Lady Oracles
By Todd Swank Contributing sportswriter

The girls of Delphi High School extended their losing string to eight games with a pair of losses last week - to Tri County 51-40 and West Lafayette 64-26.

Against the Cavaliers of Tri County the Oracles played two games in one. The first half the Oracles played out of control and fell behind 31-16. During the second half they slowed the ball down on offense, didn't force the ball and outscored the hosts.

The Cavaliers started the game hot. With less than four minutes ran off the clock the Oracles were behind 14-2. The defense came alive and limited the Cavaliers to just two more points during the remainder of the period to trail 15-6 entering the second quarter.

Hannah Strasser hit two buckets and a free throw during the first minute and the score was close again at 15-11. Still energized because of senior night celebrations, Tri County scored the next eight points in a row. Whitney Arion broke the streak when she took the ball end-to-end for a layup. A three pointer by Arion just before the half allowed the Oracles to escape being doubled up on the scoreboard at the half. The Oracles had turned the ball over 13 times. With that many extra chances to score the Cavaliers were up 31-16.

A different team came out of the Oracle locker room for the second half. By playing smarter and taking care of the ball they only turned the ball over six times. Delphi took almost six minutes to score (a free throw by Kylee German) but had held Tri County to a single basket during that time. Trailing 38-17 with less than two minutes remaining in the third, the Oracles got hot and scored seven of their game's next nine points. Carli Rouhier and Strasser each hit a pair of free throws, followed closely by another German free throw. When Arion hit a bucket to close out the third the score was 40-24.

It was time for the Oracles to get hot during the final period with seven Delphi players scoring. Arion and Strasser each had four with Bria Jones, Kayla Yates and Kristina Barnard adding two apiece and Erika Hawn and German both getting a free throw.

Although it was obvious that the Oracles were in too deep of a whole to dig themselves out of, they did manage to shave a 21- point third quarter deficit to 11 points by the end of the game.

The Oracles' record falls to 4-14 for the year and the JV lost a close game, 29-26.

Against West Lafayette

Just like the Tri County game the Oracles fell behind early but unlike their previous game they never mounted a comeback. The West Lafayette Red Devils played tenacious defense from start to finish.

By the time Hawn scored for the Oracles they were already behind 9-0. A trey by Emily Kayser and a free throw by German were the only other points by Delphi in the first period. WL had a 21-6 lead.

Strasser and Barnard combined for seven of Delphi's nine points in the second quar- ter. While Delphi was scoring those points the Red Devils were scoring 19 of their own to stretch the halftime lead to 25 points at 40-15.

The WL defense held Delphi scoreless for nearly the entire third period. German converted two free throws with 43.2 seconds showing on the clock.

WL was in cruise control in the fourth quarter and coasted to the final score of 64-26.

Delphi is now 4-15 for the season. The JV also lost 37-28.

With one game remaining (at Benton Central on Jan. 31), the Oracles have little time to fix their mistakes with sectional around the corner. They travel to Clinton Central for a first round game on Feb. 5 for a 7 p.m start. Their opponent is the host team for the tourney. Earlier in the year Delphi went to Clinton Central and came away with a 49-20 loss.