‘Tis the season of giving.

And the Jim Thorpe girls basketball team has been happy to oblige.

The Olympians have been generous during an undefeated start to the season, something that continued as they took the floor for the final time before Christmas Day.

Jim Thorpe unwrapped a 62-40 non-league win over Palmerton on Saturday, a triumph that followed a similar blueprint that has been the catalyst for the team’s strong start.

“We’re kind of blessed. As last season ended, between the injuries and everything like that, you’re scratching your head to make lineups,” said Thorpe head coach Rob Kovac. “And now, the big thing is that we keep emphasizing for everybody to share the ball. And we’re lucky to do that, because there’s a selflessness amongst these kids.”

That mentality was evident as the Olympians moved to 6-0 with another balanced performance.

“We kind of thought we were going to see zone tonight,” said Kovac. “Palmerton came out in man, and we were able to get some ball-screen action pretty early. We run ball-screen pretty well, because we have a big that can finish, and we have guards who make good decisions.”

Freshman Skyler Searfoss tallied a career-high 24 points, while fellow frosh Olivia Smelas added 14 points and 12 boards.

But Kovac also championed the play of senior Natalia Richards for helping to facilitate the offense.

“A kid like Natalia ... she’s the portrait of selflessness,” said Kovac. “She’s content to play good basketball, and share the ball. Skyler (Searfoss) has a pass-first mentality as well, and that really enables us to share the ball.

“From the post, Liv (Smelas) has to be one of the best passing bigs. She is, skill-wise, so evolved for a kid her age in the post. You see her numbers in the paper, and you see that she has double figures, but you don’t realize how good of a passer she is.”

Jim Thorpe, which averaged 56.2 points per game entering the contest, quickly jumped out to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter. The Olympians led 38-13 at halftime.

“They have a lot of offensive weapons out there, they really do,” said Bombers head coach Dan Beck. “The big girl down low (Smelas), she’s very tough. And they got the ball in to here.

“She’s a freshman, and she’s very impressive for a freshman. You can tell that they spend some time with her doing that stuff. They have a well-rounded team.”

Palmerton (4-3) was led by freshman Brianna Moore, who scored 21 points. Moore hit for nine points during a 1:35 stretch late in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 59-36.

“We were really happy with how we defended Moore,” Kovac said of the freshman, who had seven points in first half. “Even when she scored, she was taking the shots we wanted her to take early in the game. We were content for her to shoot a three or two. If it went in, that was fine. We wanted to avoid her getting to the glass.”

The Bombers outscored the Olympians, which had been allowing 20.2 points per game in five previous contests, 18-8 in the fourth quarter.

“I’m happy with how hard the girls are working,” said Beck. “One game at a time. I’m happy with where we’re at right now, but I know there are some tough games coming up, too. But we want to play these games, because it makes you better.”

LOOKING FORWARD

… Palmerton will be in Lehighton’s Lady Indian Classic this week. In addition to Lehighton and Palmerton, Northern Lehigh and Pleasant Valley will also be in the tournament.

CLAIMING BRAGGING RIGHTS

… While Saturday’s contest was a non-league game, Kovac was happy to carry the torch for the Schuylkill League. “We talked in the locker room about how this is Schuylkill versus Colonial, and we talked about representing your league a little bit. We tend to think we play in a pretty good division. We were happy to come out tonight and kind of represent the league a little bit as well,” he said.

PALMERTON

H. Guedes 2-0-0-4, Papay 0-0-0-0, B. Guedes 1-4-8-6, Recker 0-0-0-0, Mihalko 1-0-0-2, Beahm 0-0-0-0, Nemeth 3-0-0-7, Nothstein 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-6-11-40.

JIM THORPE

Richards 2-0-0-4, Scott 3-0-1-0-6, Snisky 1-0-0-2, Berger 0-0-0-0, McArdle 0-0-0-0, Hurley 3-1-3-7, Searfoss 8-8-10-24, Smelas 5-4-4-14, Solt 1-0-0-2, Craigie 0-3-6-3. TOTALS: 23-16-24.

Palmerton 8 5 9 18 - 40

Jim Thorpe 21 17 16 8 - 62

Three-pointers: Palmerton - Moore 3, Nemeth 1; JT - None.