By Myra Bean and Brad Greer

The North Delta Lady Green Wave players were on a roll in the North State Tournament they hosted last week.

However, they hit a big road block in the form of Leake Academy as they lost in the championship game 60-31.

The loss dropped North Delta (30-9) to second in the north and set up a date with the south No. 3 team, Brookhaven Academy (26-4). Brookhaven defeated Adams Christian 68-42 in the consolation game.

Leake (33-2) jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Lady Green Wave could score with 1:43 left in the first quarter on a Bradi Beard field goal. Beard sank a three-pointer with 38 seconds left in the quarter to go into second quarter down 21-5.

Knowing that North Delta had a history of slow starts and comebacks as witnessed by their victory over Oak Hill Friday night, Leake did not let up and allow the Lady Green Wave offense any opportunities. Leake led 34-14 at the half and outscored North Delta 26-17 in the second half.

Beard, who was named to the All-Tournament team, led the Lady Green Wave with 12 points and five rebounds.

Also scoring were Katelyn Still, seven points, three assists, three steals and three rebounds; Laci DuBravec, six points, four rebounds, two steals.

Scoring two points each were Hanna Greenlee, Hastings Neal and Hannah Waldrip.

In the north state consolation game, Oak Hill had to use one overtime to defeat Riverdale 63-57. Oak Hill lost a big lead like they did to North Delta and as the buzzer sounded, Riverdale tied the score at 56 to force the overtime.

In the south, Bowling Green, La. defeated Simpson Academy in the championship game 46-32. The AA bracket may be found on page A16.

North Delta vs. Oak Hill

The Lady Green Wave advanced to Saturday’s championship game against six-time defending state champ Leake with a 53-47 come-from-behind victory over Oak Hill Friday afternoon.

It was North Delta’s third win over the Lady Raiders in four meetings this season.

Oak Hill jumped out to a 16-7 lead after one quarter of play before extending the margin to 21-9 midway through the second period.

North Delta then awoke from their shooting slumber by going on an 8-2 run on Laci DuBravec’s three-pointer and a Katelyn Still bucket to narrow Oak Hill’s lead to 23-17 with 3:05 left to play in the first half. Later on in the quarter, Bradi Beard converted a three point play to make the score 27-23. DuBravec then nailed a three- pointer with 11 seconds to play that to give Oak Hill a slim 29-28 halftime lead.

Anna Reedy gave the Raiders a 37-31 advantage in the third quarter, but the lead did not last long as the Wave mounted a comeback on Still and Beard’s back-to-back three’s to tie the contest at 39 with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter. Still gave North Delta the lead at 41-40 with a soft floater in the lane to close the period.

Dubravec extended North Delta’s lead to 46-40 early in the fourth before the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to take a 47-46 lead.

Dubravec gave the Wave the lead for good at 48-47 with a huge basket following a Hanna Greenlee missed free throw. Beard and Dubravec added a pair of late free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.

Beard and Still led North Delta with 17 points while DuBravec followed with 15 points, four assists and four rebounds. Beard also pulled down 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals. Greenlee also added 10 boards and two points. Charla Shea Darby rounded out the scoring with two points.

North Delta (30-8) shot 42 percent from the floor and 14-of-24 from the free throw line.