s last ditch effort to win the game came up short as Beard’s three-pointer hit the front part of the rim and bounced off as the buzzer sounded.

Kirk scored first in the three- minute extra session on an Emily Lundy basket.   Still then took over by scoring the next six points of the game to give North Delta a 36-32 lead.

The senior point guard knotted the contest at 32 then drove the lane for  a layup on the following possession. Still then calmly knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 36-32 with 20 seconds remaining.

Kirk pulled within two at 36-34 on a Woods basket with six seconds left. But after a quick timeout and foul, Beard iced the game by sinking a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the game.

“I played probably my worst game of the year last night (in Friday’s win over Marshall). I knew I had to come out today and redeem myself,” said Still, who along with Beard and Laci DuBravec were named to the All-District tournament team.

“I was really fired up about playing today. I don’t know if it was because we were playing Kirk or what but I just told myself we was not going to lose today no matter what,” said Still who also pulled down five rebounds in the game.

Neither team could find the bottom of the net in the first quarter as North Delta took a 4-3 lead after one period of play.
Kirk took an 8-5 lead on two Jordan Rutland free throws with 2:21 left in the first half. Beard gave the Lady Wave a 9-8 lead with a jumper over a double team at the 1:40 mark.

Rutland added two more shots from the charity stripe to give the Raiderettes a 12-9 advantage. North Delta then closed out the half when Callie Blake Masterson followed up her missed shot with a basket to close the margin to 12-11 at intermission.

Kirk took its largest lead of the game at 15-11 with 6:42 left in the third quarter. The Lady Wave then reeled off six straight points to take a 17-15 lead on a Hastings Neal layup at the 3:33 mark.

Woods then drilled a three-pointer from the right corner to give Kirk a 20-19 lead at the end of three quarters of play. North Delta regained the lead shortly at 22-20 on Beard’s trey.

Beard, who was named the tournament’s MVP, gave the Wave a 28-24 lead with another three-ball at the 5:19 mark. The Raiders responded with a pair of baskets to tie the contest a 28 before Hanna Greenlee’s basket with 1:18 left gave North Delta a 30-28 advantage.

“We have always talked about breaking though the ‘pressure barrier’ and (assistant coach) Nancy (Douglas) gave the devotion before the game and talked about breaking through one’s barrier. And it’s been a mental barrier when we have played Kirk the past few years but I think the kids broke through that today,” said head coach Phil Douglas.

“We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game. Both teams play great defense and whoever made the most plays of defense at the end of the game would win. Katelyn came back  after scoring one point last night and played like a champion today. They all did,” said Douglas.

Dubravec added six points in the victory while Greenlee pitched in with four. Masterson and Neal registered two points each.

Led by Beard’s 19 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, North Delta doubled up on Marshall in Friday’s semi-final round.
DuBravec followed with nine points while Greenlee added seven points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Peyton Rico chipped in with four points while Charla Darby registered two. Still and Masterson rounded out the scoring with one point.

The North Delta boys meanwhile saw their season come to a end with a 42-40 last-second loss to Indianola.

Hunt Howell led the way with 13 points while Renic Greenlee followed with 12 points. Sam Copeland and Tylor Lee both had six points.