Lady Oracles break losing streak
By Todd Swank

The Lady Oracles, led by Brianne Stauffer's 21 points and 18 rebounds, come from behind to beat the Sheridan Blackhawks Thursday, 68-63. They ended a losing streak that had reached 11 games in a row with a 49-31 loss to Rossville earlier in the week.

When Olivia George scored the first bucket for Delphi the Rossville Hornets had already jumped out to a 7-0 lead. A rebound basket by Stauffer and another score by George made it 12-6 at the end of one period.

Delphi opened the second quarter with three turnovers and fell behind 17-7. A Kayla Yates free throw was the only scoring for the Oracles in a four-minute stretch that ended when George hit her third bucket of the night. Delphi staged a rally on a basket and free throw by Erika Hawn, followed by a three-pointer by Stauffer, and Kristina Barnard's score and the Oracles only trailed by two, 19-17, with less than two minutes left in the half. That was as close as they would come though. Rossville made the last four points to take a 23-17 lead into the locker room at the half.

The Hornets outscored the Oracles, 16-5, in the third with the only points being a basket by Hawn and a three point shot by Barnard. Heading into the final period the Hornets had built a 39-22 lead. Delphi could only score nine fourth quarter points, led by Emily Kayser with five.

Leading scorer for Delphi was George with 6. Four players had 5 each - Stauffer, Hawn, Barnard and Kayser. Bria Jones had 3 and 1 each by Yates and Haley Richardson.

The Oracle JV squad lost 29- 18.

Vs. Sheridan

The Blackhawks came to town and took an early 10-2 lead. It looked like the Oracles were going to struggle again. Falling behind by nine at 17-8, Delphi made the last five points of the opening period to pull to within four, 17-13. Stauffer had scored eight points to keep Delphi close. The second quarter saw the Oracles fall behind by as many as 15 points at 31-16. The Lady Oracles committed numerous turnovers to give Sheridan the lead.

With Sheridan leading 37-22 to start the second half, it looked like the Oracles were going to lose once again. The lead stood at 17, 41-24, when the Oracles got momentum on their side and started to creep back into the game. The rally started with a basket by Hawn, followed closely by a threepointer by George. Two buckets by Hawn, one a trey, and a score by Stauffer completed a 12-0 Delphi scoring streak. The Blackhawks were reeling, but managed to right the ship long enough to take a 52-45 lead into the final stanza. Hawn led the Oracles with 11 third period points.

Stauffer hit a three pointer to open the fourth to keep the pressure on Sheridan and to keep the comeback alive. Two minutes later the comeback was completed on a basket and free throw by Hawn, giving the Oracles their first lead of the game at 56-54. Sheridan would pull even at 56 but could not keep up with the Oracles, who won by scoring 12 more points in the last four minutes for the final margin of five, 68-63.

Scoring for Delphi were Stauffer and Hawn with 21 each, George had 9, Hannah Strasser 7, Joanna Zink 4, Barnard 3, Kayser 2 and Amanda Schultz 1.

The Oracle JV won this one, 29-18.

With the split last week the Oracles' record is 3-14.