ALLENTOWN — The Notre Dame and Allentown High varsity girls’ basketball teams are not exactly twinsies, but they both pride themselves on defense, while their offenses are working to get better. Going head-to-head Thursday, that combination made for a gritty game that may not have been as smooth as either side would have liked. Yet, through all the trials and tribulations, the contest was exciting as the Irish held on for a 35-31 win from a game that traded hands four times in the fourth quarter and was a one-point margin with 47 seconds to play. “We were on a (four-game) losing streak, so this was a big game for us,” ND’s 5-foot-9 senior guard/forward Tori Bucchere said. “We faced a lot of adversity, but we all held each other accountable. We got through this today by taking deep breaths and slowing down in the key moments.” There were a lot of those yesterday as head coach Beth Ardery’s 5-5 Irish broke open a tie game with 4:40 left in the first quarter by going on an 11-1 run for a little over a quarter before Lily DeRose’s breakaway layup helped head coach Dana Wells’ 7-4 Redbirds snap its field goal slump with 3:53 left in the half. DeRose, a 5-2 junior guard, would go on to lead her team with 11 points. “They applied a lot of pressure. They were always on you,” A’town 5-8 junior guard Maddie Sullivan said. “It made us work harder and pushed us to do better.” Like Bucchere, Sullivan did a lot of the grunt work for her team. She grabbed 10 rebounds to go with seven points, five steals and four assists. Bucchere, who recently returned to the lineup as she dealt with an ankle injury, had eight rebounds, four points, three assists and two steals. “I bring the energy for our team on defense,” Bucchere said. “I’m not a big scorer, so I try to make an impact on the defensive end.” With 5-10 senior forward/guard Makayla Rondinelli scoring six of her 10 points in the third quarter, the home team outscored the visitors, 10-5, to close the gap to 23-22 when Rondinelli scored on a drive with 2:25 left in the stanza. Both teams had chances down the stretch, but could not change things until Rondinelli also scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to put Allentown up, 24-23. The lead changed hands three times after that until Notre Dame 5-9 senior guard Caroline Foley, who led all players in the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds, hit her third 3-point field goal with 3:40 left to give the Irish a 28-27 advantage. When Sullivan scored off a steal with 46.9 seconds to go, the Redbirds were still as close as 32-31. But ND got a free throw from 5-4 junior guard Kelsey Wood and two more from Foley in the final 30.6 seconds to hold on. “Turnovers were a major thing in this game,” Sullivan said. “But it was mostly a matter of wanting the ball back, and we did try to get it back.” After 18-12 at intermission, A’town did a good job at battling back by outscoring the Irish, 19-17, in the second half before coming up a little short to have its second three-game winning streak of the season snapped. NOTRE DAME (35) Foley 3-4-13, RParker 1-0-2, Hempsell 2-2-6, Bucchere 2-0-4, Hughes 0-0-0, DMeszaros 0-0-0, MMeszaros 0-0-0, Kniffin 2-0-5, Wood 2-1-5, Scharibone 0-0-0. Totals — 12-7-35. ALLENTOWN (31) Rondinelli 5-0-10, Prekop 0-0-0, DeRose 3-4-11, Sullivan 3-1-7, Harmon 0-0-0, Barry 1-0-2, George 0-1-1. Totals — 12-6-31. Notre Dame (6-5)                   12    6      5    12    —    35 Allentown (7-4)                         6    6    10      9    —    31 3-point goals — Foley 3, Kniffin (ND), DeRose (A). ...read more read less