Delta girls forced to settle for second in Class 1

COLUMBIA -- The Delta girls basketball team waited until the wrong time for its worst first-quarter performance of the season.

The Bobcats were shut out 14-0 by Cairo Northeast in the first period of the Class 1 championship game Friday afternoon.

They failed to score their first basket until almost 9 minutes into the contest, and were routed by the Cats 54-32 at Mizzou Arena.

Still, Delta (25-3) finished in second place for just the second time in school history. The 1980 squad was the only other Bobcats team to finish that high at the state tournament. Delta also advanced to the final four in 2003 and 2006, both times finishing third.

Northeast (28-3), which lost to Walnut Grove by 39 points in last year's semifinals, earned its first girls basketball title. And the Cats did it with a quick start fueled by especially strong defense -- something that somewhat surprised even the Northeast players and coaches since they said they often have struggled in the first quarter this season.

"We don't shoot the ball well in the first quarter," Northeast coach Bob Roberts said. "We don't defend well in the first quarter. It usually takes us midway through the second quarter before we kind of get geared up a little bit. Tonight we came geared up to start out with. That was kind of nice."

Northeast 6-foot senior Brandie Roberts added: "I think that was the difference in the game -- because we came out hot. That's what [coach] said at the beginning, 'Let's get off to a different start than what we usually do.' I think that was huge."

Northeast used a triangle-and-two defense, which consists of two guards near the perimeter, two defenders near the baseline and another defender in the middle.

Roberts said he decided to use the defense after speaking with members of his staff, as well as his father, brother and even the principal of Meadville, the school that lost to Delta by 10 points in the state semifinals Thursday. The Northeast coach said he felt it was a suitable defense because it was the best way of putting outside pressure on Delta's two top scorers, Sarah Keys and Taylor Smith.

"Just from watching them play a little bit, and what we heard about them, the two girls [Keys and Smith] were really their perimeter scorers," Roberts said. "And their inside game, we didn't think they had much of one. It really kind of proved to be that way. We thought if we took the 3-line away from them, we could beat them."

Delta missed all 10 of its shots in the first quarter. Eight of those attempts came from 3-point range.

The Bobcats attempted four shots during the first 2 minutes, 55 seconds of the contest, all 3-pointers.

Roberts said his defense did a nice job of pressuring the Bobcats' shooters on the perimeter and contesting every shot.

"We got out and covered the shooters and made enough plays on offense," Roberts said.

Northeast had run numerous defenses this winter and employed the triangle-and-two defense earlier this season.

"I don't really feel like it was as much the pressure, although they did a good job," Delta coach Randy White said. "I don't want to take anything away from them. Their kids played well. But we didn't shoot the ball very well. And at times we know that we should have penetrated more."

White added that he knew Northeast could run a triangle-and-two defense. The Bobcats faced that defense this season, and White did not foresee it giving his team much of a problem.

White wasn't pleased with his team's rebounding, even though Delta outrebounded the Cats 42-33.

"We maybe weren't getting as many rebounds as we should have," Delta senior Sara Blattel said. "Just little things that we could have done better to pick it up in the first quarter."

The Bobcats did struggle on the offensive boards. Their first four missed shots were all collected by the Cats' defense. Delta did have four offensive rebounds in the first period, but only got a single second shot attempt. Delta turned the basketball over twice after collecting offensive rebounds.

Delta turned the ball over five times in the first quarter.

"We haven't had a quarter like that before," White said.

Keys said she did not think her team's slow start should be attributed to the possible nerves of playing in a championship game.

"I just think we weren't very patient on our offense," Keys said. "We just weren't playing how we should have been playing."

Northeast led 14-0 entering the second quarter and enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout the game. It never allowed Delta to get within 10 points.

The Cats led 25-11 at halftime, and 39-19 after three quarters.

Delta shot 11.5 percent in the first half and 16 percent for the game.

"We came out and got off to a great start," Roberts said. "And what better time to do it than the state championship."