New Palestine High School

The New Palestine girls basketball team had a slow start Tuesday, but used a big third quarter to take command and then held off a late charge in a 37-33 victory over New Castle. The Dragons improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in Hoosier Heritage Conference play with the victory. The Dragons took nine minutes to hit a field goal, but their defense was suffocating, holding New Castle to one field goal and four points in the opening frame. The Dragons trailed 4-1 after a quarter - with Kylee Beranek's free throw the only points. Sadey Hughbanks broke the drought on the first possession of the second quarter, but a 3-pointer by New Castle's Alana Orr gave the Trojans a 7-3 lead. Hughbanks hit two free throws and Tylar Whitaker a basket to tie the game, but the Trojans again hit a 3-pointer to take the lead at 10-7. Kendra Moore answered with a triple, but another 3-pointer gave New Castle a 13-10 edge in the closing stages of the quarter, before Hughbanks scored her sixth point of the frame to cut the deficit to one at the break. The Dragons then came out hot in the third. After surrendering the first basket on a broken play, the Dragons scored 12 straight points to take a 24-15 lead. The Dragons kept adding, with the run extending to 16-3 to go up 28-18. Brooklyn Crim scored six points in the run, while Beranek scored four. Kendra Moore and Hughbanks each hit 3-pointers in the frame. The Dragons took a 30-21 lead after three, and extended it to 11 early in the fourth when Beranek hit a shot inside. But from there, the Dragons struggled to find offense, while New Castle scored eight points on four consecutive possessions to cut the lead to 32-29. Beranek was fouled and hit a free throw to push the lead to two possessions. The Dragons hit 4-of-8 from the line down the stretch, keeping the lead at multiple possessions until the closing seconds, when New Castle cut the lead to three with 6.8 seconds left. Whitaker was fouled and sank one of two free throws to seal the victory. Hughbanks and Beranek led the Dragons with nine points each. Beranek tallied eight in the second half. Crim tallied six, all in the Dragons' third-quarter run. Moore also scored six. Whitaker tallied five, while Haven Flagle and Gabbie Brown each hit a fourth-quarter free throw to help seal the game. The Dragons next play Saturday at Delta, with an 11:30 a.m. JV tip.