Delta girls go into drought, fall short of final four berth

The Delta girls basketball team opened an 11-point lead after one period Saturday in the Class 1 sectional basketball game with Chadwick at the West Plains Civic Center.

But after scoring 15 points in that opening frame, the Bobcats managed just 14 points the rest of the game and suffered a 45-29 defeat.

Chadwick (25-4) advances to play DeKalb (25-3) in a state semifinal game Thursday.

Delta, which was attempting to reach the final four for the second time in three years, finished 21-6.

"The big difference was turnovers," Delta coach Randy White said. "That was just huge. We had us down for 17 turnovers and most of those came from the end of the first quarter on."

Despite scoring just two points in the second period, Delta led 17-14 at halftime. But the Bobcats fell behind 31-25 entering the final period.

"In the fourth quarter, we just turned the ball over and didn't have enough opportuties," White said. "We have to continue to work on shot selection. We'll get better."

Senior Sarah Cook led Delta with nine points in the final game of her career. Shea Smith and Ashley Deprow each added six.

Cook, Krysal Burnett and Jessica Livingston will depart from the team via graduation but Smith and Kaci Menz each have two more years of eligibility and Deprow is a freshman.

"We'll have several players back," White said, "but we still have a lot of work to do."

CHADWICK 45, DELTA 29

Chadwick 4 10 17 14 -- 45

Delta 15 2 8 4 -- 29

CHADWICK (45) -- Courtney Jones 7, Cassie Lewis 4, Stacey Sisco 10, Jessie Pierce 11, Misty Bettis 9, Amanda Workman 4. FG 18, FT 9-19, F 10 (3-pointers: Jones 1, Lewis 1. Fouled out: none)

DELTA (29) -- Sarah Cook 9, Shea Smith 6, Ashley Deprow 6, Rachel Ware 4, Kaci Menz 3, Kacie Seabaugh 1. FG 12, FT 2-5, F 18 (3-pointers: Smith 2, Menz 1. Fouled out: none)