Lady Oracles claim county title
By Rex Overholser

County rivalry Carroll's #12 Sarah Brown shots over the out-stretched arms of Delphi's #22 Amanda Schultz. The Lady Oracles went on to defeat the Cougars 34-25. Lady Oracle Ericka Hawn and Lady Cougar Hanna Peden are seen in the background. Bill Stauffer photo

When reading the different articles in the Comet for the past 2 weeks, Delphi's Lady Oracles appeared to have trouble finding smaller teams. They got their wish on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. The Oracles racked up a team win against a smaller and less physical Carroll Cougar team. Final score was 34-25.

Delphi left the cold Memorial Gym with a 2-3 record as they outshot and outmanned the smaller Cougars who fell to 1-2. This game was the opposite of last year's great offensive battle with sharp-shooting and a lot of action.

This annual battle between the rivals was a case of who could finally win the fourth quarter. Carroll trailed 21-16 at the end of the third quarter. A couple of key shots by Hanna Strasser (5) and Emily Kayser (4) late in the third and early in the fourth helped propel the Oracles to a 6-point lead. Ice cold shooting by the Cougars sealed their fate.

Delphi was paced by Brianne Stauffer's 9 points and Erika Hawn's 7 points to lead a balanced attack of seven scorers all adding to their team game.

Carroll was led by Ashley Miller with 10 points and 5 rebounds. The rest of the team was able to muster 15 points between them with Hanna Peden and Sarah Brown contributing 4 points apiece.

The Lady Cougars' fate was helped by not hitting any free throws and shooting only 12 of 50 shots for a bleak 24%. Delphi hit 13 of 38 for 34%.

The Oracles outrebounded the Cougars by 15 as they were much more physical in the middle.

The Lady Cougars JV team managed to win its second game of the season with an 18-15 margin over Delphi. Molly Craig scored 8 and Luci Zook added 6. Delphi was led by Danielle Burge with 6 points.

The Lady Cougars sought their first Hoosier Heartland win against Clinton Prairie at home last night (too late for press time).