The first meeting between defending Colonial League champion Northwestern and runner-up Palmerton (3-0 Colonial, 4-0 overall) came early this season and ended differently than last year’s championship game.

This time around, the Blue Bombers took control and sent an early season message with a 50-39 win over the Tigers. From there, the rest of the week went much better for Northwestern as they added convincing wins against Southern Lehigh (0-2, 1-2) and Salisbury (0-2, 1-3) and are now 2-1 in the Colonial League and 3-0 overall.

Against Palmerton, Brook Balliet led the team with 12 points, including two three-pointers and Emma Freeman and Cara Thomas both finished with nine points with Freeman also hitting on two three-pointers.

The Northwestern defense came alive in the third quarter and held the Bombers to just three points as Northwestern cut into a 28-16 lead that Palmerton held at the half. Thomas scored all nine of her points in the final quarter, but the Blue Bombers were able to get their offense up and running and held off the Tigers over the final 12 minutes of the game.

Hannah Barry was a thorn in the side of the Tigers, scoring 26 points in the game.

Against Southern Lehigh, Balliet and Thomas took turns scoring with Balliet finishing with a game-high 17 and Thomas right behind at 15 points for a 55-26 win. Thomas’ 12 first half points helped Northwestern Lehigh get out to a 32-17 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Spartans were able to add just nine points to their total.

Salisbury was not able to give Northwestern Lehigh much of a run for their money as the Falcons scored just one point in the first quarter and found themselves down 45-6 at halftime. Thomas had 20 points at the half and finished the game with 23, sophomore Sophia Schaffer finished with nine and Balliet had eight in the win.

The schedule has the Tigers playing three straight road games at Northern Lehigh (0-2, 1-3), a nonleague game at Pottsville (1-3), and then winding up at Catasauqua (3-0, 4-1) through the start of next week.