Quincy Eller's back-toback threes early in the fourth quarter helped erase a slim Oracle lead and propelled the Cougars to the second round of the Delphi girls basketball sectional. A big final period by Carroll led to a 44-35 win, eliminating Delphi from the tournament for the second year in a row

Eller was injured on a lay up with 6:51 left in the first quarter to put Carroll up 7-0. Because of Eller's sore ankle, Alisha Hedrick came in to make the free throw for her. The score was already 8-0 and it looked like a blowout was on the horizon. The full court press employed by Carroll was bothering Delphi. With Eller out of the game the Oracles began to figure out the Carroll press. Danni Burge and Whitney Arion each scored a basket for Delphi but the lead was expanded to nine points at 13-4 thanks to five points from Abby Reinke. By the end of the first quarter Delphi had pulled to within six points at 15-9.

Hannah Strasser and Jordyn Jargstorf with buckets and Burge with a free throw scored five points to open the second. With the score 15-14 the rout was over and a heated battle for county supremacy was on. Eller, who was still limping, re-entered the game and promptly hit a trey to give the Cougars a little breathing room. Lucy Zook hit Carroll's final points of the half a few seconds later to up the lead to six at 20-14. When Arion sank a long one from beyond the arc the Oracles were behind by a single point, 20-19, with two minutes to go. Carroll somehow held onto the lead until halftime. The Oracles had two chances to take the lead into the locker room, but both times they missed easy lay ups.

In the second half Carroll maintained the lead until Strasser hit a shot on an out- of-bounds play from under the basket to tie it up at 26. A short time later another missed short shot by Delphi kept the Oracles from taking their first lead of the game. Eller did her part to keep the bigger number on the board for Carroll by hitting a pair of baskets in the last minutes of the third, but Arion sank one of two free throws just before the buzzer to put Delphi up 31-30 heading into the final period.

If the favored Cougars felt any pressure by trailing heading into the final period it didn't show. Reinke opened the fourth with a two point score followed in quick succession by two three pointers by Eller. What had been a deficit was now a seven-point advantage, 38-31. Burge's basket brought Delphi within five at 38-33 but that was as close as it would get.

The nine-point difference, 44-35, at the end is not an indicator of the closeness of this game that was hard fought by both teams. The only thing that could have made this contest more entertaining was if it was for the championship on Saturday.

Carroll was led in scoring by Eller, who led all scorers with 23 points. She had help from Reinke with 7, Jess Yoder with 6, and 2 each by Amber Hughes, Sarah Griffin, Zook and Hedrick.

Arion scored 16 to lead the way for Delphi, followed by Jargstorf with 6, Burge with 5 and Brittani Rhodes with 2. In their final game Strasser scored 4 and Kari Lake scored 2.

Delphi finishes with a 7-14 record while Carroll advances with a 14-7 record.