New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys and girls basketball teams both dropped close games Friday night in conference play. The Dragons girls fell 60-52 in overtime to Greenfield-Central, while the boys dropped a 58-54 decision. Allie Blum scored five points and Sadey Hughbanks four in the first quarter, but the Dragons trailed 10-9 after a period. In the second, Kenna Tweedy scored five points and Natalie Sevier four off the bench as the Dragons trailed 20-18 at the break. The Dragons fell behind early in the third, but staged a furious rally to tie the game at 35-all before a late basket gave G-C a 37-35 lead going into the fourth. Blum scored five points in the frame, while Kylee Beranek and Tweedy tallied four each. In the fourth, the Dragons dialed up from distance, as Kendra Moore, Blum and Tweedy all hit triples, but the teams headed to overtime tied at 46. In the extra session, the Dragons were outscored 14-6. Blum led the Dragons with 19 points. Tweedy scored a career-high 12 points. Hughbanks and Sevier scored six each. Beranek scored four, Moore three and Vivian Miller two. The Dragons are now 5-6 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. They next play Tuesday at home against Mt. Vernon. The Dragons boys fell behind early, but rallied to take a lead going into the fourth quarter before eventually falling. The Dragons trailed 15-8 after a quarter. G-C eventually pushed its lead to 11 in the second quarter, but Julius Gizzi hit a 3-pointer and Evan Darrah followed with three triples to cut the deficit to 32-26 at halftime. The Dragons took the lead in the third, outscoring G-C 16-8 in the frame. Julius Gizzi hit three early shots, then hit a 3-pointer to close the deficit to one. Ben Slagley hit an inside shot to put the Dragons ahead, and Moses Haynes punctuated the quarter with a 3-pointer to give NP a 42-40 edge going into the fourth. The Dragons built an early five-point lead as Haynes opened the frame with a 3-pointer and followed with a basket, but the Cougars rallied to take a lead at 51-49. Gizzi hit a shot to tie the game. G-C answered with a basket, and Slagley followed with a free throw to cut the deficit to one. But the Cougars hit a three-point play to go up four. A basket by Slagley drew the Dragons closer and NP had a possession down three in the final minute, but was unable to tie the game. Gizzi led the Dragons with 20 points, scoring 13 in the second half. Slagley added 12. Darrah scored nine points off the bench. Haynes tallied eight, Austin McMahan three and Keagan Harrison two. The Dragons hit 21 field goals to G-C's 16, but only attempted eight free throws in the game, while the visitors were 18-of-22 from the line, including 9-of-12 in the fourth quarter. The Dragons are now 2-1 on the season. They next play Friday at New Castle.