New Palestine High School

The New Palestine girls basketball team started slowly Saturday night and had multiple comeback attempts foiled down the stretch in a 48-39 loss to Mt. Vernon in the Class 4A Pendleton Heights sectional championship game. The Dragons finish the season with a 14-11 mark and the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship. Seniors Allie Blum, Ella Holman and Vivian Miller finished their careers with four consecutive winning seasons. The first quarter was marked by defense and long possessions. Allie Blum gave the Dragons an early lead, but it was quickly answered by a Marauder 3-pointer. MV was hot early behind the arc, hitting three long shots - two triples and a buzzer-beater with a foot on the line - to take an 8-4 lead after one. MV quickly pushed the lead to 10 on the first two possessions of the second quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers. The Dragons responded with two strong drives by Kendra Moore and three points by Miller, but MV held a 22-11 lead at the break. In the third, the Dragons got a couple of quick baskets from Sadey Hughbanks and Miller. Moore drilled a 3-pointer to draw the Dragons within six at 26-20, but MV quickly responded as freshman Gabby Thomas hit back-to-back triples to give her team a 12-point edge. The Dragons continued to battle, as Hughbanks and Miller each hit two free throws and Sevier was fouled at the buzzer and drained both shots to cut the deficit to 34-26 going into the fourth. The Dragons had multiple opportunities to cut the deficit inside eight in the fourth, but were unable to do so. MV took advantage after a steal and miss by the Dragons, as Thomas hit her third 3-pointer of the half to push its lead to 11. Moore quickly answered with a triple of her own to cut the deficit to eight. She later hit another 3-pointer, again cutting the deficit to eight, but the Marauders were able to hit 6-of-8 from the line to stave off a comeback. Moore led the Dragons with 13 points, including three second-half 3-pointers, finishing her sophomore season with her second career high in four days. Miller added 11 points. Blum tallied five, Hughbanks four, while Sevier, Kylee Beranek and Kenna Tweedy each scored two. Thomas led MV with 20 points, hitting 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Ellery Minch added 16.