With its back against the wall on Tuesday night, and trailing after three quarters, Palmerton showed that it wasn’t only resilient, but it was determined to bring home gold back to Fireline Road.

The Blue Bombers battled back in the second half against a talented Executive Education team to capture their first District 11 championship since 1997.

Raegan Nemeth hit four three-pointers in the second half, and Brianna Moore scored 13 of her 15 points during the final two quarters. Point guard Bethie Morgan kept her team in the contest early on, accounting for 13 of Palmerton’s 18 first-half points.

While it was a total team effort for Palmerton against Executive, it was also the veteran presence and leadership of Moore, Nemeth and Morgan that stole the momentum away from the Raptors and closed out the championship win.

“It was just great to see, and I’m just so happy for the girls, and proud of them,” said Bomber head coach Dan Beck. “I’m just especially happy for the seniors, who really made some great plays down the stretch. The girls worked hard to get there, and it was one of our goals coming into this season. It was definitely something we wanted.”

The Bombers will now face No. 2 seed MaST Community Charter out of District 1 in a District 11/1 3A subregional championship at 7 p.m. at Lehighton tonight.

MaST defeated a tough Pine Grove team out of Schuylkill League Division 1 - 64-55 in the semifinals.

Anye Washington had a big night for the Panthers (18-5), scoring 29 points, including six three-pointers. Brianna Buckley added 14 points, while Saniyah Washington chipped in with 12 against the Cardinals.

Palmerton (22-2) will need to focus on stopping the Panthers’ big three. Anye Washington leads MaST in scoring, averaging 13.8 points per game. Buckley nets 10.8 per game, and Saniyah Washington 8.6. Anye Washington has also been impressive from beyond the arc, hitting 38 triples.

“They are a quick team, and they like to sit in a zone, which gave us some issues against Executive, so we will need to do some things better earlier on in the game, starting with taking care of the ball,” said Beck. “When you get to this time of the year, you can’t turn the ball over.

“But they have some players, and a really good guard in Anye Washington, that can get to the basket, but also shoot the three, so it will be another challenge for us.”

Palmerton did struggle against the Executive zone defense on Tuesday night, shooting just 7-for-29 from the field, and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. When the Bombers made the switch in the second half to their 2-2-1 three-quarter court pressure, the whole tone of the game changed as they forced turnovers, got extra possessions and got out in transition as they battled back for the victory.

“We’re going to go with pressure right from the start,” said Beck. “That’s what got us here, and we’re going to roll with that. We’re just once again looking forward to going out there and competing.”

No matter the outcome, both teams have already qualified for the upcoming state playoffs, which start on Tuesday.

Tonight’s winner will face the fourth-seeded team out of District 12, while the loser takes on the District 4 third-place finisher.