When two programs are rebuilding, there's going to be expected ups and downs during the development process. On Tuesday, two rebuilding programs hungry for wins were involved in a tight Schuylkill League contestup until halftime.

Tamaqua earned an 11-8 advantage heading into intermission, much thanks to Bailey Hartung burying a few long jump shots.However, Jim Thorpe went on a furious 22-3 run in the second half which propelled the Olympians to a 30-14 victory over the Raiders.The huge factor in the last meeting between these two teams was Jim Thorpe's height under the basket."McKenzie McVicker has been getting some more playing time and she made a big difference inside for us on the defensive side of the ball," said Tamaqua head coach Joe Berezwick. "I'm not so much disappointed in our defensive effort, as much as our offense. I just had a bad feeling heading into halftime that Jim Thorpe would take advantage of our empty trips on the offensive side of the ball. They certainly took a close game and slowly opened up the lead on us."Berezwick acknowledged the strong defensive effort of the Olympians in the second half.Much of Jim Thorpe's success could have been thanks to a coaching adjustment."I thought we played well defensively even though we had a few break downs in the first half," said Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac."We went from the 2-3 zone in the first half to the 1-3-1 approach in the second half. I thought Cat (Condly) and Alexis (Naranjo) did a great job keeping the ball out of Demetriades' hands and trapping the ball handler.Not only did the freshman point guard Naranjo get it done defensively, she also led Jim Thorpe with a game-high eight points in the contest."I really think we have a bright future here with players like Alexis and Rebecca Cressman," said Kovac "Rebecca gave us some nice minutes in the second half; she made some great passes and got her teammates involved. Hopefully we can develop her to be a very important, consistent player for us."Statistics show that two areas Jim Thorpe had a large advantage in were foul shots and rebounding.Jim Thorpe was much more aggressive in the second half. The aggression led to the Olympians totaling 22 foul shots opposed to the Radiers' two in the contest."We're optimistic because two years ago we lost a ton of great players," said the Olympian coach."Now we have some nice underclassmen and a junior high basketball team who hasn't lost a game in two years. These seniors really kept the ship afloat the past two years. If it wasn't for them, we might not have had enough kids to even have a girls program. I have a lot of respect for them."The Olympians have currently earned five wins so far during the season.Kovac said, "It's a tribute to the seniors. Last year was a tough year and we're definitely improving from week to week. Before the season I'm sure a ton of people didn't think we would win a handful of games, and here we are with five wins and two games left to play."TAMAQUAHartung 2-0-0-5, Demetriades 0-1-2-1, Pedersen 0-0-0-0, Wittig 1-0-0-3, Baddick 0-0-0-0, Solt 2-0-0-5, Ligenza 0-0-0-0, Pratka 0-0-0-0, McVicker 0-0-0-0 TOTALS: 5-1-2-14.JIM THORPECope 0-0-0-0, Condly 1-1-2-3, Naranjo 4-0-0-8, Rusbarsky 1-1-4-3, Cressman 0-4-8-4, Becker 2-1-2-5, Bush 0-0-0-0, Binder 2-3-6-7 TOTALS: 10-10-22-30.Tamaqua 5 6 2 1 - 14Jim Thorpe 5 3 10 12 - 30Three-pointers: Tamaqua: Hartung 1, Demetriades 1, Wittig 1; Jim Thorpe: None.