DELTA GIRLS USE LATE RUN TO WIN DISTRICT

ORAN, Mo. -- Delta High girls basketball coach Nate Crowden didn't think his team executed very well for much of Thursday night's Class 1A, District 2 Tournament championship game.

But the Lady Bobcats came through when it counted the most -- after host Oran had rallied for a fourth-quarter lead.

The Lady Bobcats scored the game's final nine points to prevail 35-28 and capture the championship of the two-team district.

Delta, which improved its record to 14-9 after winning a district title for the first time since the early 1980s, advances to a regional game against District 1 champion Couch Monday night in Sikeston.

Oran, the defending District 2 champ, ends its season at 10-11.

"I'm proud that we won," said Crowden. "I didn't think we played real well. We didn't really execute throughout the game, until Oran took the lead. Then we did a good job."

The Lady Bobcats, who beat the Lady Eagles for the fourth time in five tries this season, were led offensively by Rebecca Cook with 13 points.

Stacey Eftink paced Oran with 11 points.

Delta jumped out to an 11-2 lead after one quarter, but Oran pulled to within 13-11 by halftime.

The Lady Bobcats built a 22-15 advantage late in the third quarter only to see the Lady Eagles close to within 24-20 entering the final period.

Maria Eftink scored six straight points at the outset of the fourth quarter as Oran surged ahead 26-24. The Lady Eagles led 28-26 but then were held scoreless the rest of the way.

A basket by Erin Cook with 3:10 remaining put Delta ahead for good at 30-28.

After an Oran turnover, Alexis Nussbaum hit a 15-foot bank shot to make it 32-28 and Nussbaum made two free throws with 33 seconds remaining for a 34-28 lead. Rebecca Cook finished out the scoring by making one of two foul shots with nine seconds left.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Class 1A, District 3

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- St. Vincent saw its season end as the second-seeded Indians lost to third-seeded Viburnum 77-56 in a semifinal game.

In the other semifinal, top-seeded South Iron downed No. 4 Ste. Genevieve Valle 67-50.

St. Vincent broke out to a 9-0 lead only to see Viburnum rally to go up 18-15 after one quarter. It was 35-24 at halftime and 52-41 entering the final period.

Brett Ward paced Viburnum (17-7) with 20 points and Kyle Turnborough added 19.

St. Vincent, which finished at 18-8, got 15 points from Mark Gotto and 12 from Tyler Wengert.

"Viburnum has a good team," said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. "I'm proud of our guys. We lost six seniors from last year's team that went 19-8. We kind of had a whole new team and to come back and go only one win less, we had a good year."

The other semifinal saw Matt Davis score 23 points and Brad Savage add 22 to lead South Iron (21-3).

South Iron and Viburnum will play for the title at 8 tonight, following the 6:30 girls final between top-seeded Viburnum and No. 2 St. Vincent.

Class 2A, District 1

MALDEN, Mo. -- A highly anticipated clash between Caruthersville and Portageville did not come off.

Top-seeded Caruthersville held up its end of the bargain with a 75-60 semifinal win over No. 4 Hayti, but No. 2 Portageville fell to No. 3 Twin Rivers 64-61.

So Caruthersville and Twin Rivers will square off tonight for the championship.