Number 24 is what the Northwestern Lady Tigers were fighting for Saturday night.

Above average scoring from their own number 24 paved the way as second-seeded Northwestern (24-1 overall) tied a school record for most wins in a season, at 24, by defeating seventh seed Blue Mountain, 53-32, at Northern Lehigh High School in the District 11 AAA quarterfinal.Sophomore Erika Thomas, who sports number 24, dropped 14 points, including nine in the first half, to help the Lady Tigers tie the mark."I think it is amazing," she said of the achievement. "I honestly love all these girls and we all love each other. We are like a family. To be able to achieve these milestones as a team, as a family, is great. We are enjoying our time together."Northwestern enjoyed its game against Blue Mountain (14-9) as it took the lead 10-8 with 3:22 left in the first thanks to a baseline jumper by senior Kylee Bennett and never looked back.The Eagles kept it close after one, trailing 15-10, but five turnovers to start the second period plagued them as Northwestern capitalized and broke open a 20-12 lead midway through the quarter.Scrappy Blue Mountain crawled back to within four with 2:40 remaining after a free throw by senior Caitria Bowen. However, Northwestern, backed by a large Tiger heavy crowd, ensured the momentum would stay on its side as senior Trista Cunningham, who scored a game-high 17 points, made a layup with 34 seconds left to give the Lady Tigers a 27-19 halftime lead.Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch was pleased with how his girls battled, especially in the paint."I thought we did a great job. They are very physical and very aggressive. I thought our defense was phenomenal. We were in foul trouble and had to play nine in that first half and because of our great girls off the bench, we were able to still play our style of play."The Lady Tigers were ready to continue their style of play in the second half, but the beginning of the third was halted as the scoreboards became inoperable. Northern Lehigh Athletic Director Bryan Geist, along with his staff, handled the situation extremely well and got one scoreboard working and allowed the game to continue after only a few minutes delay.Northwestern opened up the third going on a 7-2 run that was punctuated by a trey from Thomas with 5:40 left to extend its lead 34-21."She creates a real match-up problem," Deutsch said of Thomas. "She was shooting well from outside and they were really focusing in on Sabrina Mertz and Cunningham. That leaves the other girls open like her, [Megan] Landrigan, [Sarah] Segan, and the girls off the bench. You can't just rely on one or two girls, it takes a whole team and our girls found a way."Cunningham converted a last second bucket again at the end of the third as she drove to the basket and laid it in with 2.1 seconds left to make it 41-26.Blue Mountain's Corinne Foster, who led all Eagles with 12 points, scored the first four Blue Mountain points in the fourth to start a comeback effort, but to no avail. Cunningham scored again making it 51-30 with 3:30 left in the contest.Both teams' starters exited the game with 1:15 left as Northwestern saw the semi-final was within reach."We are excited," Deutsch said of making it this far. "We move on to the semi-finals on Wednesday and we are one game away from the state tournament. We know it is going to be a tough game, but we are ready for the challenge."The Lady Tigers face No. 3 Central Catholic Wednesday starting at 6 p.m. in the first game of a girls AAA double-header at Northern Lehigh High School. No. 1 Bethlehem Catholic plays No. 5 Southern Lehigh at 7:30.BLUE MOUNTAINKaledas 0-0-0-0, Moyer 0-0-0-0, Foster 3-6-7-12, Smith 0-0-0-0, Fanelli 2-0-0-4, Shpakovsky 1-0-0-2, Connors 0-0-0-0, Woleschok 0-1-2-1, Moyer 0-1-4-1, Bowen 3-0-0-6, Steinhilber 1-0-0-2, Kutz 0-0-0-0, Ebling 1-2-2-4. Totals: 11-10-15-32.NORTHWESTERNMertz 1-1-2-4, Landrigan 1-2-2-5, Day 0-4-6-4, Divers 0-0-0-0, Hebelka 0-0-0-0, Segan 1-2-5-4, Pasquale 0-0-0-0, Koenig 0-0-0-0, Bennett 1-0-0-2, Slack 0-0-0-0, Dietrich 0-0-0-0, Thomas 6-0-0-14, Cunningham 8-1-2-17, Anderson 1-1-4-3. Totals: 19-11-21-53.Blue Mtn. 10 9 7 6 -32N'western 15 12 14 12 -53Three-Pointers: BM- None; NW- Mertz 1, Landrigan 1, Thomas 2.