NEW PALESTINE — Isabella Gizzi hit a big milestone Tuesday and came close to another Thursday.
The New Palestine senior point guard became the school’s all-time leading scorer in a Tuesday loss at Franklin Central.
It was a special night in many ways. The former record holder is her coach, and her mom.
A late-game free throw against the Flashes gave Isabella 1,173 points for her three-plus seasons, one more than mom, Sarah (Haynes) Gizzi scored from 1990-94 in a Dragons uniform.
Isabella’s brother, Maximus Gizzi — now playing at Marian University — is New Palestine’s all-time leader on the boys side with 1,612 points. New Palestine is one of only eight schools statewide where siblings are the boys and girls basketball career scoring leaders.
On Thursday, prior to tip-off, the former record holder presented Tuesday’s game ball to the new scoring champ.
Against Warren Central, Isabella Gizzi scored 26 points in a 60-42 loss. She’s now just one point shy of another milestone, 1,200 career points.
“It’s a really neat accomplishment,” Sarah Gizzi said of her daughter’s feat. “For me, to get to coach the player who breaks that record is really special. And then, that’s my own child. That’s so cool.
“I think when we look back on it, it will be more fun to think about, because we’re in the heat of these games and we’re not winning. It’s a little bittersweet. I’m really proud of her hard work. She gets a lot of attention from defenses of other teams.”
The 26 points on Thursday tied a season high for the 5-8 senior. She also had 26 in a 45-30 win against Batesville on Nov. 5.
Against Warren Central, Gizzi had 18 second-half points, including 13 of the team’s 15 third-quarter points. She finished with three 3-pointers and 9 of 10 at the free-throw line.
“Ever since I was in middle school my parents talked about how my mom had the record, but I never really thought about it until my freshman year,” Isabella said. “Every year after I had my total amount of points for the season, I thought maybe I could get it. After my junior year, my dad (Mike Gizzi) said. ‘Your goal should be to beat your mom.’ Then Maximus said, ‘Your goal should be to beat me.’”
On Thursday, points for Gizzi and the Dragons were tough to come by early.
The teams were tied at the end of the first quarter and early in the second.
After Gizzi hit two freebies, Vivian Miller scored off a steal to tie it, 16-16, with 6:18 remaining until halftime.
From then on, Warren Central was in control. It outscored New Palestine 14-2 the remainder of the half, including an 8-0 run in the final 32 seconds of the period.
A 3-pointer from Gizzi at the third-quarter buzzer got the margin under double figures, 42-33, but the Warriors were able to pull away in the final period.
Both teams came in 2-2 with two-game losing streaks.
“It’s been tough,” coach Gizzi said of her team’s recent stretch. “We turned it over a lot.
“We’ve been getting off to slow starts the last three games. I thought we had a better start tonight, but we had that letdown at the end of the first half.”
Warren Central was led by Asiah Baxter with 20 points, including 14 in the first half. Denyha Jacobs scored 19.
For New Pal, after Gizzi’s 26, Miller finished with eight.
The Dragons look to snap their three-game skid Tuesday, at home, against Rushville.
