Coming into the season, Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch was very clear that he wanted a Colonial League championship.

On Thursday night, his team looked to take a step toward that goal when undefeated Notre Dame came to town. But unfortunately for Deutsch and his players, the Crusaders were able to get a quick start and down the Tigers by a 49-39 score.

In the early going, Northwestern looked to do too much on each possession, and the result was a number of unforced errors that led to turnovers or shut down a set play for the Tigers. Passes were off the mark, dribbles went awry and the team struggled to get started.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame was clicking, and just over a minute into the game opened up a six-point lead. The Crusaders stretched that to 10 with three minutes left in the quarter, before Northwestern collected itself and cut the margin to seven when the horn blew.

“We didn’t come out playing well,” Deutsch said. “It wasn’t the effort, it was just that we made a couple bad decisions and were maybe trying to be too perfect. Obviously, they’re a very good team, and if you can’t play with them from the opening tip-off, it’s a lot tougher to catch up against a team like this.”

A key problem for Northwestern was controlling senior Cassie Murphy — both on the boards and around the basket. For the most part, Murphy was guarded by freshman Paige Sevrain, who did an admirable job against her but wound up with two quick fouls and added a third before halftime. The result was Murphy pulling down 12 rebounds, eight of which were on the offensive end. Murphy finished with 25 points to go with her rebounding prowess.

“I thought Paige played well against her, and that’s a tough matchup,” said Deutsch. “We gave them too many opportunities, and when they’re getting two or three shots, it’s just too much and it’s going to hurt you.”

Down by 11 at the half, Sevrain looked to put the team on her back in the third quarter. She worked her way down low and scored eight of her 14 points in the frame as Murphy started to pick up some fouls. Sevrain also limited Murphy to just four points – two of them on foul shots – in the third. Sevrain’s time on the court was limited slightly after she picked up her fourth foul, and in the fourth quarter, Murphy retook command of the game by scoring eight points.

The loss echoed one to Bangor when the Tigers fell behind by 16 before rallying to tie the game, only to fall to the Slaters 48-44. Bangor won the rebounding battle in that game as well, and Deutsch is aware of his players need to be tougher around the basket.

“We have to limit other team’s chances,” said Deutsch. “Sometimes you can get away with that against a team that isn’t that good, but against teams like Bangor and Notre Dame, you just can’t give away opportunities.”

IN GOOD STANDING ... The Tigers (12-4; 9-2) are still in good shape and currently are the third seed for the Colonial League tournament. Deutsch, who picked up his 200th win as Northwestern’s coach earlier this season, believes his team can play with elite teams such as Bangor, Notre Dame and Moravian Academy. Earlier in the year, Northwestern beat Moravian Academy by 11.

THEY’VE GOT BOARD ... Sophomore Antonia Bates and junior Sydney DeFranco were also active on the boards for Notre Dame (14-0; 11-0) with nine and seven rebounds, respectively. Between Murphy, Bates and DeFranco, 13 of their 28 rebounds came on the offensive end of the court. The top three rebounders for Northwestern — Mackenzie Hess, Tess Ledeboer and Sevrain — pulled in a total of 17, five of which were offensive.

NOTRE DAME

Medei 2-0-0-5, DeFranco 1-2-2-5, Micklos 0-0-1-0, Cooper 2-0-0-6, Santos 0-0-0-0, Bates 2-3-7-8, Murphy 10-5-5-25. TOTALS: 17-10-15-49

NORTHWESTERN

Lister 4-5-7-13, Jones 1-0-0-3, Ledeboer 2-1-4-5, S. Sevrain 1-2-2-5, Hess 0-0-0-0, P. Sevrain 7-0-1-14. TOTALS: 15-8-14-39

Notre Dame 19 10 7 13 - 49

Northwestern 12 6 11 10 - 39

Three-pointers: Notre Dame - Cooper 2, Medei 1, DeFranco 1, Bates 1; Northwestern - Jones 1.