NEW PALESTINE — For nearly all 32 minutes Thursday, the New Palestine girls basketball team trailed on the scoreboard, but when it mattered most, they were ahead.
The Dragons took their first lead of the game with 1:16 left on the clock and held on for a 52-47 win over the visiting Franklin County Wildcats.
With a win over Southport last week, and Thursday’s win, the Dragons (8-8) will enter 2024 with a .500 record.
“Franklin County is very talented, very long, athletic and skilled. It’s just a good basketball team. When you come out with no energy you’re going to get down double digits early, but I was proud of the way we kept our composure,” New Palestine head coach Craig Moore said. “I thought we executed well in the second half and got the looks we wanted, and most importantly we converted on those looks. I’m really proud of the girls for coming out and believing they could win this game.”
The Dragons trailed by 10 points in the second and again by 10 in the third, but each time they cut into the deficit.
Down 21-11 midway through the second quarter, New Palestine cut the lead to five before the break. Senior Allie Blum scored the last three points from the free-throw line to trim the Franklin County lead to 25-20.
A 5-0 Franklin County run to open the half pushed the lead back to 10. Nicole Mears and Ruby Singer each found the basket to put the Wildcats ahead 32-22 midway through the period.
But good defense and the ability to get the Wildcats top players in foul trouble opened the door for the Dragons.
A few charges taken by Blum forced the Wildcats leading scorer, Mears, to the bench with four fouls for the final three minutes of the third quarter.
Over those final three minutes, the Dragons went on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to three entering the fourth quarter.
Behind a swarming press defense, the Dragons made their move.
Senior Vivian Miller found Blum on the fast break for the first basket of the run, and after a Kylee Beranek free throw, Blum intercepted a pass and went coast-to-coast for her 11th point of the game to make it 32-27.
Two more Blum points and three Miller points put the Dragons down two entering the fourth period.
“Our offense comes from our defense. When we get steals it helps us get some confidence offensively and gets our energy up,” Moore said. “We’re really athletic, but not super skilled, so anything we can generate off of turnovers is huge for us.”
The teams went back and forth over the final eight minutes, but Mears’ fifth foul with 1:49 left, flipped the momentum to the Dragons side.
Already down starters Madesyn Sunderhaus and Singer, Mears was the third Wildcat to foul out. She finished with 17 points in limited minutes.
“She [Mears] is one of the most skilled bigs that we’ve played all year. She’s a really good basketball player. She’s going on to play collegiately and she should. She was a focus for us in practice. We wanted to make sure we could keep her contained and off the boards. Getting her in foul trouble was huge for us.”
With Mears on the bench, the Dragons outscored the Wildcats 10-2 the remainder of the way.
After a Sadey Hughbanks free throw brought the Dragons within one, Kenna Tweedy hit the biggest shot of the game.
On a designed play, she took the handoff pass at the top of the arch and knocked down the 3-pointer for the Dragons first lead of the game, 46-44 with just over a minute remaining.
“We have a lot of belief and confidence in Kenna and her ability to shoot the basketball. Anytime we can get her some open looks we’re going to do that,” Moore said. “For her to step up at that point of the game and knock that down was huge, and I hope she continues to do that for us.”
To close things out, New Palestine went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe. Blum knocked down 2 of 4, Miller hit two to put the Dragons up three with 8.8 seconds left, and after a steal, Tweedy buried two to put the Wildcats away for good.
Blum led the Dragons in scoring with 19 points, Miller added 15 and Tweedy scored seven fourth-quarter points to finish with 10.
The Dragons play Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on the road at Bloomington North.
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New Palestine 52, Franklin County 47
Franklin County;14;11;9;13;—;47
New Palestine;8;12;12;20;—;52
Franklin County (10-4): Nicole Mears 5 7-9 17, Ruby Singer 4 3-4 11, Kendall Cox 0 0-0 0, Bailey Kaiser 2 0-0 6, Madesyn Sunderhaus 2 0-0 6, Tiffany Billman 1 5-8 7, Mackenzie Broshear 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 15-21 47.
New Palestine (8-8): Allie Blum 6 7-10 19, Vivian Miller 5 4-5 15, Sadey Hughbanks 1 4-8 7, Kylee Beranek 0 1-2 1, Kendra Moore 0 0-0 0, Kenna Tweedy 3 2-2 10, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 18-27 52.
3-point goals: Franklin County 4 (Kaiser 2, Sunderhaus 2); New Palestine 4 (Tweedy 2, Miller, Hughbanks).
