By Brad Greer

Emerging from the lockerroom to the applause of their faithful fans, a misty-eyed North Delta girls basketball coach Phil Douglas stood at mid-court of a almost empty Kirk Academy gymnasium and pondered what might have been.

For the third consecutive game, the Lady Green Wave dug themselves out of an early first quarter hole, but this time it would ultimately cost them their season as the Waves fell 58-47 to No. 2-ranked Brookhaven in first round action of the Academy AA State tournament Tuesday night.

“It just looked like we were searching too much in the first quarter. We were searching for an answer to No.14 (Brookhaven guard Terah Winbourn) we knew she was a special-type player and she definitely proved that tonight,” said Douglas.

“We had a difficult time guarding her. She got a couple of our key players in foul trouble and we rotated different people on her. Another key to the game is we did not rebound well at all in the first half. They out-rebounded us 18-5 in the first half, but we did a much better job keeping them off the boards in the second half and out-played them. We just got behind early and it hurt us,” said Douglas.

Trailing 30-11 at halftime, North Delta staged a furious comeback by outscoring the Cougars 36-28 in the second half.

Bradi Beard accounted for 11 of her team-high 21 points in the third quarter with a pair of three pointers to close the margin to 39-27 heading into the final eight minutes of the contest.

North Delta continued to  put the heat on Brookhaven in the fourth quarter as Laci DuBravec canned a three-pointer then converted a turnover into a layup to trim the Cougar lead to 41-33 with 6:38 remaining in the game.

Hanna Greenlee and DuBravec got the Green Wave fans on their feet with a pair of treys to cut Brookhaven’s lead to 43-39 at the 4:56 mark.

That would be as close as North Delta would get however as the Cougars hit 10-of-11 free throws down the stretch with Laura Beth Wright connecting on eight in a row in the last two minutes of the contest.

Brookhaven (31-8) was held to two field goals in the fourth quarter but sank 15-of-17 shots from the charity stripe and 23-of-29 for the contest. North Delta meanwhile converted 12-of-20 free throw opportunities and shot 30 percent from the floor.

North Delta was called for 23 fouls compared to 17 for the Cougars. Katelyn Still, Beard and Neal all fouled out in the last two minutes of the game while one Brookhaven starter fouled out.

The first quarter was all Brookhaven as the Cougars raced to a 14-7 lead on Winbourne’s seven points. North Delta’s first points came on a Greenlee basket and the 4:05 mark. Beard and Hastings Neal added field goals while Katelyn Still’s free throw accounted for the Green Wave points.

Brookhaven extended its lead to 25-9 midway through the second quarter on a Winbourn layup. Madison Warren later drained a three-pointer to increase the lead to 30-9. North Delta’s only points of the quarter came a pair of free throws by Beard and Greenlee.

DuBravec followed Beard in scoring with 11 points, three assists and five steals. Greenlee added eight points and seven rebounds. Neal chipped in with six points while Still finished with four assists and one point.

Despite the loss, North Delta (30-10)  reached the state tournament for the first time since 2001 while setting a school record in victories in a single season.

“Even though we are losing a special group of young ladies, we have got a talented bunch of juniors and sophomores returning who are going to work hard to get back here next season,“ said Douglas.