The rivalry is still alive and well between Palmerton and Northern Lehigh.

That was evident in Thursday night's Colonial League girls basketball contest that saw the Blue Bombers pull out a hard-fought 38-35 thriller.The winners needed to withstand a late rally by the Lady 'Dawgs to nab their third win of the season. They did it thanks to a 4-for-4 free throw line performance from freshman Casi Papay, along with the experience and ball-handling of leading scorer Linnaea Leister."It was a little nerve-racking when they started coming back," Leister said. "But we all held our emotions in and we just worked together as a team to get the win."The contest proved to be a game of streaks as Northern Lehigh started out with a 7-2 lead out of the gates. Jada Saeger's five points helped the early swell for the hosts.However, Palmerton responded with a run of its own as Leister poured in all of her team's seven points in the first session.Paige Frantz nailed a triple from the corner and followed with a lay-up to put the Bombers ahead 12-7 with under a minute off the clock in the second quarter.Dani Hoffman's free throw proved to be Northern Lehigh's only second quarter point. Meanwhile Tyra Wentz and Karianna Ruch nailed jumpers and four more Leister points provided a 20-8 halftime edge for Palmerton."Everyone has their role on the team and it was a compete team effort," Bomber coach Ralph Andrews said. "They know their roles and everyone did their job tonight."The winners padded their lead out of the locker room with four more points, making it 24-8 with 6:34 remaining in the third.That's when the Bulldogs began their run, however.Jillian Olewine scored five straight and Saeger's drive cut into the deficit for a 24-15 Bomber edge.The two sides traded buckets throughout the remainder of the quarter for a 30-21 Bomber lead after three."We were getting shots throughout a majority of the game and early on there was just a lid on the basket," Northern Lehigh head coach Dave Shankweiler said. "These girls have been shooting well lately, but in that first half, we just couldn't get the shots to drop."Leister drilled a triple to begin the fourth and Wentz's free throw made it 34-21 with 6:10 remaining. However, a 7-0 sprint by Northern Lehigh cut it to six (34-28) with under two minutes to go.Papay then contributed four straight charity tosses to give the winners a big enough lead to nab the 'W.'"It's so nice to see all the hard work in practice pay off," Andrews said. "It got a little hairy there at the end. Maybe the nerves crept in, but it's big to get the win."TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER ... The top scorers for the Bombers was Leister with 18 points. For the Bulldogs (4-11), both Saeger and Olewine notched 13 in the losing effort.A TALE OF TWO HALVES ... Northern Lehigh had a dismal shooting performance in the first half as it connected on only one of 22 attempts from the floor. However, the Bulldogs picked it up in the second half, connecting on 8 of 23 shots, to make the game interesting.PALMERTONPapay 1-4-4-6, Hirochek 0-0-0-0, Cincilla 1-0-0-2, Leister 7-2-3-18, Frantz 2-2-4-7, Wentz 1-1-2-3, Muniz 0-0-0-0, Ruch 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 13-9-13-38.NORTHERN LEHIGHGuelcher 0-0-0-0, L. Hoffman 0-0-0-0, Saeger 3-7-7-13, Kemery 0-0-0-0, D. Hoffman 1-1-2-3, Ziegler 1-0-0-2, Mills 1-2-2-4, Olewine 3-5-7-13. TOTALS: 9-15-18-35.Palmerton 7 13 10 8 - 38Northern Lehigh 7 1 13 14 - 35Three pointers: P - Leister 2, Frantz 1; NL - Olewine 2.