NEW PALESTINE — It took a nice run of points to help New Palestine’s girls basketball team end a nice run of Hoosier Heritage Conference games.
New Palestine went on a 13-0 run from late in the first quarter into the second to take the lead for good and defeat Hancock County and HHC rival Mt. Vernon 41-33 at New Palestine High School Tuesday.
The Dragons improved to 6-6 overall and 4-1 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference. The game ended a stretch of five straight HHC contests, the lone loss was, in overtime, against Greenfield-Central Friday.
“If you told me (before the five game stretch) we’d be 4-1 I’d take it,” New Palestine head coach Craig Moore said. “We were just inches away from being 5-0, some late turnovers against Greenfield hurt us. It’s really, really good for our program and good for our girls and our confidence. I think if we keep working we’ll make the improvements we need to and have a really good shot at a sectional later.”
At New Castle on Nov. 28, New Palestine started its run of HHC games with a 42-40 win. They followed with home wins over Delta (57-47) and Shelbyville (56-49) to begin the month of December. On Friday, the Dragons lost 60-52 in overtime to Greenfield-Central.
On Tuesday, Mt. Vernon got off to a 9-2 start.
Easton Wampler hit a pair of 3-pointers and Kanyonrae Kenny hit one of two free throws for a 9-2 Mt. Vernon lead with 3:04 left in the first quarter.
A transition bucket from New Pal’s Allie Blum started a 13-0 Dragon flurry.
Sadey Hughbanks hit a 3 and Vivian Miller scored off a steal to tie the game, 9-9.
Hughbanks hit two more 3s to start the second quarter to finish off the run and give the Dragons a 15-9 lead. The lead grew to nine, 22-13, when sub Kenna Tweedy knocked down a 3 with 2:12 remaining in the first half.
The three 3s from Hughbanks were her only points of the game. A 5-foot, 9-inch sophomore forward, Hughbanks has just added the deep perimeter shooting to her game this season.
“I thanked Sadey in the lockerroom,” Moore said, with a chuckle. “We started in a funk offensively and we just needed someone to step up and knock down a shot. Sadey did that and hit a couple of big ones. When she’s knocking down shots like that it gives everybody else on the team confidence to shoot the ball.
“We have practices where all we do is shoot and (Sadey) has really worked on her outside shot. That’s something we need from her … and defensively tonight she did a phenomenal job on the Mt. Vernon bigs. She was physical, accepted the challenge and just did a great job for us.”
New Palestine extended its lead to double figures in the second half, leading by 12 on three occasions.
A bucket from sophomore Natalie Sevier gave New Palestine a 35-23 lead with 3:43 to go.
Mt. Vernon battled back and got as close as six with 1:08 remaining.
Kenny and Addison Bucksot led the rally. Kenny hit a 3 and Buckshot followed with a basket to cut it to 35-28 with 2:06 left. Bucksot scored at the 1:08 mark to cut it to 37-31.
Along with playing against a confident Dragon team, the Marauders were dealing with some adversity.
Two-year starter Kaitlyn Laffey was on the bench in street clothes and, less than two minutes into the second quarter, DePaul signee and four-year varsity veteran Ellery Minch left the game with an injury. She did not return.
The Dragons had a balanced scoring attack. Seven of eight players that played had at least one field goal. Following Blum and Hughbanks, Vivian Miller scored nine. Off the bench, Tweedy and Sevier had five and four points, respectively. The Dragons were 9-for-9 at the free-throw line.
Kenny led all scorers with 12. Bucksot had 10.
The Dragons travel to Cathedral Thursday. Mt. Vernon returns to action Dec. 21 at Decatur Central.
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New Palestine 41, Mt. Vernon 33
Mt. Vernon;9;4;10;10;—;33
New Palestine;9;13;11;8;—;41
Mt. Vernon (4-8, 0-3): Reagan Britt 0 0-0 0, Ellery Minch 0 0-0 0, Kanyonrae Kenny 3 5-9 12, Addison Bucksot 3 4-5 10, Easton Wampler 3 0-0 8, Marissa Miner 0 0-0 0, Aya Renforth 0 0-0 0, Katelynn Hawkins 0 1-2 1, Gabby Thomas 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 10-16 33.
New Palestine (6-6, 4-1): Kendra Moore 1 0-0 2, Allie Blum 3 4-4 10, Kylee Beranek 1 0-0 2, Sadey Hughbanks 3 0-0 9, Vivian Miller 2 5-5 9, Kenna Tweedy 2 0-0 5, Natalie Sevier 2 0-0 4, Ella Holman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9-9 41.
3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 3 (Wampler 2, Kenny). New Palestine 4 (Hughbanks 3, Tweedy).
