WHITEHALL - When the Northwestern buses rolled into Whitehall High School Friday night, the team was at somewhat of a disadvantage.

They were there to play the Zephyrs in a non-league game, but had to do so without three significant players who were benched by injuries or illness.

Northwestern turned the ball over five times in just over four minutes to start the game and by the midway mark of the first quarter were down 11-0. A quick timeout allowed them to regroup and finish the night with a 37-32 win in the season opener for both teams.

When coach Chris Deutsch called the timeout, he delivered a simple message to his players: relax.

The advice did the trick as freshman Riley McGinley hit a three-pointer to make it 11-3 and another freshman, Cara Thomas, opened the scoring in the second quarter with another three, cutting the lead down to five. Paige Sevrain got to the line four times in the second quarter and hit all four of her freebies, while a third freshman - Brook Balliet - tied the game at 12 with her first varsity basket with 2:10 left before the break.

Whitehall’s M.J. Dunbar ended the quarter with her own three-pointer to give the Zephs a three-point lead at halftime.

“That was huge that we were able to just chip away and work our way back,” said Deutsch. “We turned that 11-point deficit into just three at halftime. It was just getting some early jitters out of the way and settling in, and the girls did an excellent job of not panicking and just playing better basketball.”

Coming out from the break, Sevrain drove the lane and was fouled on her way to making a layup. The bucket and the pending foul shot tied the game and when Thomas hit a foul shot, she gave the Tigers their first lead of the season at 16-15. From there, the teams went into the final quarter tied at 21.

Senior Rachel Dorney, who last played during her sophomore season, hit two big three-point shots and Northwestern was up 29-25 just past the midway mark of the quarter.

The Tigers went on a 6-0 run with baskets by Maci Fisher, Thomas and Sevrain and took their biggest lead of the night at 35-26 with a minute left in the game. That bit of breathing room was all they needed, and the opening night win went in the books for the Tigers.

“It feels really good to be playing with the girls this season, they’re really great,” said Dorney. “We played really well tonight, and everybody made big plays and the hard work we put in during practice showed tonight.”

GET BACK SOON ... Junior Sydney Nyce, senior Brynn Balliet and freshman Nina Miller were all out for assorted reasons. Deutsch hopes to have at least Nyce back in time for Thursday’s home opener against Palmerton in a rematch of last year’s Colonial League final. “We don’t use the injuries and illnesses as excuses. Our mentality is just next man up must get it done and we saw that tonight,” said Deutsch.

YOUTH IS SERVED ... Northwestern got 17 points from freshmen in the opener, with McGinley finishing with eight, Thomas with six and Brook Balliet with three. Balliet and Thomas were in the starting lineup, and McGinley scored her points coming off the bench.

NORTHWESTERN

Brook Balliet 1-1-2-3, McGinley 3-0-0-8, Thomas 2-1-2-6, Fisher 2-0-2-4, Dorney 2-0-0-6, Kirkopoulos 0-0-0-0, Sevrain 2-6-8-10. TOTALS: 12-8-14-37.

WHITEHALL

Dunbar 2-0-0-5, Fonzone 4-2-4-12, Laky 1-0-0-3, Fisher 0-0-0-0, Bundra 0-0-0-0, Alvarez 2-0-0-4, Rogers 0-0-0-0, Hines 3-1-2-8. TOTALS: 12-3-6-32.

Northwestern 3 9 9 16 - 37

Whitehall 11 4 6 11 - 32

Three-pointers: Northwestern - McGinley 2, Dorney 2, Thomas 1; Whitehall - Fonzone 2, Dunbar 1, Laky 1, Hines 1.