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Delta presses gas, flies by Woodland in FSCB Holiday Classic third-place rematch
It felt like Jade Berry just couldn’t miss, and her sharpshooting efforts guided Delta to a definitive 77-46 victory over Woodland to claim the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic third-place title on Friday night in dominant fashion.
The classic Delta formula: Turn you over, get transition buckets, the works – but the shooting efforts were a quintessential part of the victory, led by an all-out effort from the senior point guard who just never relented.
Finishing the Holiday Classic on a high note after a large loss in the semifinals, it’s a fine finish for a Delta squad that’s quite familiar with high-ranking finishes as one of the recent anchor squads at the Show Me Center.
“Tonight, I thought we just kept pushing,” Ladycats coach David Heeb said. “Really give a lot of credit to the kids that are coming off of our bench.
“Cheyenne Welker and Trena Crowden and Emma Walter, when they come in the game, they're giving us so much. We only have eight players, but it's like we have eight starters.”
In a rematch of a game Delta won 56-44 back in the Lady Devils Invitational, the rematch panned out well in favor of the Ladycats as they pieced together a four-quarter effort worthy of a third-place berth.
Heeb insists it was part of the gameplan, but Cardinals coach Paul Lynch chalked it up to some off-court issues that Woodland had to address for the program.
“Our team got hit with a little adversity before the game, which kind of affected our overall team,” Lynch said. “Not to make excuses. Delta's good, it was hard for our kids to focus tonight. Much more important things going on besides basketball.”
Delta improves to 6-2 for the year, recovering from a couple disheartening tournament losses with a strong showing in a rematch of an early victory over the Cardinals in the Lady Devils Invitational.
Jade Berry dropped 27 points in the victory, canning six 3-pointers to lead the Ladycats to the dub. Grace Ancell dropped in 16 while Raelin Nanney, the freshman, put in 13 to finish third.
Woodland declines to 5-4 for the season, now on back-to-back losses after beginning the Holiday Classic 2-0 with victories over Scott City and Scott County Central to make its first semifinal in school tournament history.
Mallary Barks finished her 2024 FSCB Holiday Classic run with a 26-point performance to lead the Cardinals in the loss, followed by another 14 from sophomore co-pilot Addyson Massa, who hit both of the Cardinals’ 3-pointers Friday.
It’s been a season of highs and lows for Delta, who after graduating four high-caliber seniors last season have already surpassed their seasonal loss total from last year with losses to Chaffee and St. Vincent.
Nevertheless, Friday was a stepping stone back in the right direction as the Ladycats are on the road back to Bootheel supremacy, one of many small schools fighting for the crown of the top local squad in a loaded field.
Though it’s been an ugly start to the year, there’ve been plenty of excellent wins to accompany those early losses, and Heeb knows his girls are on track to getting where they want to be by the end of the season, and Friday proved that.
“I was really proud of how hard we played tonight,” Heeb said. “We're still far from a finished product, but I just love how hard they play.
“If they keep playing this hard, if we can clean up the little mistakes, we got a chance to be good by the end of the year.”