Delta overcomes familiar start, drags down Chadwick for rowdy sectional road win

Battling nerves, animosity and some old demons from a year ago, Delta girls basketball drowned out the noise for a wild 60-55 victory at Chadwick to advance to the Class 1 quarterfinals once more.

Led by big nights on the scoreboard from Addison Nichols, Jade Berry and Presley Holweg along with some big follow-up contributions from Grace Ansell and Mya Gillespie, the Bobcats had just enough gas in the tank to take down Chadwick.

Blowing by the Cardinals with another second-half surge a whopping four hours from home, Delta’s conditioning paid off with a huge performance late.

“Four hours from home, on a school night,” Bobcats coach David Heeb said. “There's no good way to travel or prepare for this.

“To beat them on their court, after the long day we had? I'm so proud of my kids.”

After dropping a quarterfinal to the Cardinals in Van Buren, Missouri, a season ago, the nerves of old came back to haunt Delta early.

Some big turnovers, missed shots and sloppy play saw Chadwick take an early lead, but Heeb’s girls stayed resilient and fought through to rally back and into a big second-half lead.

Despite a rough end to the game at the free-throw line, the Bobcats did enough to down the Cardinals and advance one step closer to a state title.

“The turnovers early, I mean, it was like deja vu from last year's game.

“That's the main thing we talked about at halftime: They're not stopping us. We're stopping us. I thought in the second half our kids really got going.”

Chadwick’s disciplined start saw it jump out to a quick lead, holding its own down low and forcing Delta to make the miscues.

With a handful of Delta turnovers and some slick shooting, the Cardinals jumped out to a 16-15 lead over Delta after a quarter.

Holding onto the ball proved to be a big problem for the Bobcats entering the half.

Down three points on the Delta’s final possession of the first half, however, junior guard Jade Berry drilled a 3-pointer on a skip pass to tie the game back up before the half.

Entering the interval at 27-27, Chadwick brought the energy early against its familiar foe and had Delta out of sorts in the transition game.

But, in the third quarter, the game told a different tale.

Mya Gillespie and Grace Ancell both got their interior games going, forcing Chadwick into some tough defensive looks and foul trouble.

By the end of the third, Delta had grabbed a 7-point lead late and took a 43-38 edge going into the final frame.

The Cardinals rallied back into a 43-42 deficit quickly, aided by the ear-piercing Chadwick crowd as Delta lost its cool early in the fourth.

In need of a big play, however, Delta’s regular threat delivered as senior guard Addison Nichols nailed a triple to put the wind back in the Bobcats’ sails.

Delta, up 55-44, sat on its laurels for the final few minutes of the game – and that didn’t sit right with Chadwick.

The Cardinals led a furious comeback to cut the Delta lead to just four, but a few free throws from Presley Holweg finally put Chadwick away for the 60-55 win on the road.

Holweg ended up leading the Bobcats in scoring, nailing six free-throws in the fourth quarter to finish with 17 points in the playoff victory.

Addison Nichols (16) and Jade Berry (13) joined her in double digits, with Mya Gillespie (9) making some big contributions out of the post.