Holding an opponent to single digits in each of the four periods of a basketball game usually results in a win.

That’s exactly what happened in Thursday night’s Tamaqua’s 56-24 Schuylkill League Division 1 victory over Panther Valley.

In winning their 17th game of the season, the Blue Raiders took a 5-4 lead on a foul shot by Millie Black with 4:52 left in the first period, and never looked back.

The free throw was part of a 7-0 Tamaqua run that led to a 16-9 advantage after the first eight minutes of play.

The Raiders then pulled away in the second period.

Lauren Ligenza’s two consecutive putbacks lifted Tamaqua to a 30-13 lead with a minute to play before the half. The Raiders, with a decisive height advantage over the smaller Panthers, dominated both the offensive and defensive rebounding from start to finish.

Panther Valley head coach Rob Kovac said that the difference in the Raiders’ lopsided win was their physicality.

“They played the game with a lot of defensive physical pressure, especially on our guards at the perimeter,” said Kovac. “We thought we might be able to attack their bigger girls off the dribble, but the constant pressure caused us to have too many turnovers to remain competitive.

“Give credit especially to Kolbe Robb, who can disrupt a team’s execution all by herself.”

Tamaqua mentor Erika Davis said that after watching her team’s six-point win over Panther Valley in early January, the plan in this game was to play all four periods at a higher level.

“We wanted to come out and play aggressively,” said Davis. “In the first game against them, we let a big lead get away and had to hang on for the win, but tonight we set out to control our own destiny in each period.

“They have some good three-point shooters so defensively, we did a pretty good job not giving them too many open outside shots.”

Tamaqua’s Millie Black led all scorers with 19 points, mostly on driving layups. Ligenza added 12 points, and Kendle Miller dropped down 11 as the Blue and White continued to get the ball inside for high percentage shots. And when they missed, second and third chances often ended up inside the rim and through the net.

Panther Valley was paced by Morgan Orsulak, who tallied nine points.

In the second half, the closest Panther Valley could get was 22 points on a three-pointer by Natalie Vermillion at the 2:46 mark of the third period. From that point on, Tamaqua outscored the Panthers 16-6, and eventually enacted the mercy rule.

HEAVY ON THE HARDWOOD … The game featured bodies falling to the floor on nearly every other possession due to the physical presence Tamaqua brought to its defensive style of play.

SENIOR NIGHT … On this night, Panther Valley started three seniors and Tamaqua two. The underclassmen did all the scoring, except for the eight combined points tallied by the soon-to-be graduated.

TURNOVERS TELL THE TALE … PV committed 21 turnovers. Tamaqua had 10, but the 2-1 ratio definitely had much to do with the outcome.

LEAGUE LOOK ... Tamaqua’s win clinched a tie for the third spot in Division 1 of the Schuylkill League. The top three teams qualify for the league playoffs. The Raiders need a win in their final game against division champ North Schuylkill, or a loss by Pine Grove in its final two league games, to claim the third spot outright.

PANTHER VALLEY

Gjoca 0-0-0-0, Kocha 3-0-0-6, Vermillion 1-0-0-3, Blazosky 1-1-1-3, Breslin 1-0-0-3, Prudente 0-0-0-0, Orsulak 3-2-2-9, O’Brien 0-0-0-0, McAndrew 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 9-3-3-24.

TAMAQUA

Robb 2-0-0-4, M. Black 8-3-4-19, Ellington 0-0-0-0, Scott 2-0-2-4, Plasha 0-0-2-0, Ligenza 4-4-7-12, Rehrig 0-0-0-0, Fannock 0-0-0-0, Miller 4-0-0-11, L. Black 3-0-0-6, Gormley 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-7-15-56.

Panther Vy. 9 4 5 6 - 24

Tamaqua 16 15 16 9 - 56

Three-pointers: Panther Valley - Vermillion 1, Breslin 1, Orsulak 1; Tamaqua - Miller 3.

Records: Panther Valley (8-12; 2-10); Tamaqua (17-4; 9-4).