Palmerton and Northern Lehigh have a storied tradition of rivalry that has existed for generations and still continues today. The heated desire to defeat the other team was on display at Northern Lehigh High School Tuesday night, as the two girls' basketball teams squared off in both programs' final games of the season.

When the final buzzer sounded, it was Palmerton that prevailed, 36-31, ending its season on a high note.With youth aplenty on both sides' rosters, the contest began slowly, but finished strongly, as the two sides battled hard through each possession. In the final frame, the Blue Bombers built leads, only to see the Bulldogs battle back each time, which forced the winners to the free throw line, where they converted 7-of-10 to ice the victory."It's really nice to end the season with a win, especially being a senior and having this as our last game," Blue Bomber senior Erika Beers said afterward. "We all tried to get this win so hard and we've been trying our hardest all season, we really wanted it more tonight."Northern Lehigh's game plan was to play a junk defense on the Lady Bombers' Linnaea Leister, the team's top scoring threat."I want to make sure that Karlyna Kemery gets all the credit for shutting (Leister) down tonight," Northern Lehigh head coach Tony Thomas said. "She didn't have a basket the entire night and that's a credit to Kemery's work ethic."Leister, the Bombers' top scorer was held in check for the outing, leaving it up to the supporting cast of players, which both coaches commented on afterward."Give Palmerton credit," Thomas continued. "They put us into positions that we didn't want to be in and they made some shots down the stretch that really helped them out. They found ways to win the game and had other girls step up and it's a credit to their program and the way it has always been."Leister, who finished with four points (all from the free throw line in the fourth frame), got plenty of support from Beers with 10 points along with eight apiece from Taylor Hirochek and Hailey Muniz."We came out a little sluggish, I thought, after a tough loss last night against Southern Lehigh," Palmerton head coach Rodney Strohl said. "We knew Northern Lehigh was going to play hard, and it was their last game, too.We had a lot of girls step up for us in Beers, Hailey Muniz and Paige Frantz, who both played so tough defensively."TERRIFIC TWOSOME... Northern Lehigh got strong performances again from their two top scorers in Kaitlin Hoffman (game-high 16 points) and Jill Olewine (11 points).STRONG BEERS... Erika Beers is one of three seniors that played their final game in a Palmerton uniform, and she went out in strong fashion, netting 10 points and bringing in 14 rebounds. Lila Goodhile and Abby Shupp are the other two senior players.PALMERTONHirochek 3-0-0-8, Shupp 0-0-0-0, Leister 0-4-5-4, Frantz 1-0-2-2, Wentz 2-0-0-4, Muniz 3-2-4-8, Beers 3-4-4-10, Goodhile 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-10-15-36.NO. LEHIGHGuelcher 0-0-0-0, Hoffman 5-6-12-16, Knerr 0-0-2-0, Kemery 2-0-0-4, Ziegler 0-0-2-0, Olewine 5-1-3-11. TOTALS: 12-7-19-31.Palmerton 2 8 10 16 - 36No. Lehigh 6 4 9 12 - 31Three pointers: P - Hirochek 2; NL - none.