Last night's opening round game of the Lady Indian Holiday Classic starring Jim Thorpe and Northern Lehigh certainly wasn't worthy of a Daytime Emmy.

However, it very much felt like watching an episode of "The Young and the Restless."With both squads in the process of rebuilding with a combined roster featuring nearly 70-percent of freshmen and sophomores, the growing pains were apparent from the opening tip. Fifty-four turnovers and 47 personal fouls later, Jim Thorpe (6-2) escaped with a hard-fought 59-48 victory, which advances the Lady Olympians into tonight's Tournament Championship against Palmerton."We don't think we played very well tonight and yet we managed to still win a basketball game," stated Jim Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac. "It wasn't pretty, but it's a good sign when you can play poorly and win. They're in the process of rebuilding just like we are, and you have to give Northern Lehigh and coach Thomas credit because his girls played hard and fought to the very end."Jim Thorpe built a 23-12 lead midway though the second quarter behind 14 points from freshman phenom Kayley Kovac. However, Northern Lehigh ended the half on a 10-3 run as the turnover bug bit Jim Thorpe, which left the Lady Bulldogs trailing by just four points at the break.In the first half alone, Northern Lehigh committed 20 turnovers, while the Olympians turned the ball over 12 times."We never really got into a flow tonight and I thought we played in spurts," added Kovac. "Defensively, we put them on the free throw line way too much. Our best offense right now is in transition and it's hard to run a transition offense when the other team is shooting free throws all night."It's no secret that Jim Thorpe runs its offense through Kayley Kovac. Last night Kovac tossed in a career-high 34 points on 13 field goals, while pulling down eight rebounds. It was the third 30-point game of the season for Kovac."They had a decent scheme for Kayley and they were really physical on her tonight," touted Kovac. "Tonight wasn't her best performance by any means, but they made her work by crowding the lane. It was just one of those grind-it-out games, but it was our sixth win of the season, which is one more than we had all of last year."Trailing by 10 points entering the fourth quarter, Northern Lehigh converted five of its first six shots from the field and with five minutes remaining, the Bulldogs trimmed the deficit to 45-44. However, despite its best effort, Northern Lehigh was never able to gain a lead. In the final five minutes, Kovac and Alexis Naranjo combined to score 12 of Jim Thorpe's final 14 points to preserve the victory."Alexis' offense tonight was huge as she gave us a second scorer to complement Kayley," noted Kovac of Naranjo's 17 points. "As the season goes on, teams are going to find a way to slow Kayley down, and we're going to need that second scorer."Alexis really showed us that she can handle that role tonight."Jess Olewine scored a team-high 22 points for the Bulldogs (1-8), while freshman guard Katelyn Hoffman had 13 points and 10 rebounds."I'm proud of our girls tonight and I thought it was a great game," said Northern Lehigh head coach Tony Thomas, whose team scored a season-high 48 points. "All the credit goes to Kayley Kovac, she's a heckuva player."Tonight was really a testament to the character of our girls. They don't want to lose and they're out there to fight every single day no matter what the score is. I commend them for that because so many of our girls are still learning the game. With that being said, we're still making mistakes and those mistakes are leading to turnovers and extra possessions for the other team."JIM THORPEDoughty 0-0-0-0, P. Kovac 0-2-4-2, Condly 0-0-0-0, Naranjo 8-1-2-17, Binder 0-2-2-2, K. Kovac 13-8-14-34, Cressman 0-0-0-0, Waselus 0-0-0-0, Bush 0-0-0-0, Lignore 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 23-13-22-59.NORTHERN LEHIGHK. Hoffman 4-5-7-13, Jess Olewine 6-10-16-22, Handwerk 0-0-0-0, Bevans 2-2-6-6, Gallimore 0-0-0-0, D. Hoffman 0-0-0-0, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Jill Olewine 2-3-5-7. TOTALS: 14-20-34-48.Jim Thorpe 17 9 16 17 59Northern Lehigh 10 12 10 16 48Three-Pointers: Jim Thorpe: None; Northern Lehigh None.