Delta; St. Vincent to meet in championship of Delta New Year’s Tournament

The St. Vincent Indians cruised to a 59-34 semifinal win over the Meadow Heights Panthers on Wednesday night at Delta High School.

The win sets up a matchup between the aforementioned Indians and the Delta New Year’s Tournament host, Delta Bobcats.

Indians coach Mel Kirn credited his team's defense for the momentum in the win.

“We forced some turnovers and our girls took advantage of them,” Kirn said.

While the game tonight was a semifinal matchup in January, the Indians will likely see the Panthers in the postseason as the two teams will be in the same district.

“We don’t know what the district seedings will be so this game is big for seedings,” Kirn said. “They’re a tough matchup. We don’t have a tall girl inside so we have to be the quick girls outside to steal the ball.”

Allie Patrick led the way for the Indians with a 23-point night on 6 made threes. Haley Emmendorfer chipped in 13 points, while Lana Adams had 9 points.

For the Panthers, the duo of Madisen Denman and Rachael Hellebusch scored 12 points a piece to account for 24 of the Panthers’ 34 points.

The loss pushes Meadow Heights (9-2) into the third-place game where the Panthers will take on Woodland at 5:15 p.m. tomorrow at Delta High School.

The championship matchup between St. Vincent (11-1) begins at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Kirn said. “It’s going to be a knockdown drag out and they’ve won it so many years in a row, they have to be the favorites.”

Kirn knows the Indians will have to capitalize on any mistakes the Bobcats may make.

“The better teams don’t make some of the little mistakes some teams make,” Kirn said. “When they pick the ball up we have to be in their face and make them make tough passes.”

Delta 94, Woodland 32

The Delta Bobcats cruised to a big win over the Woodland Cardinals in the second semifinal matchup on Wednesday night at Delta High School.

Delta jumped out to a 21-9 lead after the first quarter before winning the second quarter 31-5 to lead 52-14 at the half.

The offense continued into the third quarter as Delta would strike for 29 more points to take a commanding 81-24 lead as the two teams entered the final quarter of play.

Presley Holweg had 23 points to lead the way for the Bobcats. Jade Berry had 18 points, all coming courtesy of the three ball in the win.