By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (December 19, 2025) – Delta used their superior length on the perimeter to blow open a close game with an eight-minute 20-0 run in the second half, and made sure all the way to the end, beating Evergreen 50-25 on the first night of league play in the NWOAL.
“We started off slow, and we didn’t quite have our intensity,” Panther coach Kelsey Gillen said. Thankfully, we were able to pick it up, step it up in the second half, and it paid out in the end.”
Delta jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead. Abbey Todd opened with a pump and go move to the hoop, then Addison Wyse used her size and length to get two more buckets, one on a pretty spin and bank to put the Panthers up 6-0.
Wyse then delivered a back-door basket to Anna Lohman for an eight-point lead with 2:48 left. Bailey Lumbrezer’s layup got Evergreen on the board, and Lanae Manz’ triple closed the gap to 8-5 at the quarter.
The Panthers, using 10 Viking turnovers in the second quarter, opened up a double-figure lead as big as 13. Back-to-back three-balls from Lohman and Ellie Martinez made it 19-8.
After an Avah Vaculik hoop, McKenzie Kruger’s steal-and-score, then Kruger’s dish to Keagyn Gillen for a layup made it 23-10 before Lucy Abec countered with a deep three to get Evergreen within 23-13 at the break.
Vaculik’s 2-2 from the line to open the third sliced the margin to 23-15, but for the next eight minutes, Evergreen’s stat line read 0-6 from the field and 14 turnovers.
Those turnovers directly led to 15 Panther points as Delta ripped off the next 20 points to jack up their lead to 43-15.
Martinez hit her second triple of the night, Todd scored three times off miscues, one of those turning into an ‘and-1’, and Gillen, along with Olivia Mohring, each had a score off steals.
Lumbrezer’s basket at the 6:49 mark of the fourth ended a scoreless streak of nearly eight minutes.
“We focus on defense,” Gillen stated. “That is what will create our offense. We just challenged them there. We were not playing to our ability and playing a little timid almost. We challenged them to step it up and play aggressively.”
Todd was the only player to hit double figures with 12, the last three coming on a triple with a minute and a half left in the game to make it 50-23, as the Panther first line rotation went nearly the distance.
For the game, Evergreen (5-2, 0-1 NWOAL) was just 7-30 from the floor and had a massive 36 turnovers. Delta (6-0, 1-0 NWOAL) finished with 22-51 from the field and committed 23 turnovers.
EVERGREEN (25) – Risner 3; Manz 3; Lumbrezer 4; Vaculik 4; Gleckler 0; Radel 0; Eisel 5; L. Abec 3; Henricks 3; Totals: 4-3-8 – 25
DELTA (50) – Maynhart 0; Lohman 9; Todd 12; Kruger 4; Martinez 9; A. Gillen 0; Mohring 2; Wyse 6; K. Gillen 8; Totals: 18-4-2 – 50
EHS 5 8 2 10 – 25
DHS 8 15 16 11 – 50