Two teams with different philosophies clashed in what was an extremely close Schuylkill League match up on Thursday.

Tamaqua stuck to its full court pressure defense for a majority of the contest while Jim Thorpe played its match-up zone as both teams tried to expose the weaknesses of the opposing team.This game was tied up at halftime, but the Olympians were ultimately able to come away with the victory, 40-32."Both teams played hard, we ran out of gas at the end and Jim Thorpe had a little more," said Tamaqua head coach Joe Berezwick.A primary objective of Jim Thorpe was to try and slow down Tamaqua's leading scorer Paige Demetriades, who had 12 points in the contest."From a defensive stand point we definitely wanted to make Demetriades work hard," said Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac. "She's a really nice basketball player. I think for the most part we did a decent job of that."The game featured plenty of turnovers, proving each team was successful in making the other uncomfortable when had it possession."We struggle a bit in the back court from time to time handling the ball, but our freshmen has grown up and did a pretty good job for us tonight," said Kovac.Alexis Naranjo, the freshman point guard, finished the night as Jim Thorpe's second leading scorer with 12 points.The Olympians clung to a one-point advantage after three periods of play.Kovac said, "We didn't rebound well until the end of the game. Second and third chance points for Tamaqua helped keep the game close."The Olympians looked to emphasize their height in the fourth quarter.They were able to find production in the low post, as Gabrielle Binder scored eight of her game-high 17 points in the final period."We thought we had an advantage with Binder inside. We wanted to slow down our offense and work the ball into the paint," said Kovac.The inside play of Binder and Danielle Becker helped give Jim Thorpe a five-point advantage at the 2:18 mark to help seal the deal."We didn't have an answer for Binder and their inside game toward the end," said Berezwick. "Jim Thorpe had a five-point advantage at the end. We went into panic mode, didn't get into our offense, and rushed some shots."This is the second win of the season for the young Olympian team."Neither team is having a great season in terms of wins and losses, but you saw both teams put forth a great effort. It's all part of a giant growing process," Kovac said.Despite the loss, Berezwick views this as a learning experience for his group of girls."I'm pleased with their performance but also disappointed that we didn't come away with the win," he said. "We have to get ourselves better each day. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and next time we'll have the confidence to put ourselves in a position to win a tough ball game."Jim ThorpeCondly 1-1-4-3, Ennis 1-1-2-4, Rusbarsky 1-0-0-2, Cressman 0-0-0-0, Naranjo 3-6-13-12, Becker 1-0-0-2, Bush 0-0-0-0, Binder 8-1-3-17 TOTALS: 15-9-24-40TamaquaHartung 0-1-2-1, Demetriades 4-2-4-12, Pedersen 0-0-0-0, Wittig 1-0-0-2, Baddick 0-0-0-0, Solt 2-5-7-9, Ligenza 0-0-0-0, Pratka 3-1-2-8, McVicker 0-0-0-0 TOTALS: 10-9-17-32Jim Thorpe 10 8 10 12 - 40Tamaqua 9 9 9 5 - 32Three-pointers: Tamaqua: Demetriades 2, Pratka 1. Jim Thorpe: Ennis 1