By: Nate Calvin
WHITEHOUSE, OHIO-After going 9/10 in fourth quarter of their semifinal win on Thursday over Eastwood, the Delta Lady Panthers thrived in the final quarter again.
Delta was 6/11 shooting from the floor and got eight points in the quarter from Braelyn Wymer as they knocked off the No.1 seed Elmwood 37-34.
It was a slow start to the game offensively for both teams with Delta opening in a 2-3 zone to try and negate the Elmwood size advantage.
The first points of the game did not come until 5:25 remained in the opening quarter as Anna Barber scored down low for the Royals and Brooklyn Thrash added a field goal to make it 4-0 Elmwood.
Delta finally got on the board at the 1:42 mark on an offensive rebound put back by Brooklyn Wymer and then Braelyn Wymer hit a triple to cut the Elmwood lead to 6-5 after one quarter.
Brooklyn Green would give Delta their first lead at 7-6 with a bucket to open the second quarter.
The teams exchanged 3’s with Braelyn Wymer answering a triple by Thrash to give Delta the lead back 10-9.
Delta extended their lead to 14-11 on a steal and layup by Chloe Weber followed by two free throws from Braelyn Wymer.
Elmwood then put together an 8-0 scoring run that featured back-to-back triples from Mackenzie Mareches and Thrash to take a 19-14 advantage.
Braelyn Wymer would stop the run for Delta by hitting her third triple of the game near the end of the half to trim the deficit to 19-17 at the break.
Both teams struggled to score in the third as they were a combined 2/19 from the field and combined for seven turnovers.
Elmwood was able to build their lead to 23-17 in the quarter before Reagan Rouleau was 1/2 at the foul line and Green scored on a baseline drive to bring Delta within 23-20 after three quarters.
The wild fourth quarter started with the Royals increasing their advantage to 27-22 but it was Braelyn Wymer again with a three ball for Delta to make it 27-25.
With Delta trailing 29-25, Green would hit two shots in the matter of seconds, the second one coming after forcing an Elmwood turnover in the back court to tie the game 29-29.
A few seconds later it was Braelyn Wymer connecting from beyond the arc to cap off a 7-0 run by the Panthers as they took a 32-29 lead with 4:23 remaining.
Thrash had the answer for the Royals as she scored four of the Royals next five points to give them the lead back at 34-32.
A Rouleau jumper would tie the game at 34 and then Rouleau was 1/2 at the line to give Delta a 35-34 lead at the 1:43 mark.
Over the next minute, the Royals had chances to retake the lead but a missed shot and an unsuccessful trip to the line kept the score at 35-34.
With the Royals forced to foul to put Delta in the bonus, the Panthers were able to run the clock down to 2.9 seconds before Braelyn Wymer stepped to the charity stripe and hit two free throws to make it 37-34.
Elmwood had the final possession, but their length of the court pass was deflected at midcourt and time expired as the ball trickled out of bounds.
On the afternoon, the Panthers finished 13/36 (36%) shooting with five triples, all by Wymer, while Elmwood (20-4) was 11/32 for 34% with three from long range, none though in the second half.
Braelyn Wymer ended up with 19 points to lead all scorers and Thrash tallied 16 points for the Lady Royals.
Delta (17-6) will take on Ottawa-Glandorf (23-2) in the Division III Regional Semifinal on Wednesday, March 3rd at Lexington High School beginning at 8pm. The teams met back on January 23rd with the Lady Titans winning 51-37.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Delta 5 12 3 17 37
Elmwood 6 13 4 11 34
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com