There was one noticeable difference between the Lehighton and Panther Valley girls basketball teams Tuesday evening in both team’s Schuylkill League opener.

The Indians weren’t playing at the blackjack table with scared money.

So when they trailed by as many as 15 points three minutes into the second half, one had the feeling that they weren’t close to “Tap City.”

They surely were emulating their loose-as-a-goose coach Joe Berezwick, who implored his team to keep playing and let the cards fall into place.

In the end, the response was stunning. Lehighton came all the way back, tied the contest with five ticks on the clock in regulation, and quickly rode the momentum in overtime to a 41-37 victory.

Lehighton (4-1, 1-0) still managed to rally even after it lost its best player, Emily Miller, who fouled out in the first few seconds of the overtime. Emily’s sister, freshman Hailey Miller, stepped to the forefront with some big plays of her own as well.

The Millers combined for 24 of their team’s points, 14 from Emily and 10 by Hailey, including the game’s biggest shot as time ran out in regulation. Hailey hit a baseline bucket to tie it up at 35-35 apiece to force OT.

There was also a late explosion from unsung sophomore Alexis Solomon, who scored all four of her points from the paint late in regulation and collared nine rebounds. In addition, solid work was turned in by Lillian Brown, who added eight points.

“It’s amazing the way this turned out,” said Berezwick. “Give the kids all the credit; they just found a way to keep their composure down the stretch. I guess the basketball Gods hung with us.”

It also helped that Panther Valley wasn’t patient enough to work for shots and take time off the clock. The Panthers led 32-19 to start the final chapter and seemed to push the panic button. That showed up in an 0-for-7 fourth-period shooting nightmare.

“We’ve got to be better at that,” said PV mentor Bill Lynn. “I mean here we are screaming not to take shots, just work the clock and we can’t get someone to step up and take charge, I don’t understand that. This is a killer. We let this one slip away … and there’s no excuse. We had those two big leads (32-13, 32-18) late in the third quarter and we’re just coming down and taking (bad) shots.”

Indeed, the Panthers shot themselves in the foot, and instead of leaving with a 7-1 record and a 1-0 divisional mark, they fell to 6-2, 0-1.

PV’s Megan Pascoe (14 points) and Erika Dubosky (10) were in high spirits in the first two periods, and helped forge a 21-13 halftime lead. Dubosky sank a triple and a three-point play the old-fashioned way to spring her team to a 14-10 advantage. Pascoe also buried a trey before Rachelle Filer smooched a kiss off the glass to extend the cushion to eight points.

Then in the third, the Panthers were boring it full throttle, methodically building a 28-13 lead behind Filer and Pascoe. When Riley Wehr recycled a miss for two more PV points and Dubosky got a picture-perfect assist from Filer, Panther Valley had upped its margin to 32-19.

“I really thought we were in trouble after they made that run,” said Berezwick. “We just didn’t put our heads down, we kept on working. They’re more of a fast-pace team, we’re more of a control team and we value every possession.

“I didn’t know if we had the horsepower (to catch them). But it certainly was a gut-check by our kids.”

OFF THE GLASS

… Lehighton kept hustling for position and had a 48-45 edge in rebounding, with Emily Miller snaring 10 and Solomon nine. PV’s duo of Dubosky and Filer led their team with 12 and 10, respectively.

UGH AND UGH

… Both teams had poor shooting nights. PV finished 13-of-49, while Lehighton went 15-of-68. The Indians were 2-of-17 in the first quarter, and 2-of-13 in the second, before turning in a better 8-of-17 final period.

PANTHER VALLEY

Pascoe 4-4-6-14, Dubosky 3-3-5-10, Filer 3-0-1-6, Wehr 2-0-0-4, Markovich 1-0-0-3, Steber 0-0-0-0, Vermillion 0-0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-7-12-37.

LEHIGHTON

E. Miller 5-3-7-14, H. Miller 4-2-6-10, Brown 3-2-2-8, Klotz 1-2-2-5, Solomon 2-0-0-4. Schappell 0-0-0-0-0, Fisher 0-0-0-0, Marchessault 0-0-0-0, Long 0-0-0-0, Lutsko 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-9-17-41.

Panther Valley 8 13 11 3 2 - 37

Lehighton 5 8 6 16 6 - 41

Three-pointers: PV - Dubosky 5, Pascoe 2, Filer 1; L - Klotz 1, E. Miller 1.