North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel yells out instructions during a Schuylkill League Division I game against Schuylkill Haven at the Cesari-Hope Gymnasium (Photo by Dominic Zembas).

ALLENTOWN — Many teams these days, including the Palmerton girls, live and die by the three-point shot.

Saturday afternoon, the Blue Bombers lived.

The Colonial League club drained 10 treys, including five in a pivotal third quarter, to capture a 50-42 victory over North Schuylkill in the District 11 Class 4A consolation game at Executive Education High School.

The win sends third-seeded Palmerton into the state playoffs, while the loss ended the Spartans’ season.

“I’m just super excited and happy for the seniors especially since they get to extend their season,” Palmerton head coach Jeremy Coleman said. “It was a tough loss on Wednesday losing to ACC because the girls had their hopes on making it back to the championship game, but obviously that didn’t happen. They attacked two days of practice really hard and put themselves in the best chance to extend their season.

“We knew that we were going to have to knock down some threes against them because they play such a high volume of 2-3 (zone) so that’s something that we really kind of focused on throughout the week. But we also stress take what the defense gives you. If you have the open look, take it, it doesn’t matter who it is.”

To start the second half, that person was senior Cate Morgan.

After the fifth-seeded Spartans used a 14-7 second quarter — led by Mya Conti’s seven points — to take a 24-21 halftime lead, Morgan got her team off to a fast start in the third frame.

The 5-foot-5 point guard, who missed all five of her shot attempts in the opening half, connected on three shots from long range during Palmerton’s first four possessions to turn a deficit into a 30-27 lead. The Bombers never trailed after that.

“Coach always tells me to keep shooting the ball even if early on they don’t go in, keep shooting because eventually one will go in,” Morgan said. “So I just kept shooting, and then I started making them. And if others were open I’d pass them the ball and they made it. I think we were just shooting with a lot of confidence, and we kept making them.

“I knew in the first quarter my shot was a little bit off so I just came back and I took a deep breath and I just wanted to make one. And once when you see one go in, your confidence goes up. So once I saw the one go in I kept shooting when I was open.”

Soon after Morgan’s makes, Hailey Barry and Avery Barry each added three-pointers to push the margin to 36-29.

“On my scouting report, I have that they shoot 25-plus threes a game,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said. “We went over for two days how to defend and make sure they didn’t get any threes. We just got lost a couple times, that’s all.

“That’s the bottom line. Those threes were open because we didn’t rotate … Now, sometimes they make just three and sometimes they make eight.”

The Spartans managed to close the gap to four early in the fourth on a trey by Gianna Capone, but Palmerton countered with three-pointers No. 9 and 10 in the game from the Barry sisters to up the score to 44-36 with under three minutes to play.

One last North Schuylkill gasp got the Schuylkill League club within four again, but the Bombers hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.

“I’m just excited I get to keep playing with this group of seniors because half of us are seniors and it’s just great to get another game,” Morgan said. “We have another week of practice to play with each other and try to continue on.”

“I think she saw that we needed her, and she said I’m going to put the team on my back and knocked those down,” said Coleman of Morgan’s threes. “That was able to give some other players some confidence and get us rolling. She’s been that type of player for us all year long, doing whatever we needed to give us that push or that edge to get us rolling.  She’s a great player and really the glue of our team.”

THE NUMBERS … Hailey Barry finished with a team-high 13 points, while Avery Barry and Morgan both ended with 11. The Spartans’ Conti led all scorers with 18 points. Teammates Capone and Monica Selgrade each tallied 10. Palmerton’s Alisyn Green led her team with 10 rebounds, while Jadelin Stitzer had nine for North Schuylkill.

BEHIND THE ARC … The Bombers shot 10-of-26 from distance, compared to 6-of-20 inside the arc. The Spartans ended 16-of-49, including just 6-of-24 during the second half. They were also hurt by a 6-of-18 effort from the foul line.

SENIOR SALUTE … Playing their last game for North Schuylkill were Conti, Stitzer and Kate Urbanowicz.

“Any kid that can play through the program with me for six years, they’re outstanding individuals,” Wetzel said. “They’re tough, they accept their roles, never any complaints. It always starts out when they’re in seventh grade with eight (players) and we usually end up with around three because the demands in the program are very hard … They’re hard workers and don’t get in trouble. It was an honor for me to coach them.”

Game Summary

District 11 Class 4A Consolation

At Executive Education High School

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (42) — Selgrade 4 2-8 10, Conti 7 1-3 18, Urbanowicz 0 1-2 1, Capone 4 1-4 10, Balicki 0 0-0 0, Ja. Stitzer 1 1-1 3, Digris 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 6-18 42.

PALMERTON (50) — A. Barry 3 2-2 11, Rex 4 0-1 8, Rumfield 0 0-0 0, Morgan 3 2-4 11, Green 2 3-4 7, H. Barry 4 1-2 13. Totals 16 8-13 50.

3-point FGs: Conti 3, Capone, H. Barry 4, Morgan 3, A. Barry 3