New Palestine High School

The New Palestine girls basketball game got off to a fast start in each half Thursday en route to a 52-32 season-opening victory at Connersville. The Dragons' victory was their eighth straight in a season opener. The Dragons opened the game with eight straight points. After a Connersville basket, the Dragons answered with back-to-back buckets to take a 12-2 lead after a quarter. The lead never dipped below nine points the rest of the way. Isabella Gizzi scored seven points in the opening frame, hitting 5-of-5 from the line. Gizzi added five points and Kylee Beranek three in the second as the Dragons opened up a 24-12 halftime lead. The Dragons scored the first seven points of the second half to balloon the lead to 31-12 and eventually pushed it above 20, leading 40-19 by the end of the third quarter, with Gizzi tallying six points in the frame and Vivian Miller and Nevaeh Gebhart each hitting 3-pointers. Beranek scored six fourth-quarter points as the Dragons put the game away. Gizzi led three Dragons in double figures with 18 points. Beranek added 11 and Miller 10. In addition, Gebhart tallied five points and freshman Sadey Hughbanks scored four points. Ella Holman and Allie Blum tallied two points each. The Dragons also won the JV game 46-29. The Dragons are now 1-0. They open the home portion of the schedule Saturday against Batesville, with a 5 p.m. JV tipoff. The varsity game will tip at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast at NewPalRadio.com and pay-per-view at IHSAAtv.org.