The fans at Palmerton High School were treated to an exciting game between two basketball programs that combined for 34 wins a year ago.

Northern Lehigh and Palmerton went toe-to-toe Friday night with the Blue Bombers pulling away late in the game for a 42-32 victory.

Hanging on to a one-point lead at 30-29 with 5:20 left to play, the Bombers’ Alisyn Green’s layup gave the home team a bit more breathing room. Courtney Connell’s putback of her own missed shot lengthened the lead to five with 4:30 left on the clock, and Grace Shneider’s free throw made the score 35-29 thirty seconds later.

At the 3:35 mark, Northern Lehigh’s Kylee Snyder’s three-pointer narrowed the deficit to three, but that would be the last points the Bulldogs would score as Palmerton tallied the final four points of the game.

“With many of our players returning, our experience playing in tight games last year certainly helped us prevail at the end,” said Bombers head coach Jeremy Coleman. “We have a tight knit group of great girls who play exceptionally well together.”

The game didn’t start so well for Palmerton as Coleman said, “We had to shake off the rust.”

The same could be said for Northern Lehigh as both teams combined to miss the first nine shots of the game.

With half of the first period gone, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-0 lead on bank shot by Snyder and a three-ball by Ella Tosh.

Palmerton stormed back, scoring the next eight points into the second period with six of them off the hands of Connell and the other basket coming from Hailey Barry.

With 5:47 to go before the intermission, a basket by Ariana Williams lifted Northern Lehigh to a 9-8 lead that the visitors held until Barry drained a three from the baseline at the buzzer to tie the game at 16.

“We competed and had great effort the whole game,” said Bulldogs mentor Brandon Hibbler. “Near the end, I thought we could have been more patient with our shots and we will work at boxing out better in practice on both ends of the court.”

The game remained close in the third quarter with no more than seven points separating the score as Palmerton led 28-21 with two minutes left in the session. Nolehi scored the final five points of the period with tallies by Jaylene Ramos and Tegan Simms that pulled their team within two at 28-26 going into the final eight minutes.

In the fourth, the intensity of two very experienced teams became obvious with the physical play on the hardwood. No panic was evident, just close contact defense and strong battles for rebounds.

“We kept our composure despite some hard fouls by them,” said Coleman. “We held strong under adversity.”

“We just couldn’t find a way to score in the last few minutes,” said Hibbler. “This is the second of three games against really good programs, so we’ll need to work out the details once we watch the film.”

“We were able to score against their zone defense when it really counted,” said Coleman. “I’m proud of how we finished tonight.”

Palmerton’s Connell led all scorers with 17 points. Snyder led the Bulldogs with 12.

BATTLE TESTED … Nine of the 10 players from both teams that started the game are seniors. The Bombers and the Bulldogs are looking to have good seasons with rosters loaded with experience.

FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE … Palmerton netted just 9-of-20 from the free throw line. Northern Lehigh shot 62 percent but only went to the line eight times.

UP NEXT … Palmerton is away at Moravian Academy on Monday. On the same night, the Bulldogs visit Notre Dame-Green Pond.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Snyder 4-3-4-12, Willams 3-2-2-9, Tosh 2-0-0-6, Ramos 1-0-0-3, Simms 1-0-2-2, Wentz 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-5-8-32.

PALMERTON

Connell 8-1-1-17, Barry 3-0-2-9, Schneider 1-3-4-5, Morgan 1-3-5-5, Rex 1-2-8-4, Green 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 15-9-20-42.

No. Lehigh 5 11 10 6 - 32

Palmerton 6 10 12 14 - 42

Three-pointers: Northern Lehigh - Tosh 2, Ramos 1, Snyder 1, Williams 1; Palmerton - Barry 3, Connell 1.

Records: Northern Lehigh (0-2; 0-2); Palmerton (1-0; 1-0).