Delta girls basketball team does not miss shot at revenge

The Delta girls basketball team lost a pair of competitive, low-scoring games to Scott City earlier in the season.

The Bobcats unleashed a first-half offensive barrage Monday night to exact a measure of revenge against the Rams.

Host Delta missed only four shots in the opening two quarters as it piled up 45 points to build a 16-point lead at the break, then coasted to a 59-41 victory.

"It was one of our better halves of the year," senior guard Samantha Bartels said.

Delta improved to 12-8 while Scott City fell to 16-4. The Rams' earlier wins over the Bobcats were 41-35 in the finals of the Chaffee tournament and 44-32 in the finals of the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament hosted by Delta.

Scott City's Katie Hogan drives between three Delta players during the third quarter Monday in Delta. (Fred Lynch)

"We were ready for them," sophomore guard Machela VanGennip said. "We just wanted to beat them so bad."

"We were ready for another shot at them," Bartels said. "It feels good."

Bartels and VanGennip outscored Scott City, Bartels leading the way with 24 points and VanGennip adding 22.

"Sam has really stepped up this year, and Machela has done a good job," Delta coach Randy White said.

Bartels had 20 first-half points -- 13 in the second quarter -- while VanGennip put in 14 first-half points as the Bobcats led 45-29 at the intermission.

Delta's Macey Parks grabs a rebound away from Scott City's Katie Rhymer during Monday's game.

Delta hit 14 of 18 field-goal attempts (77.8 percent) in the half.

"That would definitely be one of our better halves," White said.

The Bobcats finished the contest shooting 66.7 percent (18 of 27). They also had a big advantage from the free-throw line, making 19 of 28 compared to 8 of 14 for the Rams.

"We wanted to take the ball to them," White said. "I was really proud of all the kids. Even the ones who didn't score took the ball to them."

Scott City led 2-0 and there was one tie at 2-2. The Bobcats scored the next six points to go ahead 8-2 and stayed in control the rest of the way.

Delta's Machela VanGennip shoots against Scott City's Brittany Kiefer during the first quarter Monday in Delta.

It didn't help the Rams that 6-foot-2 junior forward Katie Hogan, their top player who is six inches taller than any of the Bobcats, picked up two fouls 3 minutes, 16 seconds into the game.

Hogan, averaging about 20 points and 12 rebounds, sat the rest of the period.

"That hurt," Scott City coach Ricky Keller said.

Delta led 20-14 after one quarter. Hogan picked up her third foul with 2:41 left in the second period. Scott City trailed 34-22 at that time and was outscored 11-7 the rest of the period with Hogan on the bench.

"She's a good ballplayer. They missed her," White said.

Bartels nailed two 3-pointers over the final 26 seconds of the half, the second with 3 seconds left, to send the Bobcats into the locker room ahead 45-29.

Delta scored the first four points of the third quarter to build its biggest lead of 49-29. Scott City got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Any hopes of a comeback went out the window when the Rams went scoreless the first 5:48 of the fourth quarter. They had only two points in the period as Delta spent the entire quarter running the clock down.

"We worked really well as a team," VanGennip said.

Hogan finished with 12 points. Senior guard Stacey Heisserer added 11 points for the Rams.

"We just had no energy," Keller said. "But Delta had a good game plan."

Scott City 14 15 10 2 -- 41

Delta 20 25 6 8 -- 59

SCOTT CITY (41) -- Lindsey Ressel 5, Stacey Heisserer 11, Michaela Cobb 1, Melanie Lacey 8, Katie Hogan 12, Andrea Gray 2, Brittany Kiefer 2. FG 15, FT 8-14, F 20. (3-pointers: Ressel 1, Heisserer 1, Hogan 1. Fouled out: none)

DELTA (59) -- Machela VanGennip 22, Macey Parks 2, Tori Burton 9, Samantha Bartels 24, Myra Henson 2. FG 18, FT 19-28, F 11. (3-pointers: VanGennip 1, Bartels 3. Fouled out: none)