Despite having only five wins on the season, Lehighton girls' basketball coach Eric Gidney claims his team has "begun to click lately."

To borrow a popular phrase, his Lady Indians clicked on all cylinders Thursday night in their 72-61 Schuylkill League win over Jim Thorpe.Lehighton's game plan was to cover high scoring freshman, Kayley Kovac with a double team in a triangle and two defense and the early results proved to be effective.Kovac was held to just eight first half points as Lehighton's defense frequently denied her the ball. The rest of the Olympian offense shot only 5-for-34 in the half."They took a gamble trying to shut down Kayley," said Thorpe coach, Rob Kovac. "They always left somebody else free, but we just couldn't hit the open shots."In the meantime, the Tribe's offense, led by two freshmen, exploded for 24 first quarter points with no fewer than six players hitting the scorebook. Aubrey Blasiak tallied seven of her team leading 24 points in the session and Skylynn Faust added eight of her 19.The second period saw similar results. The Olympians continued to miss shots while Lehighton increased its halftime lead to 37-22 on a running one hander by Faust and a basket by Savanna Buchinsky."I think we turned the page tonight," said Gidney. "After some tough losses, we licked our wounds and showed a great desire to finish."Lehighton's victory, however, was in doubt as Jim Thorpe came roaring back in the third period. Kovac, who still managed to score 34 points on the night and raise her area-leading scoring average to nearly 25 points per game, scored a basket and free throw to cut the Tribe lead to nine. Then Kovac's driving layup at 2:23 lowered the margin to six points. Lehighton's shots failed to drop and when Brea Bush sank a free throw with 1:41 to go in the third, Lehighton's lead was just 42-38."We had to execute better to weather the storm," said Gidney. "Our players knew it and they worked their tails off to keep us on top."Ahead by just four, Lehighton went on a 17-4 run that was started by Jada Whiteman's baseline jumper at the buzzer.The fourth quarter was a foul fest as the teams went to the free throw line for a combined 44 shots. Kovac scored 18 of her team's 22 fourth quarter points."We self-destructed, especially early in the game," said coach Kovac. "On defense we never balanced the floor and gave them far too many runs. We did get it down to four with a great comeback effort."But give Lehighton credit for holding us off. Blasiak hit her open shots down the stretch to finish us.The loss drops Jim Thorpe's record to 8-8."I am proud of our effort, but not of our performance," Kovac said. "We definitely need a win tomorrow night against Panther Valley if we want to stay alive for the playoffs."Coach Gidney spoke of his team's performance with a smile on his face."I am super proud of our kids. We defeated a real good Jim Thorpe team who could qualify for the playoffs. As you can see, we are very young, but if we learn how to close out a game like we did tonight, we can continue to grow and have success."LEHIGHTONRossino 1-1-4-4, A. Blasiak 6-9-13-24, B. Blasiak 1-0-0-2, Fital 2-2-2-6, Faust 3-11-14-19, Whiteman 4-2-3-10, Buchinsky 1-0-0-2, Durishin 2-1-6-5. TOTALS: 20-26-42-72.JIM THORPEDoughty 2-0-2-5, P. Kovac 1-3-5-5, Condly 1-0-0-2, Ohl 0-0-0-0, Binder 2-2-5-6, K. Kovac 11-12-19-34, Cressman 2-0-0- 4, Waselus 0-0-0-0, Bush 1-3-6-5. TOTALS: 20-20-37-61.Lehighton 24 13 9 26 - 72Jim Thorpe 12 10 17 22 - 61Three-pointers: L - A. Blasiak 3, Rossino 1; JT - Doughty 1.