The No. 13 was a lucky one for the Palmerton girls basketball team on Saturday.

Both Cate Morgan and Hailey Barry scored 13 points, and the Bombers put up 13 points in the second quarter to take a lead that they never relinquished in a 41-39 win over Wilson in the District 11 4A quarterfinals at Catasauqua High School.

The win sets up a semifinal game against Allentown Central Catholic on Wednesday.

Palmerton took an early 2-0 lead, but Wilson quickly erased that when Anna Schmitt and Juliana Bonham combined to rattle off a quick seven points as the Warriors went on a 12-3 run, and by the end of the first quarter gave themselves a 15-11 lead. Bonham had seven of her 13 points in the first quarter.

“We did a pretty good job of handling Bonham today. You’re not going to shut her down completely, but we wanted to keep the reins on her as best we could and make some other players try to beat us,” explained coach Jeremy Coleman. “Emma Rex did a great job in handling Bonham and chasing her around all game. She’s going to be tired, but the win is worth the effort that she put in.”

Over the next two quarters, the Palmerton defense forced 15 turnovers and held the Warriors to a combined seven points.

Morgan hit a shot from in close to pull Palmerton within one at 19-18, before Barry dropped in a pair of three-pointers and sent the game to halftime with her team up 24-19, their largest lead of the game to that point.

“We know that we can play well defensively, and we showed that over that part of the game,” said Barry. “We also were able to force some turnovers and turn them into points on our end, so that gave us a big advantage when we really needed it.”

Whatever Wilson talked about at halftime didn’t help. The Palmerton defense went right back to work and allowed only a successful foul shot to Emma Dalpe, and a late jump shot for two points to Bonham in the third quarter. Wilson’s foul numbers also started to climb, and the Blue Bombers went 4-for-6 from the foul line in the quarter, and Morgan added a pair of buckets for a 32-22 advantage.

“We were glad to have the lead at that point, but we also knew that they’re a good team and the game wasn’t over,” said Morgan. “The first time we played them we went to overtime, so we knew they were capable of getting back in the game. We just wanted to take it one play at a time and take care of the ball and make some shots.”

Whatever Wilson coach Meagan Eripret told her players just prior to the start of the fourth quarter helped, as they came out with more momentum.

Dalpe, a junior, led her team with seven points in the final quarter. A pair of foul shots by Tessa Bonham, and a steal by her sister Juliana at midcourt that she took to the basket for an easy layup cut Palmerton’s lead to 38-33.

Palmerton was now the team being hunted. Kiera Hartzell-Ham hit a foul shot, and Dalpe hit on a long three-pointer to cut the Bombers lead to one at 38-37.

The clock ran down to just :24, and in an effort to get the ball back, Wilson fouled Morgan, who instantly ruined the plan by hitting both free throws.

Dalpe made a pair of foul shots at the other end to make it 40-39, and Morgan followed by sinking the second free-throw attempt for a two-point lead with just 2.9 seconds left in regulation.

Wilson was unable to get the ball up court for a legitimate chance, and a long three-point attempt was off the mark, preserving the win for Palmerton.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST WINTER… Palmerton and Central Catholic is a rematch of last year’s finals when the Vikettes knocked off the Bombers 45-33, denying them their first district championship since the 2021-2022 season. “We felt like no matter which team we played (Central Catholic or Northwestern) we would be looking for revenge. They (Central Catholic) beat us in the finals last year and we see Northwestern a lot and they beat us this season, so we can get some revenge,” said Morgan. The Bombers and Vikettes play Wednesday night at Pleasant Valley with tip-off set for 7:30.

WILSON

Colon 0-0-0-0, Schmitt 2-1-2-5, J. Bonham 6-0-0-13, Dalpe 2-3-6-8, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Stackhouse 2-1-3-5, T. Bonham 0-2-2-2, Hartzell-Ham 2-2-4-6. TOTALS: 14-9-17-39

PALMERTON

A. Barry 0-1-4-1, Rex 1-5-6-7, Rumfield 1-0-0-3, Morgan 5-3-6-13, Green 2-0-0-4, H. Barry 5-0-0-13, Herman 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-9-16-41

Wilson 15 4 3 17 - 39

Palmerton 11 13 8 9 - 41

Three-pointers: Wilson – J. Bonham 1, Dalpe 1; Palmerton – H. Barry 3, Rumfield 1.

Records: Wilson (16-8); Palmerton (17-7)