NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine girls basketball team has been no stranger to the come-from-behind win this season.
Early in the season, they erased a final-minute deficit against New Castle, and two weeks ago they fought from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Franklin County.
On Tuesday night, the Dragons did it again.
They erased an 18-4 deficit to defeat Class 2A Triton-Central 43-37 to open up their four-game homestand.
“The fight was huge tonight. What I ragged on in the locker room after the game was that we got down in the dumps early and you could tell by the way we were moving the ball, because we weren’t moving the ball, and we were timid shooting,” New Palestine head coach Craig Moore said. “Like so many other games that we’ve had, when one girl steps up and hits a shot it gives everybody else confidence and that’s what happened in that second quarter.”
After New Palestine trimmed the lead down to nine early in the second quarter, five straight points by Triton Central’s Maryrose Felling pushed the lead back to 24-10.
From the midway point of the quarter, the Dragons outscored the Tigers 20-2 the rest of the period, and 33-13 the remainder of the game.
Sparking the 20-2 run to close out the half was the Dragons 3-point shooting, led by sophomore forward Sadey Hughbanks.
Down 26-13, back-to-back Hughbanks 3-pointers brought the Dragons within seven, before a Kendra Moore trey and Allie Blum 3 cut the lead to one.
To put the Dragons back ahead for the first time since 4-2, Hughbanks buried another 3-pointer to make it 28-26.
She added a layup just before the buzzer to cap off a 14-point quarter in which she knocked down four 3s. As a team, New Palestine hit seven 3-pointers in the second quarter and shot 8 of 15 from deep in the opening half.
“I don’t think it was us getting better looks because we had good looks in the first quarter, we just weren’t taking them. We have shooters, and they were just timid to shoot,” Moore said. “I emphasize moving the basketball and getting a flow in the offense, but when you’re wide open I need you to take a shot, and that’s what we finally started to do.”
While the Dragons offense turned a page after the opening quarter, so did the Dragons defense.
After scoring 18 first-quarter points, the Tigers were limited to 19 points the rest of the way, with just 11 second-half points, and only one made basket over the final eight minutes of play.
Triton Central forward Brooklyn Bailey scored 10 first-half points and was a problem for the Dragons in the paint. In the second half, she was held scoreless.
“I think we started to understand our rotation and what we wanted to do defensively. Bailey is a good player. She’s a veteran and knows how to use her body,” Moore said. “We had to really rotate on the backside and we got that from the help side and from the opposite guard rotating down. It was just a really good defensive effort tonight.”
Not only was Bailey held scoreless, but the Dragons limited Triton Central’s leading scorer, Felling, to eight points.
The sophomore guard who came into the night averaging 17.9 points per game was stymied by the Dragons senior leader, Blum, and kept off the stat sheet in the second half.
“Allie is a tremendous athlete. I know that we depend on her a lot to take down the best player on the other team,” Moore said. “You can see it tonight, she hurt her knees and has ice bags on after the game because she just plays her heart out. I appreciate that, and I know the rest of the team does too. That’s why we held a really good player to low points tonight.”
Fueled by a pair of Quinn King layups, the Tigers regained the lead by opening the third quarter with a 6-0 run.
But the Dragons took the lead right back.
Senior Vivian Miller tied it up, and Kylee Beranek took a steal coast-to-coast to retake the lead 34-32.
After a Triton Central 3-pointer, a Natalie Sevier three-point play kept the Dragons in front entering the fourth quarter.
The Tigers lone basket of the quarter tied things at 37-37, but good defense and late free throws pushed the Dragons across the finish line. Blum knocked down four shots from the charity stripe and Hughbanks added two over the final five minutes of play.
New Palestine will take on Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Pendleton Heights Friday at 6 p.m. prior to the boys varsity game.
–
New Palestine 43, Triton Central 37
Triton Central;18;8;9;2;—;37
New Palestine;7;23;7;6;—;43
Triton Central (14-4): Maryrose Felling 3 0-0 8, Brooklyn Bailey 3 4-5 10, Hailey Harris 4 0-1 9, Quinn King 3 0-2 6, Sophia Burbrink 0 0-0 0, Katherine Collier 0 0-0 0, Lucy Spall 2 0-0 4. Totals: 15 4-8 37.
New Palestine (9-9): Allie Blum 3 4-4 11, Vivian Miller 1 0-0 2, Sadey Hughbanks 5 2-2 16 Kylee Beranek 1 0-4 2, Kendra Moore 2 0-0 6, Kenna Tweedy 1 0-0 3, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0, Natalie Sevier 1 1-1 3. Totals: 14 7-11 43.
3-point goals: Triton Central 3 (Felling 2, Harris); New Palestine 8 (Hughbanks 4, Moore 2, Tweedy, Blum).
