Delta basketball’s shining stars
By Jacob Teets
Delta basketball’s biggest stars are tearing it up on the court as of late, whether it be prolific scoring or the ability to snatch boards away from the opposing team. Both the men’s and women’s teams have players who know what it takes to be the best player on the court
Superb scoring
The team is 4-10 this season and six of their 10 losses were by 10 points or less. One of the players on the men’s basketball team who has shined is sophomore guard Sir Real Smith, averaging 34.1 points per game in 11 games played this season.
In the men’s game on Jan. 17 against the North Central Michigan Timberwolves, Smith scored 46 points and grabbed 6 rebounds on 19-27 from the field in a 115-75 blowout victory. In his previous three games before the blowout, he had back-to-back 38-point games and a 28-point game.
Freshman guard Deontrey Gary has had a hot hand in his last two games, scoring 27 and 24 points respectively. If Gary can keep up that kind of production the men should see better results as the season winds down.
Rebounds for days
The women’s team had a rough start to their season, ending December with a record of 6-7. Coming into January though, they found themselves going on a four-game winning streak to improve to 10-7.
Rebounds are a big reason why the women have been able to string some wins together as of late. During the win streak, they outrebounded their opponents in every single game.
Two key players during the streak have been sophomore guard/forward Makayla Watkins and freshman forward Aya Mosley. Watkins has grabbed eight rebounds in three of the four games and nine in the other game. Mosley has been quiet on the glass during the win streak but has contributed to the scoring department with three double-digit point games.
The two of them have been great on the court overall this season, with Watkins averaging 12.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Mosley is averaging similar numbers with 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
With those two leading the charge for the Pioneers, the women’s team could very well find themselves making a run in the MCCAA tournament next month.