New Palestine High School

The New Palestine girls basketball team finishes the December portion of its home schedule this week with a pair of games against Lawrence Central and Southport. Tuesday New Palestine Dragons (7-6) vs. Lawrence Central Bears (8-3) Time: 6 p.m. JV, 7:30 p.m. V Site: NPHS gymnasium Tickets: $6, cash at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=25720 Audio: NewPalRadio.com Video: https://www.ihsaatv.org/newpalestine Thursday New Palestine Dragons (7-6) vs. Southport Cardinals (6-5) Time: 6 p.m. JV, 7:30 p.m. V Site: NPHS gymnasium Tickets: $6, cash at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=25831 Audio: NewPalRadio.com Video: https://www.ihsaatv.org/newpalestine SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons look to snap a three-game skid with two home games before the Christmas holiday. These will be two of the Dragons’ last three home games of the season, as they will play their next six contests away from home. The Dragons and Bears meet for the 24th consecutive year. New Palestine leads the all-time series 13-10. LC won last year’s meeting 85-44. This is the second of two games against MIC schools for the Dragons. They fell 60-42 to Warren Central Nov. 17. Thursday, the Dragons and Cardinals match up for the 13th time. The Dragons lead the all-time series 8-4, with wins in three straight meetings and six of the last seven. The Dragons won last year’s meeting 64-55 in overtime, a game in which Isabella Gizzi scored a school-record 40 points. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons had two tough shooting games against quality opponents last week. Against Mt. Vernon, the Dragons had strong individual performances on the glass, as Isabella Gizzi tallied nine rebounds and Allie Blum had eight. Gizzi also had 19 points and three steals. Against Cathedral, Gizzi had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the Dragons. Gizzi is closing in on two milestones - she has 1,387 career points and 198 career assists. She reached the 450 career rebounds mark against Cathedral and now has 453. Gizzi is the Dragons’ career scoring leader. Blum reached the 200 career points milestone Thursday against Cathedral, tallying eight second-half points. Junior Vivian Miller has scored in double-figures seven times this year, including five of the last seven games. She tallied her career high with 18 points against Delta. Miller also led the Dragons with four assists against Cathedral, tying a career high. Gizzi ranks second in the HHC in scoring at 23.3 ppg. She is also seventh in rebounding (5.8 rpg), sixth in steals (3.2 spg) and sixth in assists (2.0 apg). Miller is 10th in the conference in scoring at 10.2 ppg and third in assists at 2.3 apg. SCOUTING THE BEARS Lawrence Central enters having won three straight games, beating Carmel 56-49 in OT, Pike 65-47 and Pendleton Heights 64-57. The Bears were the runners-up in the Marion County Tournament, falling 67-65 to Ben Davis in the Dec. 10 title game after wins over Southport and Lawrence North. LC is led in scoring by sophomore Jaylah Lampley, who tallies 16 points and 6 rebounds per game. Also scoring in double figures are sophomore Laila Abdurraqib (14.5 ppg, 5 rpg) and freshman Lola Lampley (12 ppg, 5 rpg). SCOUTING THE CARDINALS Southport had a four-game winning streak snapped Dec. 8 with a 68-45 loss to Lawrence Central in the second round of the Marion County Tournament. This will be the Cardinals’ first game since then. Sophomore Kassie McMasters leads the Cardinals, averaging 15.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Senior Cece Mitchell adds 10.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest, while senior Lela Scott tallies 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest.