Entering Friday night’s contest between Palmerton and Northern Lehigh, the Lady Bombers, Bulldogs and Salisbury all had realistic shots of qualifying for the District 11 Class 3A playoffs.

The Lady Bombers had the best shot with a win over rival Northern Lehigh in their regular season finale, and head coach Ralph Andrews was aware of that fact.

However, defeating a team three times in one season is always difficult for a squad to do, and considering NL standout Jada Saeger’s recent string of strong showings, Andrews drew up quite the game plan.

Trailing by two at halftime, the Lady Bombers came out of the gates determined and pushed past the ‘Dawgs for a 42-37 victory, catapulting them into the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

“I can’t say enough about the girls and the way they came out after having two days off of school,” he said postgame. “They came out hungry and knew what was on the line and when we fell behind early on, the girls didn’t stop fighting and didn’t stop clawing.”

In fact, after Jill Olewine drilled a trey with 2:35 remaining in the first period, it gave the Bulldogs an 11-1 swell. However, Kayla Cincilla and Emily Recker knocked down threes and Linnaea Leister and Cincilla converted back-to-back fast break lay-ups for an 11-11 tie after one.

After a pretty even second, the teams went into intermission with the Bombers trailing 17-15.

“We knew we just had to stick to our game plan,” Andrews recalled telling his squad at the break. “We wanted to try and get to the foul line and I thought we did a great job of that in the second half. We got the ball into the paint, and facilitated from there.”

A 9-2 run out of the halftime gates gave the Lady Bombers a 24-19 edge with just over five minutes remaining in the third, but the Bulldogs battled back. After three, Palmerton took a 28-24 lead, going into the final eight minutes.

Up to that point, the winners held high-scoring Jada Saeger (18.30 ppg, third in Times News area), to just two points in the game, and Andrews was quick to commend his players’ defensive efforts.

“We were aware that their offense would start with Saeger, and she’s a fantastic player,” Andrews said. “I thought Paige Frantz did an outstanding job in the first half, shutting her down. We could see that she was getting frustrated, but we were able to contain her and that was the mission.”

In the fourth, Saeger did put up eight points to keep things interesting, as the ‘Dawgs challenged down the stretch. In fact, Saeger’s lay-up with :52 on the clock tied the contest at 37; but the biggest shot of the night came from a freshman for the Bombers, as Emily Recker stepped up and drilled a triple to stifle the Nolehi faithful and all but seal the outcome, as the hosts went on to the victory.

“It’s fantastic to get in and it’s a great step for the program and moving in the right direction,” Andrews said. “It’s great to send these seniors out on a district trip.”

“It feels so good,” Leister (15 points) said afterward. “They are a really tough team, but we stuck together, played as a team, feeding off of each other and coming up big down the stretch.”

PACKED HOUSE

... Near the end of the girls game, the stands at Palmerton Area High School’s Gymnasium were near at-capacity, as the varsity boys-girls’ doubleheader featured the Palmerton Hall of Fame induction in between contests. The response of the crowd on-hand resembled a playoff type atmosphere.

OLE-FINE EFFORT

... Senior guard/forward Jill Olewine (averaging 11.95 ppg, 9th in TN area), put on a scoring display in the loss, as she poured in a game-high 17 points for the Bulldogs. She shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the game, a rarity in scholastic hoops these days.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Guelcher 0-0-0-0, L. Hoffman 2-2-4-6, Seager 3-4-6-10, D. Hoffman 1-0-0-2, Ziegler 1-0-0-2, Evans 0-0-0-0, Seier 0-0-0-0, Olewine 3-10-10-17. TOTALS: 10-16-20-37.

PALMERTON

B. Guedes 1-1-2-3, Hirochek 0-0-0-0, Cincilla 3-1-2-10, Leister 4-5-8-15, Frantz 0-0-0-0, Papay 2-2-5-6, Recker 3-0-0-8. TOTALS: 14-9-17-42.

No. Lehigh 11 6 7 13 - 37

Palmerton 11 4 13 14 - 42

Three pointers: NL - Olewine 1; P - Recker 2, Leister 2, Cincilla 1.