Riding a five-game winning streak, the Palmerton girls basketball team was looking to make a statement last night when it entertained Notre Dame of Green Pond in a Colonial League showdown.

The Crusaders came into the Bombers' House with an unbeaten league record and just one loss on the season overall.When the dust cleared, it was Notre Dame who held on for a 49-42 triumph, but not without a fight."This place is always a tough place to play," said Notre Dame head coach Josh Kopp afterwards. "Palmerton is always going to give us a scrappy defensive effort and I give our kids credit for hanging in. We were down 17-10 at one point and then we battlled back to get a halftime lead in a real hectic and frantic pace."I'd like to think our kids thrive in that situation. We have some players who like to get up and down the floor and I was proud that we hung on in kind of a hostile environment."The Bombers were able to open up a nice lead in the first quarter as Madison Mummey scored all eight of her points early on and Jade Farquhar added six of her team high 10.Bothered with back problems, Mummey played valiantly all night. The Bombers' were also missing MiKayla Krupa who was unable to suit up.Notre Dame doubled up the Lady Bombers in the second quarter, outscoring them 16-8 to take a three-point lead at intermission.Palmerton and Notre Dame battled pretty even in the third quarter, with the Crusaders hanging on to a 35-30 advantage entering the final eight minutes.The Crusaders went on a run and led by 11 with just over three minutes remaining. Palmerton battled back and cut it to six, but that was the closest it would get."That press almost got Palmerton back into it," Kopp noted. "We had a couple of turnovers that could have been more costly had we not converted some of those transition baskets. Our kids enjoy making that extra pass, enjoy feeding their teammates and making that extra assist for the basket."Farquhar is a terrific player. We focused on trying to limit her penetration to the basket because she likes to drive and not only create a shot for herself, but for her teammates. I think we were successful making her work harder for her points and her touches."Shannon Moran finished the night with a game-high 16 for the Lady Crusaders, while Lexi McGivern added 13. Farquhar was the lone Bomber to hit double figures with 10."We arent going to make excuses," said Palmerton head coach Don Delich. "We got beat because we didn't put the ball in the basket and we only took one bad shot all night. We had good scoring opportunities, we didn't put the ball in the basket. You can't do that against a good team."NOTRE DAMEMcGivern 4-4-7-13, S.Cabone 2-0-0-4, Altimire 3-0-0-6, Moran 6-3-6-16, Gorman 0-2-3-2, L. Cabone 1-0-0-2, McMullan 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 19-9-16-49.PALMERTONAlban 0-0-0-0, Mad. Mummey 2-3-3-7, Farquhar 5-0-2-10, Morg. Mummey 2-2-3-6, Tracy 1-1-2-3, Meinhart 4-1-2-9, Solt 1-0-0-2, Reimer 2-1-2-5. TOTALS: 17-8-14-42.No. Dame 12 16 7 14 - 49Palmerton 17 8 5 12 - 42Three-pointers: ND - McGivern 1, Moran 1; P - none.