The Northwestern girls basketball team continued its defensive dominance Wednesday night against Palisades, downing the Pirates 43-21 to wrap up its regular season schedule on a high note.

Palisades came into the game averaging just under 40 points per game, but couldn’t get on track to mount any offense against the Tigers defense, which has become one of the better units in the Colonial League.

In their last five games, Northwestern (13-1, 9-1) has allowed just 25 points per game, including holding Saucon Valley to just 10 points, and allowing more than 30 points in only one of its last five games just five times in its 13 games this season.

“I’ve been really proud of how our defense has played this season,” said Tigers’ coach Chris Deutsch. “When you can hold a team like Palisades to just 21 points - and we’ve held a lot of good teams down this season – you have a good chance to win a lot of games.”

Northwestern never trailed in the game, opening a quick five-point edge after Kailyn Jones hit a three-pointer just: 20 into the game, and Paige Sevrain followed that up with a bucket from inside the lane. By late in the first quarter, Northwestern had stretched its lead to 10-2, but Palisades (8-6, 6-4) battled back with five unanswered points to cut the Tigers lead to 10-7.

In the second quarter, Ali Lister hit her first three-point shot of the season that put Northwestern Lehigh ahead 15-9, and later in the quarter, Lister drove the lane to give the Tigers a 10-point edge with 1:48 left in the half. Meanwhile, the Pirates put just five points on the board in the quarter, and went over 6:00 without a basket.

“Playing from ahead makes the game much easier,” said Deutsch. “We were able to open a good lead and then use our defense to keep them from getting back into the game.”

A couple minor adjustments at halftime allowed Northwestern to dominate the second half as Palisades put just nine points on the board over the final two quarters. Tess Ledeboer, who missed five games before returning Tuesday night against Whitehall, scored six of her eight points in the second half with Lister and Sevrain also scoring six points in the half.

The Tigers slowly pushed their lead higher over the final 16:00 of the game.

Lister finished with a game-high 13 points, while Sevrain, a sophomore, finished with 12 after putting up 44 points in her two previous games. Palisades was paced by Libby Stianson, who finished with seven points.

WE’RE TALKING PLAYOFFS

... The win gives Northwestern a 9-1 record in the Colonial League, giving it a shot at going into the league playoffs as the top seed. The only team that could catch the Tigers is Notre Dame Green Pond (7-1, 8-3), which plays Northern Lehigh (4-5, 4-5) Friday night, before it finishes the season at home against Wilson (7-2, 7-2) on Saturday. Should the Crusaders win both games, they would finish ahead of the Tigers by virtue of handing Northwestern its only loss of the season.

FREE POINTS

... One night after Northwestern went 20-for-21 on free throw attempts, they reached the line just six times and connected on only three of them, with Sevrain hitting two of her freebies after going 7-for-7 against Whitehall. Palisades attempted just two free-throw, hitting one of them.

PALISADES

Amato 1-0-0-2, A. Stianson 2-0-0-5, Mosher 0-1-2-1, L. Stianson 3-0-0-7, Anderson 0-0-0-0, Hilferty 0-0-0-0, Morton 1-0-0-2, Meadows 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 9-1-2-21.

NORTHWESTERN

Betz 0-0-0-0, N. Miller 0-0-0-0, Lister 6-0-1-13, C. Miller 0-1-2-1, Jones 1-0-0-3, Ledeboer 4-0-0-8, Balliet 0-0-0-0, Funk 2-0-0-4, Nyce 1-0-0-2, Sevrain 5-2-3-12, TOTALS: 19-3-6-43.

Palisades 7 5 4 5 - 21

Northwestern 10 11 12 10 - 43

Three-pointers: Palisades – A. Stianson 1, L. Stianson 1. Northwestern – Lister 1, Jones 1.