The Salisbury girls basketball team entered this week one a six-game losing streak and facing a difficult week with games against Palmerton, Notre Dame – Green Pond, and Wilson.

Monday night against the Blue Bombers, the two teams battled with the Falcons clawing from behind before falling 36-26.

The Falcons (7-7, 5-6) took an early 8-5 lead and were on top midway through the second quarter with a 12-9 advantage.

“We’ve hit a spot in the schedule where we have run into some tougher teams and I think it’s wearing us down a little,” said Salisbury head coach Jason Laky. “We have a short roster and we’re a young team, so some of these better teams are tough for us to stay with.”

The Falcons have just eight players on their varsity roster and have no junior varsity team.

Palmerton senior Cate Morgan finished the first half with 10 points and scored a game-high 16.

After the break, Palmerton (11-4 overall, 10-3 Colonial) opened up its largest lead of the game at 27-14.

Salisbury wasn’t going to let their opponents run away that easily. Senior Kendra Morgan drove the lane for a basket and Roxana Cardenas contributed a three-pointer to make it 27-19 going into the final quarter. Nobody realized it at the time, but those two baskets would be turned into an 11-1 run for the Falcons as the game-high 13-point lead dwindled down to a 28-25 Palmerton advantage with 3:00 left in regulation. Palmerton was able to force some key turnovers and Emma Rex hit a close range jumper to go with Catie Morgan’s long range three-pointer for a 33-25 lead by the Blue Bombers.

“We did some good things tonight,” said Laky. “There’s a lot we have to tighten up on and do better, but you saw tonight that the girls are not ready to quit. In addition to Kendra, we have players like Roxana (Cardenas) and Shahd (Suleiman) who are playing well. You can see them slowly getting it out on the court and starting to really become better players; it’s exciting to watch.”

Salisbury went 1-for-4 from the foul line and Palmerton made a couple of important stops down the stretch to get the 36-26 win.

Kendra Morgan led the Falcons with nine points, six of which were in the first half.

Last week, Morgan scored 15 in a loss at Catasauqua and 11 against Saucon Valley in a 31-16 loss.

Cardenas led the team with 11 points in a loss at Northwestern. The Falcons opponents last week have a combined record of 26-14 overall.

“We would like to take down one of these tougher teams to give us some confidence and some momentum,” said Laky. “We’re still looking to get into districts and gain some playoff experience.”

Salisbury takes on Notre Dame – Green Pond (10-4, 9-1), Notre Dame – East Stroudsburg (2-9) and Wilson (8-5, 6-5) this week.