The Lehighton girls have only played in the Schuylkill League for one season.

But already, the Indians have become accustomed to its style of play.The aggressive nature that has become a staple of one of the toughest leagues in the state is now commonplace for Eric Gidney's squad.That aggressiveness, on both ends of the floor, was a big reason Lehighton pulled away from Palmerton for a 52-34 win in both team's season opener Friday night."We really have been preaching that," said Gidney. "We started being far more aggressive last year. Some of that is a reflection of the league we now play in. In the Schuylkill League, you've got to be hard-nosed. I don't want to sound unsportsmanlike but you either have to push or be pushed."We've decided this year we're going to play much more up on our toes and be much more aggressive. We want to set the tone and influence the game and not have it influenced around us."The Indians' defense definitely got the attention of the Blue Bombers.Lehighton's pressure, along with Palmerton's inexperience among its ball handlers, resulted in 30 turnovers. And once the offense got into a rhythm, the margin started growing for the Indians.A 7-4 first-quarter advantage ballooned to 24-13 by halftime. Aubrey Blasiak drained a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter while Skylynn Faust hit for seven points in the frame.Blasiak added five more during a 10-0 run to start the second half, putting the host team in total control at 34-15. The margin never dipped below 14 points the rest of the game."(Lehighton) has a good, quick team and they play good defense," said Palmerton mentor Rodney Strohl. "With the turnovers, that's just experience versus inexperience. We have to hope that as the year goes on, we'll get better."We're also not very tall so rebounding is another problem ... They didn't make a lot of first shots, but they made a lot on second and third chances and we just can't let that happen."Strohl had to be happy with the play from his sophomore starter, Linnaea Leister, who finished the contest with a game-high 19 points.But Leister's efforts couldn't match the balance of Lehighton's scorers.Faust finished with 17 while Blasiak also reached double figures, ending with 11. Allie Rossino ran the offense and chipped in six points as all 11 Indian players scored in the contest."We started slow, but we did that last year and the year before," said Gidney, whose team started 0-of-9 from the floor and finished the first quarter 2-of-17. "If we don't get off to a slow start, that's when I'll be surprised. We were prepared that we might start slow ... If the ball doesn't go in the bucket, that doesn't mean you can't play good D. If the ball doesn't go in the bucket, that doesn't mean you can't rebound."It took us a little while for us to get our first basket but once we did it got us into our defensive mindset where we start getting aggressive and start looking for our trap situations."ENDING A STREAK ... The Lehighton win ended a nine-game losing streak against Palmerton. The last time it defeated the Bombers was Dec. 28, 2009 when it posted a 43-39 victory during the Indian Holiday Classic.SHOTS APLENTY ... The Indians didn't have the best shooting night, but did get plenty of shots. Lehighton finished 20-of-71 from the floor, Palmerton, meanwhile, shot 10-of-32.ON THE BOARDS ... Faust paced Lehighton in rebounding, finishing with nine. The Bombers were led by Erika Beers, who also collected nine boards.PALMERTONHirochek 1-1-2-3, Shupp 0-0-0-0, Leister 4-8-11-19, Frantz 0-0-0-0, Wentz 2-0-1-4, Muniz 0-2-4-2, Beers 2-0-2-4, Goodhile 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 10-11-21-34.LEHIGHTONRossino 3-0-0-6, Muffley 0-1-4-1, Long 1-0-0-2, Whiteman 1-0-0-2, Blasiak 4-1-1-11, Frey 2-0-0-4, Beck 1-0-0-2, Drofich 0-1-2-1, Faust 5-7-9-17, Buchinsky 2-0-0-4, Bollinger 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 20-10-16-52.Palmerton 4 9 8 13 - 34Lehighton 7 17 18 10 - 52Three-pointers: Palmerton - Leister 3; Lehighton - Blasiak 2.