In a heavyweight fight, both fighters need to be able to take each other’s best punch and keep fighting.

On a Times News edition of Friday Night Fights, Schuylkill League Girls Division 1 top contenders Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua exchanged haymaker after haymaker throughout their important league battle.

But it was Thorpe (9-0) that was able to deliver the knockout punch, going on an 8-1 run to end the game as it came away with a 55-49 victory over the Blue Raiders (7-2).

All four rounds of this one were exciting, but it was the later rounds where business really picked up.

Fast forward to the end of the third where the Olympians carried a five-point lead into the fourth.

The theme of this game was resiliency on both sides, but it was the Raiders that never went away even when it looked like Jim Thorpe was going to take control throughout the contest.

After Emma Kuczynski started the fourth with a bucket plus the harm, bringing the Raiders within two, an Olympians 7-0 run fueled by Skyler Searfoss, who scored a game-high 28 points, gave Thorpe a nine-point advantage (43-34) with 6:15 remaining.

However, Tamaqua stole back the momentum, going on a 14-4 run to take a one-point lead. Jamie Zuber led that charge, scoring eight of her 10 points in that span, including two big triples that almost blew the roof off the gymnasium.

“This was a good ballgame, our team fought hard all night, we just weren’t able to come out on top,” said Tamaqua head coach Erika Davis. “We had some opportunities to convert on the offensive end and from the foul line late in the game, but shots didn’t fall for us. Credit goes to Jim Thorpe, they came out hungry and made the plays to win the game.”

With just 2:47 remaining it would’ve been easy for the Olympians to succumb to the pressure, especially with three freshman in the starting lineup. Instead, Thorpe responded using its transition offense to spark an 8-1 run to end the game.

A Natalia Richards steal, followed by a nifty dish to Searfoss in transition, helped Searfoss complete a three-point play. That play was then followed by a Searfoss steal, which she took in for a breakaway finish to give the Olympians a 52-48 lead around the two-minute mark.

“Credit Tamaqua, they made some big shots there late when we had to get out of our base defense because of foul trouble,” said Olympians head coach Rob Kovac. “We had to go to a little bit of a junk, we gave them some looks and they knocked them down.

“But then our kids just made plays, Olivia (Smelas), Natalia (Richards), Skyler (Searfoss) all made big plays and steals and we settled back down. We knew coming in this whole team was a high-character bunch and they might even have more character than we thought. They were tough, they were resilient, and showed a lot of character.”

After Thorpe secured the four-point lead, the Raiders offense went cold.

Tamaqua wasn’t able to come up with a field goal the rest of the way and went 1-for-6 from the foul line in the last two minutes.

LEADERS ... Helping out Searfoss, who scored 14 of her 28 in the fourth, for Thorpe was Smelas with 14 and Leila Hurley with eight. Kuczynski led Tamaqua with 23.

WINDEX WOMEN ... Smelas and Searfoss were both shining the glass in this one grabbing nine boards apiece.

AND ONE ... There were seven hoop plus the harm plays in the game with Searfoss boasting four of them and Kuczynski owning two.

JIM THORPE

Richards 1-1-2-3, Scott 1-0-0-2, Snisky 0-0-0-0, Berger 0-0-0-0, Hurley 2-3-4-8, Searfoss 9-10-14-28, Smelas 5-4-10-14. TOTALS: 18-18-30-55.

TAMAQUA

Zuber 4-0-0-10, Hromyak 0-0-0-0, Boyle 0-0-2-0, Titus 1-1-2-3, Hope 0-0-0-0, Frederickson 3-0-1-6, Kuczynski 10-2-6-23, Reinhardt 2-3-6-7. TOTALS: 20-6-17-49.

Jim Thorpe 11 11 14 19 - 55

Tamaqua 11 9 11 18 - 49

Three-pointers: Jim Thorpe - Hurley 1; Tamaqua - Zuber 2, Kuczynski 1.