An old basketball axiom is that outstanding offense requires talent, but outstanding defense requires effort.

And outstanding effort is exactly what Palmerton gave coach Dan Beck Thursday night in a 36-25 victory over Notre Dame of Green Pond in a battle of Colonial League powers.

How good was Palmerton’s pressing man-to-man defense? The numbers tell the story.

The Crusaders (13-3, 10-2) had just one field goal in the first period, and had just one single point in the second period. In the span of 16 minutes, Notre Dame committed 12 turnovers, was held to 11 shots, and scored just three points.

“We really played well tonight, especially in the first half,” said Beck. “We didn’t let them set up their offense. They couldn’t get off threes, and we locked down their bigs inside, too.”

Behind their outstanding defense, the Bombers (14-1, 13-0) built a 9-2 first quarter lead. Bethie Morgan - who led all scorers with 15 points - opened the scoring with a three-pointer. Courtney Connell tallied a layup on a nice feed from Sydney Frantz, Morgan followed with a driving layup of her own, before Megan Matsko added a bank shot in the paint to account for the Bombers’ points. Notre Dame’s only first-half field goal came on a layup from by Julie Pohl with 4:35 left in the opening period.

The home team scored the first seven points in the second period, and carried a 16-3 lead into the intermission. In the locker room, Beck warned his team that the Crusaders would come out in the third with more energy and more determination to get back into the game, which is exactly what they did.

The Crusaders’ Olivia Schweitzer hit a three-pointer to start the second half, but Hanna Barry answered with a trey for Palmerton just 15 seconds later. The Crusaders finally began to find some offense and eventually closed to within 22-17 on Carly Campbell’s layup that just beat the third-quarter buzzer.

“We knew that we had to put the hammer down and step up our defense again going into the final eight minutes,” said Beck.

Matsko made sure that happened, as she led the way in another outstanding defensive quarter for the Bombers who once again held Notre Dame to single-digit points in the period. Meanwhile, fouls by Notre Dame soon put the Bombers on the line, and they capitalized by scoring 10 of their 14 fourth-period points from the charity stripe.

“We have such good athletes and competitors who want to win, and that made the difference after we took their best punch in the third period,” said Beck.

BOARDWORK

… Led by Matsko and Kelsey Balliet, Palmerton controlled the boards and limited Notre Dame to mostly one-and-done opportunities.

BALL HAWKS

… The Bombers had eight steals in the game off their pressure defense, and forced 20 Crusader turnovers that never allowed them to get into an offensive rhythm.

LEAGUE LEADERS

… Palmerton leads the West Division of the Colonial League with a perfect 13-0 league record. It will host Northwestern in a key league matchup next Thursday. The Tigers are currently in second place in the division with a 9-1 league mark.

NOTRE DAME

Altmire 2-1-2-7, Campbell 2-0-0-4, Schweitzer 1-0-0-3, Howlett 1-1-2-3, Lessig 1-0-2-3, Zambo 1-1-2-3, Pohl 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 9-3-8-25.

PALMERTON

B. Morgan 5-4-4-15, Matsko 2-2-2-6, Frantz 1-3-5-5, Connell 1-2-2-4, Balliet 0-3-4-3, Han. Barry 1-0-0-3, Baumgardt 0-0-0-0, Pengelly 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-14-17-36.

Notre Dame 2 1 14 8 – 25

Palmerton 9 7 6 14 – 36

Three-pointers: Notre Dame - Altmire 2, Schweitzer 1, Lessig 1. Palmerton- Han. Barry 1, B. Morgan 1.