(January 29th, 2015) – WAUSEON: The lady Indians went into Thursday’s match against the Panthers with everything they had; unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to take down the #1 NWOAL girls team.
The Indians garnered every last ounce of fight within themselves throughout the night. The thriller came to a climatic tipping point at the end of the 3rd quarter when Sariah Yackee tied the score at 38 after two free-throws.
Turnovers proved to be key in keeping the hope alive in the fourth quarter. Back and forth action between the two teams depleted the room of oxygen, both in the players and in the awe-instilled audience.
With 3:55 left and tied at 46, the Panthers would call a full timeout to recuperate and give Wauseon a chance to plan their strategic maneuvers. Two and a half minutes of gameplay later gave Delta a lead of 50-49. Wauseon would call a timeout with 30 seconds remaining.
Natalie Koenig drove straight to the basket to add two points – prompting a timeout by Wauseon with 11.5 seconds remaining. The Panthers violated the throw-in and turned the ball back over to the Indians. Delta’s defense began to mercilessly swarm the Indians, causing frantic passing between the offense. Koenig would shoot far left and allow the Panthers to recover the ball with 2.5 seconds. Delta would go on to win 54-51.
Natalie Koenig lead the team in scoring with 17 points. Sariah Yackee also contributed 14 points in the resulting loss. Delta would advance its undefeated 6-0 record in the NWOAL with Wauseon adding a loss to revise their record to 4-2.