Delta cruises to New Year's tournament championship

The Delta girls basketball team used a suffocating defense to spark a second-half run Saturday against Greenville in the championship game of the Delta New Year's Tournament.

The top-seeded Bobcats downed No. 2 Greenville 58-35 with an efficient second-half offense and by holding the Bears to 21 percent shooting.

After Brittany Osborn missed a layup with 4:25 remaining in the third quarter that would have pulled Greenville (7-5) within five points, Delta (8-2) went on an 18-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 45-20 lead.

Delta coach Randy White said his team's offensive execution was much better the second half than the first, helping the Bobcats build the large lead.

Following Osborn's missed layup, the Bobcats offense went to work with Ashley Deprow scoring on an up-and-under move on the inside. After Kaci Menz made a 3-pointer from the left corner to force a Greenville timeout, Deprow added another bucket off an offensive rebound and was fouled on the play. Shea Smith ended the third quarter scoring with a floater in the lane with 49 seconds remaining.

Delta continued their offensive onslaught in the final period when Sarah Cook hit a 3-pointer, and Menz added five points to end the run.

Menz led four Bobcats in double figures with 15. Deprow added 13 and Cook and Smith both had 11.

"We ran, at times, our offense much better and did execute," White said. "The first half, I didn't think we executed well at all on offense, but the second half at times I thought we did real well."

After struggling from the floor to open the game, shooting just 8-of-20 in the first half, the Bobcats finished the game 18 of 36.

However, Delta dominated the Bears on the defensive end. Greenville shot just 11 of 51 from the floor in the game.

"That was probably the worst shooting that we've shot all year," Greenville coach Diane Meyer said. "When we're missing underneath the basket, 10 to 12 layups that we missed, you can't hardly expect to win a game when you're shooting that bad."

Delta still had to work for the win in the fourth. Greenville, after falling behind by 25, turned up the pressure on the full-court press and forced 10 Delta turnovers in the quarter.

Oran, Woodland win

In the third-place game, No. 5 seed Oran (2-4) used a late comeback against No. 3 St. Vincent for a 43-40 win. Oran controlled the first half, leading 24-16 at the break, but the Squaws took the lead entering the fourth quarter with a 20-5 run. Oran scored four points in the last minute to squeeze out the win.

Woodland overcame a shaky game from the free-throw line to top Chaffee 43-38 for the consolation trophy. The Cardinals missed 31 of the 39 free throws they attempted, but Chelsea Martin's 11 points enabled No. 6 Woodland to survive. No. 4 Chaffee (3-8) did not help its cause, making only 7 of 18 free throws.

DELTA 58, GREENVILLE 35

DELTA 8 12 17 21 -- 58

GREENVILLE 6 5 9 15 -- 35

DELTA (58) -- Sarah Cook 11, Krystal Burnett 2, Shea Smith 11, Ashley Deprow 13, Rachel Ware 6, Kaci Menz 15. FG 20, FT 13-15, F 17 (3-pointers: Cook 3, Smith 1, Menz 1. Fouled out: none)

GREENVILLE (35) -- Casey Fischer 14, Brittany Osborn 9, Pam Condray 2, Misty Woodgeard 4, Monica Rogers 5, Heather Deering 1. FG 11, FT 12-14, F 19 (3-pointers: Fischer 1. Fouled out: none)

ORAN 43, ST. VINCENT 40

ORAN 16 8 5 14 -- 43

ST. VINCENT 8 8 20 4 -- 40

ORAN (43) -- Callie Kielhofner 4, Urhahn 5, Tori St. Cin 2, Tiffany Glastetter 11, Erica Michelson 11, Wendy Eftink 2, Mandi Wood 3, Amanda Eftink 5. FG 16, FT 11-27, F 20 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

ST. VINCENT (40) -- Kelsey Kutz 4, Mattingly 9, Joy Donze 3, Lauren Schumer 8, Sierra Paulus 13, Brown 1, Lundy 2. FG 13, FT 14-25, F 24 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Mattingly, Donze, Paulus)

WOODLAND 43, CHAFFEE 38

CHAFFEE 10 7 5 16 -- 38

WOODLAND 7 10 9 17 -- 43

CHAFFEE (38) -- Kim Hester 2, Suzane Reischman 2, Mindy Hendrix 7, Kegan Orr 18, Whitney Schloser 5, Nikole Johnson 4. FG 15, FT 7-18, F xx (3-pointers: Orr 1. Fouled out: Torie Keys, Reischman)

WOODLAND (43) -- Rheanna Greer 6, Sasha Hutson 3, Amanda Abner 10, Tasha Lincoln 4, Francee VanGennip 3, Elisha Glastetter 6, Chelsea Martin 11. FG 17, FT 8-39, F 20 (3-pointers: Martin 1. Fouled out: none)