On Thursday, New Palestine opened the new year with a less-than-successful 57-49 defeat to Bloomington North.
When it comes to explaining why New Palestine lost, one person who can't be blamed is Allie Blum. Despite the final result, she scored 19 points along with six rebounds and five steals. Blum scored a full 38.8% of New Palestine's points, the fifth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Vivian Miller, who scored 13 points.
Bloomington North's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Mia Robbennolt led the charge by scoring 14 points along with nine rebounds. The matchup was Robbennolt's eighth in a row with at least ten points. Ashley Stegemoller was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds.
New Palestine now has a losing record at 8-9. As for Bloomington North, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 12-5.
New Palestine will be playing in front of their home fans against Triton Central at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Triton Central focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Saturday. As for Bloomington North, they will head out on the road to face off against Terre Haute South Vigo at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The timing isn't great for Terre Haute South Vigo: they have been struggling with three straight losses at home, while Bloomington North has snatched up five consecutive wins on the road.
