NEW PALESTINE — A poor-shooting second quarter put the Pendleton Heights girls basketball team behind early on Friday, but the Arabians’ perseverance brought them back.
Down by double digits at halftime, 33-22, after sitting deadlocked 16-16 with New Palestine after the first eight minutes, the Arabians charged back to take the lead in the fourth quarter before stumbling in overtime, 55-53.
“We knew at halftime we didn’t have to correct a whole lot. We made a couple of mistakes on defense, and we knew New Pal was playing good, and we weren’t hitting shots,” PH head coach Chad Cook said. “We thought that we would be solid.”
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The Arabians trailed 29-18 late in the second quarter against their Hoosier Heritage Conference (HHC) rivals as the host Dragons (13-6, 6-1 HHC) put together a 12-4 run.
New Palestine ended the first half outscoring Pendleton Heights 18-4 as the Arabians (8-9, 4-3 HHC) shot 3 of 12 from the field in the frame.
The tide turned in the third behind an 8-2 run from the Arabians led by Aubree Dwiggins, who finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds. Dwiggins had six points in the first half.
“Coming back in the second half, our defense kind of led us into some offense, and they did a good job of not trying to come back all at once. We kept chipping away and getting the lead,” Cook said. “We didn’t handle that really well in the fourth, but these close games are where you learn.”
Megan Mills added 15 points with three steals and seven rebounds. Kylie Davis had 11. Dwiggins posted six of the Arabians’ seven points to put them ahead 43-41 with 5:33 left in regulation.
A Mills steal and a layup gave Pendleton Heights a 47-46 lead with 2:58 remaining, but a missed free throw opened the door for New Palestine, which went to Jordan Reid and Isabella Gizzi.
Reid scored a team-high 17 points with Gizzi finishing with 14.
A Michaela Jones free throw in the final 1:28 put the Dragons in front 51-48, but Morgan Martin tied it up with a clutch 3-pointer with 0:49 on the clock.
Davis had a shot at winning the game on the final possession of the game, but New Palestine’s defense forced overtime.
“Give New Pal a lot of credit. They played hard and made the right plays down the stretch there and gave themselves a chance here to win at home,” Cook said.
The Dragons converted 4-of-8 free throws to hand the Arabians their second loss in three games. This season, Pendleton Heights has dropped five of their nine losses by 7 points or less, including three by 4 and two by 2 points.
“These help you develop,” Cook said. “This game is a battle every time we play them year in and year out. It’s tough to win all the close ones, so you want to have as many close ones as you can because it helps you learn, but it’s a lot more fun to learn from winning, then it is losing, but we’re going to learn either way.”