By Brad Greer

The North Delta boys and girls basketball teams closed out the 2012 portion of their schedule by participating in the Magnolia Heights Holiday Classic held last week in Senatobia.

Both Green Wave squads lost two of three games in the three-day tournament that featured eight teams. The North Delta boys finished in seventh place while the Lady Wave captured sixth place.

The Lady Green Wave opened the tournament with a tough draw as they fell 66-31 to No. 1 ranked and  defending overall state champion Starkville December 27.

North Delta stood toe-to-toe with the powerful Lady Vols before a series of turnovers early in the second quarter opened up the floodgates as Starkville outscored the Waves 22-10 in the period to take a commanding 35-18 lead at intermission.

Charla Darby, who led the team in scoring with 11 points, nailed a three-pointer to close the deficit to 15-11 early in the second quarter. Starkville quickly retaliated with a 13-2 run to expand the lead to 28-13 at the 3:51 mark.

Starkville Academy’s Maggie Proffitt led all scorers with 21 points while Anna Lea Little followed with 15 points that included 10 in the second half.

Lady Wave Erin Snider followed Darby in scoring with six points to go along with five rebounds. Callie Blake Masterson chipped in with five points while Claire Gant and Anna Lloyd added four and three points each. Julie Morrow dished out three assists and two points.

The Lady Wave bounced back from the loss by downing Tunica Academy 46-38 December 28. Morrow paced North Delta with 14 points on 11-of-13 free throws. Snider followed with a double-double, 12 points and 13 rebounds while Darby added six points and five steals.

Hastings Neal registered five points on the day while Masterson contributed with four points and five assists. Jordan Pullen and Gant rounded out the scoring with three and two points each.

North Delta concluded the tournament with a 57-25 loss to Hernando in  a consolation round game December 29. The Lady Tigers led 37-25 after three quarters of play before outscoring the Green Wave 20-0 in the fourth quarter to win going away.

Savannah McCann and Aaliyaha Thornton paced Hernando (5-9) with 19 points each while Darby led North Delta (12-8) with 20 points and three steals. Snider followed with four points while Morrow added five steals, four assists and one point.

The North Delta boys meanwhile salvaged one game in the tournament with a 50-25 rout of Tunica Saturday.

Renic Greenlee, who led the Wave in scoring all three games, finished with a game-high 10 points as all eight players on the North Delta roster got in the scoring column.

Jonathan Mackey led the defensive surge with 10 steals to go along with nine points. Will Hartzell added eight while Sam Copeland and Tyler Beard chipped in with six.

Hunt Howell finished with five while Tylor Lee and Bailey Sullivant registered four and two points.
North Delta (4-10) lost to Starkville 57-35 Thursday and 55-44 to Southern Baptist Friday despite 16 points from Greenlee.

Howell followed Greenlee in scoring with nine points while Mackey and Copeland registered six each. Hartzell and Lee rounded out the scoring with five and two points.

North Delta will resume play Tuesday at Indianola beginning at 3:30 before taking part in the Kirk Tournament Wednesday through Friday.