Brianna Moore wasn’t in the lineup the first time Palmerton played Lehighton.

The freshman made her presence felt in the rematch.

Moore scored a game-high 19 points on Thursday to help the Lady Bombers avenge a season-opening loss to the Tribe and advance to the championship game in the Lady Indian Holiday Tournament with a 43-16 win.

Palmerton will face Pleasant Valley tonight in the finale.

Away from the team for a soccer showcase in Florida the first time the teams met, Moore had an immediate impact, scoring the first five points of the game.

“It means a lot,” said Moore. “We’ve been working hard at practice, preparing for Lehighton. They’re a good team, and we came out and we were ready to play them.

“I wasn’t there for the opening game, but what I heard was that they came out strong, they’re a good team and they work hard together. We definitely came out and made some changes tonight in order to advance to the championship game.”

Those adjustments were evident from the outset.

Palmerton (5-3) took control early, building a 13-0 first quarter lead before a basket from Aaliyah Fisher (four points) got Lehighton on the board with under a minute to play in the opening period.

The Bombers led 24-8 at halftime. They trailed 24-10 at the intermission in the first meeting before falling 36-32.

“I thought it was a tremendous win for the program,” said Palmerton head coach Dan Beck. “The girls were looking forward to this one after the first game of the season. I don’t thing we played to our potential the first game.

“I thought we played a lot better tonight, and I was very happy with that.”

Moore also helped the Bombers put the game away, scoring 10 of her points in the second half.

“She just makes everybody better, just driving to the basket, or kicking to somebody,” said Beck. “They have to put two girls on her, and then someone’s going to be open. It’s a lot easier offensively that way, and defensively, she’s tough out there. She tips a lot of balls, and is very quick, and very aggressive.

“And I think they all stepped up a little bit tonight, too. I was really happy with Hollis (Guedes). She played a really nice game tonight, and her sister Baylee, she battles every game, too.”

Baylee Guedes, the lone senior on the squad, also hit double figures for Palmerton, scoring 10.

Lehighton (5-3) cut it to 18-6 when Hailey Miller hit two free throws with 5:35 remaining in the second quarter. But the Tribe didn’t score again until Alexis Pantella’s (four points) basket made it 24-8 with 1:00 remaining before the end of the first half.

“It was a tough game the first time we played them,” said Lehighton head coach Joe Berezwick. “We had the edge in the first half, they had the edge in the second half. And I’m sure coming into this game, they probably felt that if that game would have went a couple more minutes, they probably would have won.

“You could just tell by their body language, they rode that coming into this game. They wanted to prove that they could beat us, and they did, in every area of the game.”

NOT DONE YET

… The Indians will play Northern Lehigh tonight in the consolation game.

PALMERTON

H. Guedes 1-1-2-3, Papay, 0-3-6-3, B. Guedes 3-4-4-10, Recker 0-0-0-0, Mihalko 0-0-0-0, Beahm 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 3-0-0-6, Moore 6-6-8-19, Nothstein 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 10-14-20-43.

LEHIGHTON

Lutsko 0-0-1-0, Klotz 0-0-2-0, Brown 1-0-0-2, Long 0-0-0-0, Williams 0-0-0-0, H. Miller 0-2-2-2, Marchessault 0-0-0-0, E. Miller 1-0-0-2, McGee 0-0-0-0, Pantella 2-0-0-4, Meckes 0-0-0-0, Fisher 2-0-0-4, Gaston 0-0-0-0, Solomon 0-0-0-0, Schappell 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 7-2-7-16.

Palmerton 15 9 13 6 - 43

Lehighton 4 4 6 2 - 16

Three-pointers: Palmerton – Moore 1. Lehighton – None.