By Brad Greer

Some teams have the ability to overcome slow starts while other seem to let them linger on throughout the game.

North Delta came out of the gate Tuesday in the Oxford Charger Challenge  against DeSoto Central getting clean looks at the basket, but unfortunately none would find the bottom of the net.

The Lady Green Wave missed their first eight shots of the game before Ally Alford’s layup with 1:10 left in the first quarter resulted in North Delta’s first points.

From then on, the Waves found themselves playing catch up as DeSoto Central led from start to finish to improve its record to 4-2 on the season. North Delta meanwhile fell to 6-3 on the year.

Faith Bollinger’s three pointer closed the margin to 19-17 with 1:24 left in the first half before the Jaguars added back-to-back buckets for a 23-18 lead at halftime.

DeSoto Central reeled off eight straight points to start the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 31-18.

North Delta would not go away however as Ally Alford, who led the Lady Wave with 22 points hit a three pointer then converted a layoff off a steal to cut the Jaguar margin to 35-25 at the 2:14 mark of the third quarter.

Bollinger followed Alford in scoring with 11 points while Isabella Morrow garnered five. Shelby Boone registered four while Hannah Bollinger and Sayle Stennett finished with two points each.North Delta hosts South Panola Tuesday before traveling to Heritage Thursday.

The boys team did not play in the Oxford tournament. They play again Tuesday night at North Delta when South Panola visits. The junior high and varsity teams will play beginning at 4 p.m.