FORTVILLE — Mark this one up as one of those games much closer than the final score indicates.
New Palestine had its work cut out much of the night, but pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat a stubborn Richmond team, 45-27, in a Wednesday quarterfinal game of the girls’ basketball Class 4A Sectional 9 tournament at Mt. Vernon High School.
The Dragons improved to 12-11 on the season and will play Anderson — a 63-52 winner over Muncie Central in the Wednesday nightcap — in the second of two semifinal games Friday.
Richmond ended its season 6-16.
“It doesn’t matter how you do it,” New Palestine coach Sarah Gizzi said on pulling out the first-round win. “At this point, records don’t mean anything because it’s one game, one matchup, a given night.”
New Palestine led 12-1 early and appeared on the verge of securing the victory by halftime, but the Red Devils rallied and tied the game, 21-21, with 4:42 remaining in the third quarter.
It was a two-point game, 29-27, with just over six minutes remaining, but the Red Devils failed to score in the final 7:11 of the contest.
When they were forced to foul the Dragons in the final minutes, New Palestine connected on 12 of 14 at the charity stripe.
“We decided we were going to stand out at halfcourt and wait for them to come out and guard us,” New Palestine senior guard Isabella Gizzi said. “They were only putting a ton of pressure on me. I think that worked because it opened everything up. Then they had to start fouling and once they start fouling that gives us an advantage.”
Isabella Gizzi hit 10 of 10 at the stripe in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 21 points.
Gizzi’s perimeter shooting got the Dragons off to a good start. After missing her first shot from 3-point range, she hit three in a row to help the Dragons get out to their big first-quarter lead.
On her second make, she became New Palestine basketball’s all-time leading scorer, passing her older brother Maximus Gizzi (1,612). Isabella Gizzi will go into Friday’s semifinal game with 1,629 points. Earlier this season she became the girls’ basketball all-time leading scorer, passing her mother and head coach Sarah Gizzi.
Coach Gizzi said the game changed when the Red Devils changed defenses.
“They played a different defense than we were expecting and that always takes some time to adjust,” the coach said. “We really shot well from 3 in the first quarter. I think that probably changed their plan a little bit. That’s one of the best box-and-ones I’ve seen.”
The Red Devils switched from a triangle-and-two defense to a box-and-one to try to slow down New Palestine’s star scorer. At the same time, the Dragons were getting into foul trouble. Starters Vivian Miller (9.6 points per game) and Allie Blum (8.8 ppg), the Dragons second and third leading scorers on the season, spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble.
The combination worked.
The Red Devils began chipping away on offense and holding down Gizzi on defense.
New Palestine’s lone senior, after having a nine-point first quarter, scored just two in the second and did not have a shot attempt in the third.
“It was really close. I got nervous a little bit, but I knew my team could do it,” Isabella Gizzi said of the Dragons winning and advancing to the semifinals. “Their box-and-one was really effective. That might have been one of the best I’ve played against. I didn’t get a shot in the third quarter, so they did their job.”
The Red Devils picked up their seventh second-half foul to put the Dragons in the one-and-bonus, and then continued to foul to try to get the ball back, the Dragons increased the lead at the free-throw line.
Before Gizzi scored the final eight points at the stripe, the Dragons got some big scoring from frosh Sadey Hughbanks, Miller and Blum.
Hughbanks’ lone field goal of the game came on an offensive rebound and gave New Palestine a 33-27 advantage. Miller hit a pair of free throws to make it 35-27, giving her 10 points on the night. Blum’s bucket put the lead back to double figures, 37-27, with 2:54 to go.
“Once we got in the bonus I thought we could try to milk the clock a little bit. I felt like they had to come out and guard us. Once we got in the bonus that was huge for us,” coach Gizzi said.
“I’m really excited,” the senior guard Gizzi added. “I think we can get to the championship. The next game (against Anderson) is going to be hard if not harder (than Wednesday). We need to keep our heads up and I know that my team can do it.”
–
New Palestine 45, Richmond 27
New Palestine;12;7;10;16;—;45
Richmond;4;9;11;3;—;27
New Palestine (12-11): Allie Blum 2 0-0 5, Vivian Miller 3 2-2 10, Sadey Hughbanks 1 0-1 2, Isabella Gizzi 4 10-10 21, Tylar Whitaker 1 0-1 2, Kylee Beranek 2 1-1 5, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0, Natalie Sevier 0 0-0 0, Gabrielle Brown 0 0-0 0, Neveah Gebhart 0 0-0 0, McKenzie Hacker 0 0-0 0, Kendra Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 13-15 45.
Richmond (6-16): Madison Sonsini 4 2-3 10, Amari Jackson 0 0-2 0, Maren Bolser 2 4-6 9, Cami Turpin 1 0-0 2, Kierra Handley 1 1-2 4, Jayden Johnson 0 0-0 0, Ja’Lana Long 1 0-0 2, Savanna Hilbert 0 0-0 0, Sabrina Brown 0 0-0 0, Jade Diamond 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 7-13 27.
3-point goals: New Palestine 6 (Gizzi 3, Miller 2, Blum); Richmond 2 (Bolser, Handley)
