Friday night proved to be a special birthday for Tamaqua's Vanessa Solt.

Not only did the Raiders' junior set a career high by scoring 18 points, but her performance helped her team gain a 40-37 victory over Panther Valley and avoid a winless season."This was a really good birthday present," said Solt, who turned 17 years old. "Last time we played them it was really close. And of course, they're a rival of ours and that motivates us even more to win. Our season is coming to end and we were really looking for a win."This was a team we knew we had a chance to beat. So we knew if we worked hard and played together ... we would be able to pull out the win."Solt especially came up big for her team on a number of occasions, but the most important was late in the fourth quarter.With Tamaqua leading 31-29 with three and half minutes left to play, the 5-4 forward picked up a loose ball off a missed free throw and hit a shot in the lane. On the Raiders' next possession, she found herself open from the perimeter and banked in a deep three-pointer.The two baskets gave the Raiders (1-20) their largest lead at 36-29."I just knew I was open and I figured I would take it," said Solt about the three-pointer."Vanessa made some key shots for us at the right time," said Tamaqua head coach Joe Berezwick. "She also did a nice job at the other end of the floor. The team just made big plays in the second half. All year we weren't making those plays but we made them tonight."Early on, it was Panther Valley making the big plays.Thanks to a trio of three-pointers, two of them by Madison Blasko, the Panthers enjoyed a 14-7 first-quarter advantage. PV's lead swelled to 11 points after a bucket from Jamey Mikovich and a pair of free throws by Kailee Smith, but the offense suddenly hit a dry spell after that."There are couple things this year that we haven't been able to do and getting off to good starts is one of them," said Panther Valley mentor Brad Hurley. "We usually get down early and come back in the second quarter. But tonight we started out making shots."After that, though, I don't know what we shot but it was dismal. We had many opportunities to score with a number of them being high percentage shots but we just didn't make them."The Panthers' shooting woes (0-for-7 the rest of the period) opened the door for Tamaqua to get back in the game. Solt hit the first and last baskets during a 10-0 run that pulled the Raiders within one point at halftime."The way it started, it certainly looked like it would be the kind of night where we would be chasing it the whole way and not get over the hump," said Berezwick. "But we made a nice run there and that was big ... Getting this win is just a big confidence boost for us. This time of year, everybody is talking about playoffs and we were looking at two shots to avoid going through a season without a win. This win's going to go a long way for us with everybody coming back."The two teams battled back-and-forth early in the second half, as evidenced by four ties. But Solt hit her two clutch shots, and Paige Demetriades (13 points, 10 rebounds) hit three free throws in the final two minutes to secure the win.The Panthers, who ended their season with a 6-16 record, received 13 points from Blasko and 10 from Mikovich.In the JV game, Tamaqua gain a 25-23 overtime victory.PANTHER VALLEYMarouchoc 0-0-0-0, Blasko 4-3-4-13, Vance 2-1-3-5, Jacobs 1-0-0-2, Smith 1-2-2-4, M. Markovich 1-0-0-3, Mikovich 5-0-2-10. TOTALS: 14-6-11-37.TAMAQUAHartung 1-1-2-3, Demetriades 4-5-12-13, Wittig 1-0-0-2, Baddick 0-0-0-0, Solt 7-3-4-18, Ligenza 1-0-0-2, Pratka 0-2-4-2, McVicker 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-11-22-40.Panther Vy. 14 4 9 10 - 37Tamaqua 7 10 12 11 - 40Three-pointers: Panther Vy. - Blasko 2, M. Markovich 1; Tamaqua - Solt 1.