Huge second half propels Delta GBB past Woodland 66-54

CHAFFEE — The slow start and lack of rebounding were uncharacteristic for Delta. The up-tempo offense and scoring, well, that has been a staple for Ladycat girls’ basketball for quite some time.

Junior Lillian Boitnott dropped 18 points and junior Grace Ancell added 10, helping Delta hold off Woodland 66-54 in the Red Devil Invitational semifinals at Chaffee High School.

“Just give credit to Coach (Paul) Lynch and his team,” Delta head coach David Heeb said of Woodland. “I thought they played really hard. They're a lot better than they were a year ago and they deserve a lot of credit for the way they played tonight. We had a pretty good lead there early in the game, and they could have chose to quit playing, and they didn't. So, give them credit.

“I just thought we missed so many opportunities. Basketball is a game that rewards the finisher. We have so many chances to finish plays right now and we're just not finishers yet. If we become finishers, we’ve got a great team.”

After trailing 22-14 at the start of the second quarter, senior Mallary Barks and Woodland rattled off a huge 11-0 run to go up 25-22 and take its first lead of the game. That’s until Delta got out of a slump and responded with a 10-0 run to close out the first half on top 32-25.

Delta bounced back nicely in the second half, using physical defense and fast-paced offense to its advantage. Boitnott’s 3-pointer with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter put the nail in the coffin, which gave the Ladycats a 64-46 lead to quiet the Cardinal fan section.

Delta placed two players in double figures and had 10 steals in the second half. Freshman Raelin Nanney chipped in with eight points, while senior Jade Berry led the team in assists.

The Ladycats return just two starters from a squad that finished third at the Class 1 state tournament last season and have added a few younger pieces to the mix. Heeb took full advantage, giving nine players at least two minutes of playing time.

“We've got one kid back that's played through this good run we've had — Jade Berry,” Heeb said. “The a lot of these kids are first-timers. So, they're good players, but they just need the experience. I think somewhere in the course of this season we can have a great team, but we just got to clean a lot of things up."

This squad still has the talent to be one of Heeb’s best during his seventh-year tenure at Delta, even with the losses of star-studded seniors Addison Nichols, Mya Gillespie and Presley Holweg. But the Ladycats will have to prove it on the court.

Perhaps the clearest glimpse of this group’s potential came in the early stages of the fourth quarter. After Woodland rimmed a shot, Berry got hold of the loose ball and raced up court. She drove the lane and quickly flipped the ball to Nanney, who capped the sequence with a smooth layup.

Woodland needed to play a near-perfect game to pull off the outright upset. Barks led the Cardinals with a game-high 19 points, while sophomore Addy Massa finished with 15.

What’s become clear is that, despite the tight first half, the Ladycats rarely lose regular season games — this was their 33rd straight regular season victory over an in-state opponent — but there is plenty of room to grow for Heeb’s fairly new-look squad.

“There was a timeout with about three minutes left in the (final) quarter, and we had pushed the lead out to 12 or 13 there,” Heeb said. “And I just kind of challenged the girls to close that quarter strong and I thought they did a really good job. We got it up to 20, but it's like every time we would get to that level, we would just have a letdown. That's when we would quit finishing, miss a lay up, not grab a rebound, or whatever. So, it’s just a lot of little things.”

Delta will face the winner of No. 2 seed Chaffee and No. 3 seed Sikeston in the Red Devil Invitational Championship on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. at Chaffee High School.