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MANGHAM, La. — First place in LHSAA District 4-1A was on the line last Monday night as the Delta Charter School Lady Storm took on the Delhi High School Lady Bears at the Mangham High School gymnasium.

The varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ games were originally scheduled to take place last Tuesday night at Delhi High School, but Ronald Ellis, head coach of both of Delta Charter’s varsity basketball teams, said the games were moved to Monday and had to be played at Mangham due to renovations at the Delhi High gym.
In the varsity girls’ game, the Delta Charter Lady Storm rallied from a pair of nine-point deficits to defeat the Delhi High Lady Bears 60-56 in overtime to remain undefeated in district play.

“It was a big win for us,” Ellis said. “I’ve been at Delta Charter for nine years and this is my first time beating them. They always have a good team. They have a good coach in Emily Anderson who’s won a couple of state titles. If we beat them again, we’ll be district champs.”

The Lady Storm got off to a rough start and trailed the Lady Bears 17-8 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams scored 11 points in the second quarter, allowing Delhi to maintain its nine-point lead at halftime at 28-19.

“They’re undefeated in district, too. They were 4-0 and we were 4-0 going into that game,” Ellis said. “First quarter, we missed three lay-ups right off the bat and they scored off them. They’re big. They’re fast. Coach Anderson keeps good teams. She always has a knack for going to the Dome.”

Roniya Ellis, who was held in check in the first half, picked up her scoring after halftime and that opened things up for her teammates, especially Chyann Lee. Ellis finished with a game-high 29 points to go with eight rebounds while Lee had 19 points and six key steals.

“Chyann, she’s just a spark plug that’s hard to replace. She’s got cat-like speed. She’s a catalyst for our defense,” coach Ellis said. “She stepped up big time and made some big free throws in clutch time. He defense was key for us.”

The third quarter was pivotal to Delta Charter’s comeback win as the Lady Storm put up 16 points holding Delhi to just four points, giving the Lady Storm a 35-32 lead. Another player who stepped up for the Lady Storm was Mikayla Matthews, who had nine rebounds to go with her five points. Ellis noted that those rebounds Matthews grabbed were also key to the Lady Storm’s second-half comeback.

Delhi was able to force overtime by outscoring Delta Charter 20-17 in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Storm dominated the overtime period and outscored the Lady Bears 8-4.

“At halftime, we got down early and fought back again and kept the lead. They didn’t get their heads down when they got down,” Ellis said. “They fought back and played hard. The third quarter was big. Roniya started scoring. We normally make a lot of 3-pointers, but we didn’t score a lot of 3s. It was either 2s or free throws. It was a real grind-it-out type of game.”

The Lady Bears were led by S. Barnes with 21 points and H. Brown with 15 points.

The Lady Storm (14-9, 5-0) travel to Delhi, La. to take on the Delhi Charter School Lady Gators at 6 p.m. Friday.

Delhi High boys 69, Delta Charter 39

MANGHAM, La. — Donald Morrison led Delhi High School with a game-high 17 points and Justin Schealette had 14 points as the Bears rolled to a 69-39 win over the Delta Charter School Storm last Monday night in LHSAA District 4-1A action at the Mangham High School gym.

Delhi led Delta Charter 19-11 after one quarter of play before the Bears put the game away thanks to a 26-6 advantage over the Storm in the second quarter for a commanding 45-17 halftime lead.

“It was a bad game. It was a rough game,” Storm head coach Ronald Ellis said. “We stunk up the joint. Delhi trapped from side to side, non-stop. We couldn’t do nothing.”

What also hurt the Storm as that junior guard Juvari Singleton and his brother, sophomore guard Tyrin Singleton, both starters on the team, got four fouls each before halftime.

Ronald Ellis Jr. led Delta Charter with 10 points while Jaden Griffin and Tyrin Singleton finished with seven points each.

The Storm (6-13, 2-3) will look to get back to .500 in District 4-1A on Friday as it travels to Delhi, La. to face off with the Delhi Charter School Gators at 7:30 p.m.