Paige Demetriades didn't get the chance to play the first time against backyard rival Panther Valley.

While missing the first eight games due to an injury, she was forced to watch from the bench back on December 19.Thursday night, however, the Tamaqua senior guard finally stepped on the court against the Panthers in the teams' second meeting of the season.She posted a double-double in leading the Raiders to a 50-27 Schuylkill League victory over the Panthers."It felt so good to get this victory," said Demetriades. "I think we came out in the first half excited since we knew this was a winnable game. Both teams came out super strong. At first, we took some poor shots and some not-so-smart shots."But, I think we came out in the second half a little more patient on offense. We worked the ball better as we were able to get some easy lay-ups and some nice open jump shots."The Blue Raiders were a dismal 7-for-39 from the floor in the first half, but managed to hold a 19-12 lead after a low-scoring second quarter. The Panthers shot 5-for-19 from the floor in the opening half.Shooting woes were an issue for Panther Valley coach Brad Hurley's squad all night long."We missed way too many shots," said Hurley, who's Panthers finished 10-for-36 in the game. "If we make our shots in the first half, we come out of that with a lead. I mean we missed a lot of opportunities, a lot of lay-ups, a lot of foul shots."I don't know what we shot from the foul line (7-for-19), but I know it wasn't good. Those things will come back and bite you when you're playing in a competitive game."In the second half however, Tamaqua pulled away.The Blue Raiders' 4-for-10 effort from the perimeter and 7-for-10 effort from the foul line in the third helped secure a 35-16 lead heading into the final stanza.Demetriades took over in the fourth, posting nive of her her game-high 19 points. She also pulled down 10 rebounds."I'm just happy to contribute any way I can," Demetriades said. "If it's 19 points, or if I get rebounds, or whatever I can, I'm just trying to help get a win."Tamaqua head coach Joe Berezwick is happy to have her back in the line up."She stepped up her game," Berezwick said. "Certainly as a senior, you're looking for her to do that. She kind of had a tough year to this point. With the injury in the beginning of the season, and then she came back and had to fight an illness with the flu bug going around. It was a nice game for her because with not getting a chance to play a whole lot of games this year, she definitely got things going tonight."But, again, both teams are having a tough year. So, it was nice to come out with the W in a convincing fashion."PANTHER VALLEYMarouchoc 1-0-1-2, Vance 3-2-4-8, Picht 0-0-0-0, Corby 0-0-0-0, Smith 1-2-6-4, M. Markovich 0-0-0-0, Dacey 4-3-6-11, C. Markovich 1-0-2-2, TOTALS: 10-7-19-27.TAMAQUAHartung 2-1-2-5, Demetriades 8-2-2-19, Hoffman 2-1-3-5, Jones 1-0-0-2, Wittig 2-0-0-6, Baddick 0-0-0-0, Solt 3-4-6-13, Ligenza 0-0-0-0, Pratka 0-0-0-0, McVicker 0-0-0-0, Shamonsky 0-0-0-0, Hromyak 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-8-13-50.Panther Vy. 6 6 4 11 - 27Tamaqua 11 8 16 15 - 50Three-pointers: PV - none; Tamaqua - Solt 3, Wittig 2, Demetriades 1.