Lady Oracles lose to Cavaliers, Red Devils
By Todd Swank

Going for two Oracle Erika Hawn is seen driving the lane for a lay-up during last week's Delphi girls' game against Tri-County. Tri- County won the game 44-26. Bill Stauffer photo

After recently breaking a long losing streak, the Lady Oracles could not sustain a win against the Tri-County Cavaliers, falling 44-26.

Senior Brianne Stauffer opened the game with a basket to give Delphi an early 2- 0 lead. It would be the only time that Delphi would be in the lead. Tri-County came back with ten straight points. Erika Hawn hit a three pointer with 21 seconds left to pull the Oracles to 10-5 at the end of one.

Stauffer hit a pair of baskets, one a three pointer, and Delphi only trailed by two, 12-10, midway through the second period. Tri-County turned up the heat on defense and shut out the Oracles for the rest of the half while scoring eight. The Cavaliers had doubled up the Oracles 20-10.

An Amanda Schultz score closed the gap to eight at 22- 14 with six minutes left in the third. Tri-County began to pull away for good, taking leads of 28-14 and 32-17 before settling for a third quarter lead of 32-19.

The lead reached 17 at 36- 19, when Hawn hit one of two free throws followed by a Schultz score midway through the fourth period. Tri-County pulled away to the final score of 44-26 with Bria Jones and Emily Kayser hitting a pair of late buckets.

Leading scorers for Delphi were Stauffer with 12, Hawn, Schultz and Kayser had 4 each and Jones 2.

Delphi falls to 3-15 for season.

Vs. West Lafayette

Delphi hosted a very talented West Lafayette team on Thursday night that featured eight seniors on its roster. The Red Devils took care of business early, defeating the Lady Oracles 76-38.

Despite the loss of key senior guard Michelle Oswalt to season-ending knee surgery, West Lafayette still possessed enough talent and depth to outmatch the feisty Oracles.

The Red Devils scored the game's first 10 points before Delphi's Joanna Zink scored with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter.

The early onslaught continued as hot-shooting West Lafayette scored the next 15 points to close the quarter leading 25-2.

The Lady Oracles were only able to get six shots off in the first quarter, while the Red Devils converted 10 of their first 21 field goals.

After Kayser made the front-end of a one-and-one free throw situation to make it 26-3 in the second quarter, Delphi went on a mini-run to force a WL time out by scoring six straight points on baskets by Kayla Yates, Stauffer and Hawn to narrow the score to 26-9.

The Lady Oracles would get no closer. The Red Devils took a 36-12 lead into halftime, and spread the lead to 56-23 at the end of the third quarter.

Delphi kept hustling to the end, but could not overcome the West Side's inside dominance. The Red Devils outrebounded the Lady Oracles by a 45-29 margin.

Eleven Oracles scored in the contest, led by Jones who threw in eight points off the bench, including two 3-pointers. Kristina Barnard and Hawn chipped in five apiece, while Stauffer led with 7 rebounds.

In the JV contest, Delphi stayed close throughout but came up short on the final scoreboard, 41-32. Danielle Burge and Hannah Evans led the Oracles with seven points apiece. Haley Richardson added six points in just two quarters of action.

(John Dunn wrote the West Lafayette game)