The Tamaqua girls have new life again.

Emma Kucznyski was the star of Saturday’s District 11 4A consolation game, stealing an inbounds pass and hitting a shot with less than 20 seconds to go to give the Blue Raiders a one-point lead against Northwestern.

Kuczynski ended up scoring her team’s final 10 points en route to a 52-47 victory that gives Tamaqua a berth in the upcoming state playoffs.

“I feel like we started getting tired in that fourth quarter there, and Northwestern took the lead,” Tamaqua head coach Erika Davis said. “We looked the girls in the eyes and said this is it. We have to make sure we put some big plays together where we come up with some stops and steals.

“We had to convert on the offensive end, and they did just that. Emma led the way, and she had no problem putting the team on her back. She put herself in position to make big buckets for us. Our girls found her and even at the foul line, she was able to have a good showing.”

The Blue Raiders led most of the contest until Northwestern’s fourth-quarter surge brought them back into the game. The Tigers snatched the lead from Tamaqua on a key shot from Emily Sekerak, which was followed by two free throws to put Northwestern up by four with four minutes left.

Both teams kept swapping the lead in the final minutes, although the Tigers went ahead by three on a Sydney Sevrain basket with 25 seconds left.

“I thought both teams played extremely hard,” Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch said. “It was a hard-fought game. It could’ve gone either way and we dug ourselves a little hole early. We were in foul trouble early and that hurt.

“We battled ourselves back in the game, got off to a good start in the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t get that stop when we needed to at the end, and they made some big plays, so give them credit.”

Although the Tigers trailed most of the game, Northwestern kept it close. They trailed by eight after the first quarter, and cut the lead to four before halftime.

Deutsch made some adjustments for the second half, which allowed the Tigers to take the lead in the fourth quarter and hold onto it until late.

“I have to give credit to the girls, they’re the ones who stepped up,” Deutsch said about his team.” We had some good looks; we just didn’t make them at times. Kailyn Jones came out and got us out to a good start in the fourth quarter with two threes, and Sage (Christopher) and Emily started making some plays.

“We made good plays, executed everything and we just couldn’t get one stop with 25 seconds left. We were up one (late). We inbounded the ball and they got a steal there. I thought our girl was fouled and I’ll watch the tape. There’s no doubt in my mind she got pushed, but that’s part of the game.”

After Sevrain’s basket, Kuczynski converted two free throws with just under 20 seconds remaining to pull the Raiders within a point. The junior stole the ensuing inbounds pass and knocked down a shot to put her team in the lead. The Tigers eventually turned the ball over with just seconds left to play. Kuczynski, who finished with 32 points, added two more foul shots after a Northwestern technical to seal the win.

Sekerak was the lone Northwestern player in double-digits with 10 points. Sevrain was held to eight.

With the victory, Tamaqua will play Danville in a state matchup Saturday at Shikellamy.

TOUGH MATCHUP … Davis talked about Tamaqua’s preparation for the tough matchup, “We knew going in that (Northwestern) would be a very tough matchup for us. We kept emphasizing to the girls that if they have any runs, we have to make sure that we stop them and continue to go at them. We kept telling them we need movement on offense. We kind of got stagnant a little bit. We told them just to keep attacking on defense and push the ball and turn the pressure up on defense. We were able to create a lot of turnovers off of some press and a little bit more off on-ball pressure.”

DEUTSCH ON NW SEASON … “Overall, we were concerned going into the season. We had graduated four starters, so we didn’t know what to expect. I thought our girls really stepped up this year to win 21 games. There’s a lot to be proud of and a bright future on the horizon.”

TAMAQUA

Kane 0-1-2-1, Zuber 1-3-4-6, Hromyak 2-0-0-6, Boyle 0-0-0-0, Titus 2-1-2-5, Frederickson 0-0-0-0, Kucznyski 8-15-18-32, Reinhardt 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 14-20-26-52.

NORTHWESTERN

Betz 0-0-0-0. Lister 2-0-2-4, Jones 3-0-0-9, Ledeboer 2-0-0-4, Sevrain 3-2-2-8, Hess 1-2-2-4, Sekerak 4-2-2-10, Christopher 4-0-0-8. TOTALS: 19-6-8-47.

Tamaqua 14 7 9 22 - 52

Northwestern 8 9 10 20 - 47

Three-pointers: Tamaqua - Hromyak 2, Zuber 1, Kucznyski 1; Northwestern - Jones 3.