Delta is the alpha in blowing past Naylor in district final

NAYLOR — The top-seeded Delta Ladycats overwhelmed the host Naylor Lady Eagles 95-30 in the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 girls basketball championship game Saturday to advance to Tuesday’s Class 1 sectional.

Naylor ended its season at 10-16.

“Delta is just a different animal,” said Naylor head coach Logan Foster. “We knew coming in it was going to be really difficult for us. They’re just very good and they have a bunch of players that are very good, so good luck to them.”

Naylor’s leading scorers were Zoey Sprous with 11 points and Harley Sullivan with eight.

Cold shooting from Delta’s offense and a determined Naylor defense kept the game tied at two for the first three minutes. A two and a triple from Delta led to a timeout at 3:38, after which the Ladycats blew the game wide open.

A nine-point Ladycat run extended their lead to 16-2 with two minutes left in the first quarter. By the end of the period, Delta led 23-2 thanks to a barrage of 3s and tough inside play.

“Tonight, they just came out and played hard,” Delta head coach David Heeb said of his team. “We’ve only had our team fully healthy maybe two weeks ago since Christmas. We played one game with our whole team until about two weeks ago, so we’re just starting to hit our groove.”

Delta’s Jade Berry led all scoring with 24 points, with teammate Addison Nichols just one point behind her with 23.

Although the game was played in Naylor, the amount of Delta fans in the stands made the gym feel like a home game for the Ladycats, and their fans were not disappointed.

Things only got worse for Naylor in the second quarter as Delta’s defense was stifling. Every Naylor player who held the ball seemed to be double-teamed, which led to turnovers that Delta converted almost every time down the court.

The Ladycats led 32-6 with six minutes left in the first half, and by halftime, the score saw Delta up 57-10.

“We were definitely tickled to death to be able to play in the finals,” Foster said. “We made it to the district finals two years in a row, so we’re proud of that.”

The Lady Eagles were only able to score eight points in the third quarter, while the Ladycats added 26 points to end the period with an insurmountable 83-18 lead.

Naylor opened the fourth quarter with three consecutive 3-pointers to increase its tally to 27.

With five minutes left, Delta sat its starters and emptied its bench. Naylor did the same with under three minutes left in the game.

With the benefit of a last-second 3-pointer for Naylor by senior Charline Bellet, the teams matched each other with 12 points each in the final frame, but the final results were never in doubt.

Delta will face South Iron Tuesday at Liberty High School in Mountain View for a spot in the state quarterfinals.