Sophomore scoring machine, Kayley Kovac, knows how to put up points for the Lady Olympians. However, the dedication and hard work in the off-season have paid off for her and her teammates as they focused more on their defense and rebounding.

In Tuesday night's 41-38 Schuylkill League win over Lehighton, the Lady Olympians utilized a strong defensive effort to stymie the Tribe in the waning minutes, and give them their first loss of the young season.Early on in the contest, Lehighton's Skylynn Faust took advantage of several offensive rebounds to keep her team in contention. But Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac alerted his players to the issue and down the stretch, the adjustment aided in the Olympian victory."Last year, one of our biggest weaknesses was our defense," Kayley Kovac said. "Even me, I'm a horrible defender. But we all started to really work in the offseason on defense. We've been trying to focus on getting stops and getting the rebounds because our best game is transition and we can't get to that without rebounding."The lead swung back-and-forth in the first frame before the Olympians took an 11-10 lead after one. In the second, a Faust trey knotted the score at 13-13, before Jim Thorpe surged ahead with six straight points as Payton Kovac followed a free throw with a drive to the bucket, sister Kayley put back a miss, and Rebecca Cressman hit a charity toss.Trailing 22-18 at the break, Lehighton (4-1) showed why it entered the contest undefeated. Behind a three from Aubrey Blasiak and five points from Faust, the Indians reeled off eight straight points to grab a 26-24 lead."I thought that this was a good win because when Lehighton comes in at 4-0...if you're 4-0, you believe," Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac said. "We played a team that believes in themselves and I think we also grew up a little bit tonight as well."The fourth period was tight, as both sides forced errors from their opponent, went to the hoop aggressively, and battled for boards. However, Kovac, who scored all of her team's eight points in the final frame, put up enough to withstand a Tribe rally."I told the girls after the game that if they were to get a grade, I would have given them a D," coach Kovac said. "But, if the girls can have a bad game and win, then that's the sign of progression and that we're taking a step in the right direction."BACK AND FORTH ... The game featured 11 lead changes and six ties. The Olympians eventually took the lead for good late in the third when Kaitlyn Ohl put in two conversions from the line with 1:14 left on the clock. Kaley Kovac followed with a layup and Ohl added a fast break bucket for a 33-28 swell after three.STATS 'N STUFF ... For the game, Lehighton held a slim 47-44 edge on the boards. Both sides were careless at times with possessions as the Tribe's 18 turnovers bested the Olympians' 24. Kayley Kovac finished the game with a game-high 24 points and 14 boards.FEISTY FAUST ... Skylynn Faust had a nice game again for the Indians as she scored 14 points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Blasiak also hit double digits with 11 while Allie Rossino added seven points and four assists.LEHIGHTONRossino 1-5-11-7, Whiteman 0-0-0-0, Blasiak 4-2-2-11, Frey 2-1-4-5, Beck 0-0-0-0, Faust 6-2-5-15. TOTALS: 13-10-22-38.JIM THORPERichards 1-0-0-2, P. Kovac 2-2-6-6, Condly 0-0-0-0, Ohl 2-4-4-8, K. Kovac 9-6-15-24, Cressman 0-1-3-1, Waselus 0-0-0-0, Lignore 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-13-28-41.Lehighton 10 8 10 10 - 38Jim Thorpe 11 11 11 8 - 41Three pointers: L - Blasiak 1, Faust 1; JT - none.