Lady Oracles garner first win
By Todd Swank Contributing sportswriter

Lady Oracle Erika Hawn is fouled on her way to the bucket at home against North White. The Oracles came out on top, 38-35. Bill Stauffer photo

Before the Oracles would win their first game of the young season on Friday, outscoring North White 38-35, they would endure a third loss at the hands of the Seeger Patriots, 31-23.

Any fan of Indiana high school basketball would not mind the long drive to West Lebanon (Seeger High School) to watch the Oracles play bacause in addition to seeing a game, where an Indiana legend, Stephanie White, learned the game of basketball and many of her awards are displayed.

While this years Pariots' team doesn't have anyone named White on the roster, they are still a good team and Delphi found that out.

Turnovers were all that either team could put in the books early as it took two minutes for either team to get a shot off with Delphi doing the honors for a 2-0 lead. Delphi would stretch that lead to 7-0 before Seeger called timeout at the 2:17 mark of the first period. The Lady Patriots came out of the huddle and finished the quarter with two baskets. The score after one was 7-4, Delphi.

The Oracles started the second period by making the Patriots miss their first five shots, but during that same time span the Oracles committed several turnovers and didn't even get a shot off. The Seeger team took the lead, 8-7, with two consecutive baskets a short time later. Delphi would regain the lead, 11-8, on baskets by Hannah Strasser and Brianne Stauffer. The lead would change hands two more times before halftime. A basket by Erika Hawn with five seconds left gave the Oracles a 13-12 lead going into the intermission.

Hawn made one of two free throws to open the third. The score was tied at 16 midway through the third quarter when the Patriots shutdown the Oracles for the remainder of the period and for the first three and one- half minutes of the fourth. When the Oracles would score again the Patriots had scored seven straight points to take control. A basket by Hawn and a free throw by Olivia George put Delphi as close as they would get, 23-19, for the rest of the game. Seeger would continue to inflate the lead until the final 31-23 score.

The Oracle JV eeked out their fourth straight win, 24-22. Scoring for the Oracles were Evans with 8, Burge 6, Lake 3, Myers, Jones and Oliver with 2 each, and Kendall 1.

Vs. North White

The second game of the week against North White saw the Oracles again jump out to a quick lead, 6-0, on three-point shots, one each by Hawn and Stauffer. After a basket by the Vikings, a pair of free throws by Stauffer gave the Oracles another six-point lead at 8-2. The first quarter ended at 8-4.

Stauffer opened the second period the same way she ended the first, with another basket. At this time she had scored seven of the team's ten points. After a Viking off-balance three-point shot banked in to close the gap to 10-7, the Oracles went on to take leads of 15-8, 19-10 and 21-11 before settling for a halftime lead of 21-13. Stauffer (9) and Hawn (12) were the only players scoring for Delphi at this point.

Stauffer scored again to open the second half. After a Viking basket, the Oracles' Emily Kayser and Haley Richardson each made a basket to give the Oracles a 29-16 led after three periods.

North White started the final quarter by scoring the first six points. A Hawn trey put the Oracles' lead back into double digits at 32-22. A second Richardson basket extended the lead to 12 at 34-22 before the Vikings started to mount a comeback. Three three-point shots around a Stauffer deuce and suddenly the Vikings were in contention at 36-31 at the two minute mark. Two free throws by Strasser gave the Oracles a little breathing room at 38-31. Two more baskets by North White put the Vikings within a basket, 38-35, with one minute left in the game.

On consecutive out-ofbounds plays the Oracles were called for five second violations. The Oracle defense kept the Vikings from taking advantage of the errors, keeping the three-point lead. The Vikings committed a turnover and missed their last five shots, including a three at the buzzer.

The Oracle JV continued unbeaten, defeating the Lady Vikings 20-17. Burge led scoring with 6. Kendall, Myers and Evans each had 4 and Randol 2.