By Brady Extin | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE – Down nine points after one, 11 after two, and 13 points after three quarters.
Only one senior on a young team.
And, the bright lights of IHSAA postseason play.
None of that fazed New Palestine on Friday night in a 50-45 come-from-behind win over Anderson in a Class 4A Sectional 9 girls basketball semifinal at Mt. Vernon High School.
The Dragons outscored Anderson 20-2 in the final quarter to erase the 13-point deficit.
“We’re not done yet. Are you done with your season, because I don’t want to be. That was the message.” New Palestine head coach Sarah Gizzi said. “We hung around with them, down five, then 10, then five, then 13. We just could not get a bucket to fall.”
In the fourth, the Dragons could get a bucket to fall.
And that was the difference.
With only seven made baskets through the first three quarters, the lid came off of the New Palestine hoop in the closing quarter.
Two 3-pointers and six total field goals helped spark the New Palestine comeback.
Vivian Miller got her first two baskets of the night to open the quarter, knocking down a 3 and following it up with a steal and layup.
The steal was the first of many for New Palestine in the fourth quarter.
Anderson opened the quarter with eight consecutive turnovers, and had 10 total in the final eight minutes of play.
A New Palestine switch to a fullcourt press made all the difference.
“We needed a change of tempo, and we weren’t really scoring in our halfcourt offense,” coach Gizzi said. “They switched to man-to-man too and that gave our girls a bit of a boost. Our girls are more comfortable against that.”
After an Allie Blum 3-pointer and an Isabella Gizzi layup, Miller notched another bucket to push the Dragons within one, 43-42.
Miller scored nine of her 12 points in the final period.
“I felt like [Vivian’s] shots all night were good shots, and she got in some weird spots a couple of times, but she did a better job of that in the second half, and it was a big positive,” coach Gizzi said.
From there, the Dragons’ leading scorer on the season, and the night, Isabella Gizzi, closed out the game. She went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the closing minutes to seal the win.
The lone senior on the Dragons finished with 27 points, and shot 16-for-20 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.
“That’s mostly what I was trying to do. My mom always tells me, ‘You’re such a good free-throw shooter.’ Normally I’m better at driving and scoring, but not tonight, so that was the plan,” Isabella said. “Once they switched out of their zone, we got more comfortable, too.”
She gave the Dragons their first lead since the opening quarter with two free throws at the 4:36 mark of the final period.
“I was a little nervous. I knew our team could do it,” Isabella said. “With how I was shooting, I knew it would be hard, but we were able to pull it out.”
In total, the Dragons shot 20-for-30 (67 percent) at the line opposed to Anderson’s 5-for-9 (56 percent).
“We weren’t really hitting outside shots, so once we got in the bonus we knew we had to keep attacking,” coach Gizzi said. “We struggled at the line in the first half and missed some front ends of one-and-ones, so we felt like if we got that opportunity again, we had to capitalize on the free throws.”
Going hand-in-hand with the press limiting the Anderson offense, was New Palestine’s ability to shut down the Indians’ leading scorer, Jacelyn Starks, in the second half.
After a 15-point first half, the Dragons held her to four points in the third, and scoreless in the fourth.
“She was on fire. She got some really good looks, and once a good player hits a few buckets it’s hard,” coach Gizzi said. “I think we were just determined in the second half to be more aggressive against her, and have better help defense to try and take her away a bit.”
The Dragons will face Mt. Vernon in the championship game at 7 p.m.
–
New Palestine 50, Anderson 45
Anderson;18;12;13;2; — ;45
New Palestine;9;10;11;20; — ;50
Anderson (9-15): Jacelyn Starks 8 0-1 19, Zion Jones 1 0-0 3, Kennedy Brown 1 0-0 2, Makhile McWilliams 5 0-0 10, Zoe Allen 2 5-5 9, Drayaunna Ivy 0 0-0 0, Payton Sargent 1 0-3 2. Totals 18 5-9 45.
New Palestine (13-11): Isabella Gizzi 5 16-20 27, Vivian Miller 4 3-4 12, Allie Blum 2 1-2 7, Sadey Hughbanks 1 0-2 2, Kylee Beranek 0 0-0 0, Tylar Whitaker 1 0-0 2, Neveah Gebhart 0 0-2 0, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 20-30 50.
3-point goals: Anderson 4 (Starks 3, Jones 1), New Palestine 4 (Blum 2, Gizzi 1, Miller 1)
