WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP - Palmerton coach Jeremy Coleman admits that he would have liked to see a little more offense from his team, but the defense was so good that the lack of scoring was a non-issue.

The Bombers beat Northwestern Lehigh for the third time this season with a 37-26 win in the Colonial League semifinals on Wednesday night at Whitehall High School.

The previous three seasons, the teams met in the league playoffs with Northwestern Lehigh winning all three games, but the fourth time was the charm for Palmerton.

Northwestern scored to open the game, but the Blue Bombers scored 12 unanswered points and kept the Tigers from scoring for over 10 minutes of game time. By halftime, Northwestern had cut the lead to 17-11 with the help of an Emma Freeman three-pointer.

“We know that Northwestern is a really good team, and that they were not going to quit even if we got a lead on them,” said Palmerton’s Megan Matsko, who led all scorers with 10 points. “Coach Coleman did a great job of preparing us for this game and for what we were going to see out there.”

Early in the third quarter, Ella Baumgardt hit a three-pointer to increase the Palmerton lead back to 11 points. Every time the Tigers would start to cut into the lead, the Bombers picked up a basket to regain a cushion. Freeman hit another three-pointer to cut the lead to five with 4:03 left in the third quarter, but Palmerton again made it a six-point game at 27-21 by the end of the third.

In the fourth, Palmerton went up 29-21 on a nice left-handed hook shot by Courtney Connell just ahead of Northwestern looking to mount a comeback. Olivia Minnich hit from just inside the foul line and on Northwestern’s next trip down the floor, Brook Balliet nailed a three-pointer. Just as quickly as the uprising started, the Bombers put it to rest with their defense and went on to score the final eight points to punch their ticket to the league finals for the fourth straight season.

“It’s always hard to beat a team three times in a season, but our coach just kept motivating us and told us to keep our composure and see how it turns out,” said Connell. “Our defense played great tonight. Ella (Baumgardt) and Sydney (Frantz) were really good, and we needed that tonight.”

One of the keys for Palmerton was holding Northwestern’s leading scorer, Cara Thomas, to just seven points.

“Sydney Frantz did a fantastic job on Thomas,” said Coleman. “We didn’t plan on keeping her on Thomas the whole game, but she was so good that we just kept her there. I don’t even think Sydney got a break; I think she was in there for the whole game.”

The last time the two teams met during the regular season, Palmerton won by 15 points and commanded the boards. This time, its rebounding was not quite as dominant, but it still limited the opportunities for Northwestern.

“I thought we played better than the last time we faced them, and we got more shots, but couldn’t get them to go,” said Northwestern coach Chris Deutsch. “We had more opportunities, but I think we were pressing a little and never got into a rhythm.

“Another problem was that they got to the foul line 18 times, and we only got there three times. We have to do better at tha,t and be more aggressive and try to get some of those easy points for ourselves because they hit 10 more of those shots, and that was a big difference.”

ELSEWHERE … On the other side of the bracket, Notre Dame got 10 points each from Olivia Schweitzer and Carly Campbell to defeat Pen Argyl, 51-43. That sets up a meeting of the top two seeds in the finals Friday night at Freedom High School (6 p.m.). Notre Dame and Palmerton met a month ago, with the Bombers picking up a 49-46 win.

WAIT AND SEE … Northwestern will get a week off before it opens play in the District 11 tournament. As things stand now, the Tigers would be playing Tamaqua unless the Blue Raiders win the Schuylkill League tournament, which wraps up Friday.

NORTHWESTERN

Balliet 3-0-1-7, Freeman 2-0-0-6, Thomas 3-0-0-7, Fenstermaker 0-0-0-0, Minnich 2-0-0-4, Conner 0-0-0-0, Gober 0-0-0-0, Reinhart 1-0-2-2, TOTALS: 11-0-3-26

PALMERTON

Pengelly 0-0-0-0, Baumgardt 1-4-6-7, Frantz 3-0-0-6, Morgan 0-0-0-0, Barry 2-2-4-6, Matsko 3-4-8-10, Connell 4-0-0-8, TOTALS: 13-10-18-37

Northwestern 2 9 10 5 - 26

Palmerton 10 7 10 10 - 37

Three-pointers: Northwestern Lehigh – Freeman 2, Balliet 1, Thomas 1; Palmerton – Baumgardt 1