A nightmare third quarter led to defeat for the Delphi Lady Oracles at Tri-County last week. Another tough third quarter proved to be too much for the Lady Oracles to overcome at West Lafayette Thursday night. Two days after being outscored 20-1 in the third quarter at Tri-County, Delphi was outscored 16-2 to start the third quarter at West Lafayette. Another defeat followed, 61- 53.

Delphi got off to a good start at Tri-County, leading 20-12 half way through the second quarter. However, Tri-County then switched to a half-court trapping defense and closed the gap to 22-20 at halftime.

The Lady Cavaliers continued in that defense in the third quarter and the Lady Oracles had no answers. The Lady Oracles had 7 turnovers, missed all 6 shots, and were outscored 20-1 in the quarter.

“We just had a bad quarter there in the third,” Coach Dan Dawson said. “We played pretty well the rest of the game, but obviously you have to play well all 4 quarters.”

Down by 17 going into the fourth quarter, Delphi was never able to get any closer than 12 points. Sarah Coghill led the Lady Oracles with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Jordayn Jargstorf and Summer Sutton had 9 points apiece.

At West Lafayette, trailing by 22 going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Oracles made a valiant comeback to cut the lead down to 7 and had a shot to get closer.

“I was proud of how the girls competed and made a nice comeback in the fourth quarter,” Dawson said. “West Lafayette is a very good team, and we played pretty well except for that stretch in the third quarter.”

Summer Sutton led the Lady Oracles with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Jargstorf made a season high 4 three-pointers on her way to 16 points, and Payton Henderson contributed 7 points.

The Lady Oracles finish up the regular season with games at Sheridan and at Benton Central this week. Delphi hosts the sectional that begins Feb. 7 and will play Clinton Central in the second game that night.