By Brad Greer

If the North Delta boys basketball team was to break a modest two-game losing streak Tuesday night at home they would have to do it against reigning two-time state champion Marshall Academy.

The results were not good.

Led by sophomore sharpshooter Dakota Dailey’s 15 points, the No.1 and undefated Patriots eased past the Green Wave 55-41 in a District 1-AA contest. With the victory, Marshall improved to 10-0 on the season while North Delta saw its record slip to 2-7 and 1-3 in league play.

The Patriots had no problem gaining control early in the contest, taking a 19-8 lead after one quarter of play. Jacob Lewis nailed a pair of three pointers while Dailey connected on another to take Marshall to a 9-3 advantage.

Dailey later knocked down two more shots from behind the arch as the  first quarter expired.
Marshall would then expand its lead to 37-14 at intermission as Brad Bennett added nine of his 14 points in the second quarter. Antonio Love ended the first half with a basket then a steal and layup in the final seconds.

Renic Greenlee led North Delta in scoring with 10 points while Sam Copeland followed with eight. The Green Wave ended the night shooting 41 percent from the floor on 16-of-39 attempts.
Marshall increased its lead to 29 points late in the third period before putting in their reserve unit to finish out the game.

North Delta closed the margin to 14 points by out scoring the Patriots 17-4 in the fourth quarter as Greenlee added seven points in the stanza.

Hunt Howell added seven points for the Green Wave while Will Hartzell registered five. Jonathan Mackey and Tyler Beard each had four points with Bailey Sullivant contributing with three points. Tylor Lee did not figure into the scoring but led with team with five rebounds.

Marshall (girls) – 36
North Delta- 31
In a defensive struggle, the visiting Patriots held the Lady Green Wave to no field goal for over 10 minutes before holding off a late North Delta surge in the fourth quarter to gain the victory.

After leading 10-8 after the first quarter, Marshall went on a quick 8-0 run early in the second period that was aided by Elizbeth Skelton’s three pointer.

North Delta’s Julie Morrow broke the streak with a pair of free throws  to make the score 18-10 with 3:08 remaining before halftime. Jordan Pullen would then nail a trey to close the margin to 19-15 before Hastings Neal’s bucket at the 2:24 mark left the Lady Wave trailing 22-17 at halftime.

Marshall added to its slim lead in the third quarter on a pair of three-pointers by Skelton, who led all scorers with 17 points.

The Lady Waves meanwhile could only manage two free throws by Morrow in the third period to trail 28-19 heading into the fourth quarter.

Erin Snider’s short jumper and Callie Masterson’s steal and lay up cut the Patriot lead 28-25 to open the fourth period. Skelton however would end the run with a three ball from the corner with 3:35 remaining.

Charla Darby, who led North Delta with nine points, later add a three-pointer with 20 seconds left for the game’s final points.

Snider and Morrow followed Darby with six points each while Pullen added four. Claire Gant, Neal and Masterson all added two points as North Delta fell to 9-6 and 1-2 in the district standings.

Jr. High
In junior high action, Will Kidder scored 19 points for North Delta, but it was not enough however as the Marshall boys took a 53-40 victory.

Peyton Neal followed Kidder with eight points while Dennis King and Joseph Wright had four each. John Haga Lewis and Cole Devazier finished with three and two points each.
North Delta’s junior high Lady Wave managed to pick up the only win of the night with a 27-19 victory.

Ginger Stevens led the way with 10 points followed by Janie Brasell’s eight. Sarah Johnson contributed with five while Megan Bollinger and Caroline Dickins added two points.

Both Green Wave seventh grade squads fell to Marshall as the girls lost 15-8 and the boys were defeated 14-9.

Mary Emily Morris scored four points for the Lady Wave while Lindsey Douglas and Hannah Malatesta scored two each.

Graves Baker led the North Delta boys with four points while Avery Rowland added three and Luke Lewis garnered two points.

North Delta travels to Carroll today for six games starting at 3 p.m. then visits Magnolia Heights tomorrow at 1 p.m. before breaking for Christmas holidays. The Green Wave will not return to their home court until Jan.15 when they host Kirk Academy.