NEW PALESTINE — To get to its highest scoring output of the season, New Palestine relied on defense.
The Dragons girls basketball team led from start to finish in a 61-36 victory over Waldron Thursday at New Palestine High School.
The 61 points were the most in one game this season. The Dragons won at Southport 60-22 on Dec. 21.
New Palestine helped force 22 Mohawk turnovers and crashed the boards for — an unofficial — 45-31 advantage.
It combined to negate a cold-shooting night and helped the Dragons to their 11th win of the season and fifth victory in the last six outings.
“Our MO all year has been defense,” New Palestine coach Craig Moore said. “We create our offense from our defense. We were solid defensively, in position and doing the things we needed to be doing, and rebounded the basketball well. Our offense seems to flow from that. That’s what we really focused on at halftime.”
The Dragons shot just 36.4 percent (24 of 66) from the field, and hit just 5 of 18 first-quarter shots, but helped force Waldron into 10 first-period turnovers and 2 of 9 (22.2 percent) shooting.
In the third quarter, the Dragons outscored the Mohawks 15-4, despite hitting just 6 of 20 (30 percent) field-goal attempts. They took advantage with numerous second-chance opportunities, outrebounding the Mohawks 15-4 in the period. Waldron hit just two of its eight field goal tries.
“I thought we did well on the glass tonight,” Moore added. “I was a little disappointed with our energy at the beginning and we got sped up easily and got out of our offensive flow. We picked it up later in the first half and I felt like the second half was really solid for us.”
Allie Blum scored a game-high 23 points, with many of her 10 field goals coming on steals and in transition play. Vivian Miller scored 12 points and Kenna Tweedy came off the bench, hit her first three 3-point tries, and finished with 11.
“[61 points] is good for us even for a night that we did not shoot the ball particularly well as a team,” Moore said. “Our defense really creates that for us getting turnovers and layups. That’s probably the majority of where Allie Blum’s points came in steals and in transition. If we can continue that and create havoc for other teams that will be big for us.”
The Dragons have two regular-season games remaining. They will host a strong 3A team in Greensburg (15-4) Tuesday, in the final home game, and travel to Yorktown (12-8, 2-2) next Thursday for a chance to claim a share of the Hoosier Heritage Conference title.
“I feel like the girls have really grown into an identity,” Moore added. “They have a good understanding of who we are as a basketball team and how we want to play. The thing I’m most excited about is that they play with confidence. They understand they can shoot the basketball, they’re making good decision and really coming into their own. I’m excited about that and where we are right now this time of the season going into tournament time.”
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New Palestine 61, Waldron 36
Waldron;4;15;4;13;—;36
New Palestine;14;22;15;10;—;61
Waldron (6-13): Alyssa Benson 2 0-0 5, Emerson Lindsey 3 0-0 7, Riley Price 0 0-0 0, Grace Fischer 4 0-0 10, Audrey Hogg 0 0-0 0, Alivia Fischer 5 1-2 11, Jackie Corlett 1 1-2 3, Allison Hensley 0 0-0 0, Riley Thurston 0 0-0 0, Cate Crouch 0 0-0 0, Avery Haehl 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 2-4 36
New Palestine (11-9): Kendra Moore 0 0-0 0, Kylee Beranek 2 1-3 5, Sadey Hughbanks 3 2-2 8, Allie Blum 10 3-4 23, Vivian Miller 4 2-2 12, Natalie Sevier 0 0-0 0, Kenna Tweedy 4 0-0 11, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0, Ally White 0 0-0 0, McKenzie Hacker 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 8-11 61.
3-point goals: Waldron 4 (G. Fischer 2, Benson, Lindsey); New Palestine 5 (Tweedy 3, Miller 2).
