NEW PALESTINE — Sarah Gizzi had an idea of what to expect, but nothing was certain early on.
With a freshman point guard running the offense, in her daughter, Isabella Gizzi, only two seniors in the head coach’s starting five, and a bad taste still lingering from last year’s postseason shortcoming, the New Palestine girls basketball team was an enigma in early November.
A 2-0 start slipped into a 3-2 record followed by a 6-0 surge before confidence waned ever so slightly the rest of the way.
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A lopsided loss to Class 4A No. 7 Mt. Vernon, 44-25, on Dec. 19, was compounded by some late blown leads and a handful of self-induced meltdowns. Gizzi, and her father, Bruce Haynes, an assistant coach, were often left scratching their heads.
But just like their Dragons, they held tight to one word: believe.
“There were games and a lot of ups and downs, and I think everyone goes through that. Whether you’re winning or losing, you feel like you have ups and downs within your team and just not getting the effort that you want and you’re not getting the execution you want out of your players and even that mental toughness,” Sarah Gizzi said.
“I do feel like towards the end of the season, we really started to turn some corners. Even when we lost, there were longer stretches. I had a lot of people in my ear reminding me that it’s okay. To stay positive. It’s happening. That really helped me to stay focused and set the goal of what we could really do.”
After winning the Sectional 9 title in Richmond last week, they showed exactly what they were capable of achieving.
The Dragons avenged their loss to Mt. Vernon in the sectional quarterfinals, 41-32, and enacted some revenge for their upset loss to the Marauders in last year’s sectional final.
Next, they knocked off Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Pendleton Heights, 58-50, in the sectional semifinals before out running Anderson in the title game, 64-53.
“We had a lot of confidence in ourselves because nobody really thought we could beat Mt. Vernon and get past that,” Isabella Gizzi said. “We just thought we’d win the whole thing and keep going.”
The Dragons don’t stop because they rely on each other. On the surface, 5-foot-10 senior Jordan Reid leads the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game and 8.2 rebounds. The Indiana Wesleyan University commit saved the day in the sectional final with an 11-point third quarter eruption and 18 of her 24 points in the second half.
She had 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double this season and 18th double-figure game this year.
But that’s just the boxscore. Senior Michaela Jones, who stands 5-8, averages 10.0 ppg adn 4.0 rpg, but her true worth is on defense.
The stopper, Jones has squaring up on her mind, and it’s a big reason the Dragons allowed just 46.8 ppg.
“Michaela Jones is one of the best defenders around, and people don’t realize why they’re having bad games against us. It’s because we put her on that person,” Sarah Gizzi said. “We are able to wear girls down and take advantage of some of the matchups. Michaela and Jordan are great basketball players and great leaders.”
Isabella Gizzi has been equally as vital, along with fellow starters Addi Jones (6.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Grace Marshall (6.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg).
Gizzi is averaging 11.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest and scored a career-high 21 points during the sectional. Her mom and coach owns the school’s girls basketball career scoring record with 1,172 points and her older brother Maximus Gizzi is the boys’ career leader with 1,465.
Isabella has 278 points so far in only her first year. And each bucket will count as the Dragons (18-7) face Brownsburg (20-8) during the Decatur Central Regional this Saturday at noon.
The winner could see either Ben Davis (13-11) or No. 8 Lawrence North (22-4) in the championship at 8 p.m.
Brownsburg is led by Allison Bosse, who is posting 16.9 ppg. Ally Becki is averaging 11.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg. MacKenzie Stien is adding 8.6 ppg.
The Dragons are confident, however, especially after lessons learned in losses against No. 3 Fishers, 56-50, Lawrence Central, 75-69 and 3A No. 8 Greensburg 68-59 in overtime. In each loss, the Dragons led only to let victory slip away.
“It was great to learn from those losses. We’ve had ups and downs, but my mom always kept telling us to keep working harder and that’s what we did,” Isabella Gizzi said. “And now, we’re here.”
The Dragons are competing in their second regional in three years and have reached this point six times overall. They haven’t advanced to the regional title game since 2004 and have never won a regional championship.
Who says that can’t change?
“They’ve bought into it as the season has gone on more and more. I think everyone would like to be a big-time scorer. Everyone would like to play every minute, but I think everybody starts to realize where their role is and what their job is and what it takes for us to win and improve,” Sarah Gizzi said. “They did step into those roles and owned them a little bit more the last fourth of the season when we really needed it.”
