There was no cake, and the celebration was brief.

But Dan Beck couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift.

The Palmerton girls’ basketball team delivered their head coach a 52-46 nonleague victory over Lehighton on Saturday.

“It was a battle,” said Beck. “They’re a well-coached team. He (Lehighton head coach Joe Berezwick) does a real nice job with them, and they’re solid all around.

“The kids came out and played hard, and we preach that. They always give me 100%, and that’s all I can ask for.”

The Blue Bombers (7-2) needed that grit to put the Indians away down the stretch.

Lehighton (6-6) trimmed a 41-29 deficit early in the fourth quarter to four twice with under 2:00 to play.

A free throw by Ashley Marchessault made it 44-40 with 1:38 remaining, and a basket by Alexis Solomon cut Palmerton’s lead to 50-46 with 16.0 left.

But the Bombers were clutch from the foul line, going 8-for-10 in the final 1:31 to ice it.

“It was huge to get that lead,” said Beck. “We use the words composure and poise a lot, and being able to do that late in games will help us play with this better competition.”

Brianna Moore paced Palmerton with a game-high 24 points. Bethie Morgan added 15 points, while Raegan Nemeth tallied seven.

The Bombers feature a starting lineup that has just two juniors (Moore and Nemeth), sophomores Morgan and Kelsey Balliet and freshman Megan Matsko.

Kiersten Gursky, a senior, has provided depth off the bench with her size (6-0) and freshmen Sydney Frantz, Hannah Barry and Hailey Andrews, along with sophomore Emily Bollinger have also added a spark when called upon.

It’s a combination that’s helped produce a four-game winning streak.

“We still have a lot to improve on,” said Morgan. “We have to rebound better. But overall, we’re still playing really well.

“We had a late start to the season, and we have a lot of freshmen coming in, but we’re all working really well together.”

After trailing 12-6 late in the first quarter, Palmerton put together a 14-1 run that lasted until the 5:45 mark of the second period, an advantage it would never relinquish.

“We got off to a really good start, and then the last 30 or 40 seconds of the first quarter we had two turnovers, and Palmerton turned them into points,” said Berezwick, whose team led 12-10 after one. “They kept it going in the second and it just put us far enough behind, and we kept battling, but we could just never come all the way back.

“But the kids didn’t quit, and Palmerton’s a good team. We just have to play a solid 32 minutes of basketball. But give Palmerton credit, because they did things that disrupted us from doing that.”

The Indians grabbed an early lead with a big first quarter from Solomon, who scored 10 of her 19 points in the period.

Her presence in the paint has been a huge boost for the Tribe since returning to the lineup after hyperextending her knee in the second game of the season.

“She’s been giving us really good minutes since she’s been back, but tonight I think you could really say she’s back,” Berezwick said of Solomon. “Hopefully, we can just keep building on this going forward.”

Hailey Miller and Aaliyah Fisher both had nine points apiece for Lehighton.

Looking toward the big picture, both teams still have much to play for, and many big game ahead.

But Saturday’s win will always be a little special for the Bombers.

“It meant a lot, because once again it’s a rivalry, and we know Monday we have a big game coming up against Notre Dame,” said Morgan. “So we just wanted to keep our winning streak going and just prepare for Monday, trying to get first in the league and districts.

“But it was just great that we won, and we did it for Coach Beck.”

SHOWDOWN ... Notre Dame (5-3) is currently second in the Class 3A power ratings, just behind Palmerton. Notre Dame is currently on top in the Colonial League’s East Division, while the Bombers sit just behind Northwestern in second in the West.

TOUGH TEST ... Lehighton will face North Schuylkill (10-2) tonight at 7 p.m. The Indians fell to the Spartans 59-51 on Jan. 15 in their third game of the season.

LEHIGHTON

Marchessault 0-2-4-2, Miller 2-5-6-9, Bowman 2-0-0-5, Meckes 1-0-0-2, Fisher 4-0-2-9, Gaston 0-0-2-0, Solomon 8-3-4-19. TOTALS: 17-10-18-46.

PALMERTON

Frantz 0-0-0-0, Gursky 1-0-3-2, Matsko 2-0-0-4, Balliet 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 2-2-2-7, Morgan 5-4-6-15, Moore 9-6-10-24. TOTALS: 19-12-21-52.

Lehighton 12 7 10 17 - 46

Palmerton 10 17 12 13 - 52

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Bowman 1, Fisher 1; Palmerton - Nemeth 1, Morgan 1.