NORTHAMPTON - Not too many people gave the Palmerton girls much of a chance in Saturday's District 11 Class 3A quarterfinal matchup against Allentown Central Catholic.

The Bombers, who were ousted by Bethlehem Catholic last year and Central in other most recent seasons, didn't seem to mind, however.The Vikettes (22-3) went on a seven-point run during the final half of the first quarter and managed to hold off the Bombers (14-9) for a 43-31 victory at Catasauqua High School.Central now takes on Northwestern Lehigh in the semifinal round Wednesday at Northern Lehigh at 7:30 p.m.."We played hard the whole game," said Palmerton head coach Rodney Strohl afterwards. "Some of it might have been experience vs. inexperience in these types of situations. We've only had Jade (Farquhar), Maddy (Mummey) and Abby (Reimer) who have really played a little bit in this type of game."We just couldn't get the ball to drop. I thought our defense was excellent, held them to 19 points at half and then held them a while, but we couldn't get anything going offensively."It was sophomore 5-11 center Kali Buckmyer who picked up the scoring slack for the Vikettes two top scorers, Alyssa Mack and Emma Redding. Buckmyer had 10 of her team high points in the second and third quarters. She was also a force on the boards with five of her 11 rebounds coming off the offensive boards.As a matter of fact, 16 of Central's field goals came off of offensive rebounds or on drive's to the basket as it dominated the boards by a 33-18 margin.Palmerton's junior standout and leading scorer Jade Farquhar kept her team close, finishing with a game-high 19 points. Central Catholic head coach Mike Kopp was impressed with Farquhar's performance. It was the Vikettes inability to shut Farquhar down and an off night from Mack and Redding that had him upset a bit following the win."I don't know if it was the week off or what, but we never got into rhythm," Kopp said. "We rushed our shots, didn't run our fast break for some transition buckets and (Jade) Farquhar was strong for them."Central also turned the ball over 22 times, while the Bombers had 16.The Vikettes weren't able to breathe easy until they built up a 41-28 lead with 50 seconds left when they went on a 5-0 run on a layup by Mack along with a bucket underneath and a free throw by Redding. A three-pointer by Palmerton's Madison Mummey and two free throws by Central's Olivia Roseman ended the scoring."We knew they went to the three big girls," Strohl said. "We talked about it, we practiced it. When you don't have size yourself to go against it it's tough. What are you going to do."Palmerton jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but went scoreless in the final 4:18 of the opening quarter when Central went on it's run to take a 9-6 lead.It was the same for the Bombers in the second quarter as they trailed 15-13 with 4:08 left and saw Buckenmyer hit two baskets underneath down the stretch to give Central a 19-13 edge at the half.Central scored the first six points of the third quarter to go out in front by a 25-13 score until Farquhar hit a three-pointer with 3:05 on the clock and added another bucket on a drive as the Bombers entered the final eight minutes trailing 29-18.Palmerton managed to cut it to seven, but that was the closest it was able to come down the stretch.Despite not being able to hit their shots, Mack did have nine rebounds and three steals. Redding added eight boards. Roseman also finished in double figures for Central with 11. Mummey backed up Farquhar with five, while Abby Reimer added four, but did manage to pull down nine rebounds.PALMERTONKrupa 0-0-2-0, Mummey 2-0-2-5, Paulinho 0-0-0-0, Farquhar 7-4-5-19, Reimer 1-2-2-4, Beers 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 1-1-1-3. TOTALS: 11-7-12-31.CENTRAL CATHOLICRoseman 4-2-4-11, Bross 1-0-1-2, Mack 3-2-2-8, Redding 2-1-2-5, Wolf 2-0-2-4, Buckenmyer 6-1-6-13. TOTALS: 18-6-17-43.Palmerton 6 7 5 13 - 31Cent. Cath. 9 10 10 14 - 43Three-pointers: P - Mummey 1, Farquhard 1; CC - Rossman 1.