Northern Lehigh head coach Chris Heery knew there would be highs and lows in Friday night’s game against Lehighton.

And that his Bulldogs would have to manage those ups and downs to come out on top.

Northern Lehigh did that to turn back the Indians and close out a 49-43 non-league victory at home.

“The biggest things is that we showed character at the end,” said Heery, whose team won its second straight game. “We had a lead, but they chipped away at it. They’re a very good team, so even when we were up by 10 and 12, we were fortunate to be up by 10 and 12. We were playing well, and we didn’t give up at the end, and still were able to win by six. That’s really big for their character. We have a very young team this year, only one starting senior and two juniors and everyone else is sophomores and freshmen.

“They need things like this to build on throughout the year if we’re going to have success.”

After leading by five points (17-12) at the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs (3-1) built a 30-14 advantage with a 13-2 run to open the second period.

Lehighton (1-3) answered with a 6-0 spurt late in the period, and scored the first two points of the third quarter to trim the deficit to eight (30-22).

“I thought we had a lot of momentum going into the second half with that run,” said Indians’ coach Joe Berezwick. “To Northern Lehigh’s credit, they kind of neutralized us there in the third quarter. Because we were feeling it. But then we didn’t go away, and I know this team has such great heart, and it certainly showed here.”

Northern Lehigh took a 40-29 lead into the fourth quarter, but Lehighton continued to chip away, trimming the deficit to three at 45-42 after sophomore Emma Repsher made both shots after a one-and-one opportunity with 1:10 left.

After the Bulldogs missed the front end of a one-and-one at the other end, Repsher showed the team’s heart and hustle, coming up with a steal and driving to the basket but she took a hard fall on the play. She attempted both free throws, and grabbed the rebound after the second shot but went down again, which resulted in another free throw opportunity and took her out of the game.

Substitute Ryleigh Trotman hit the first foul shot to make it 45-43 with 34.5 remaining, but Lehighton was unable to get the rebound after the second shot.

After senior Cadence Peters and junior Aubrey Pollard each made a free throw to push the Bulldogs lead to 47-43, the Tribe got back to the foul line again with 6.9 remaining, but couldn’t convert.

Pollard, who finished with a game-high 19 points, buried two more free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.

“I think it’s just us sticking together the whole time,” said Pollard, who had 11 points in the first half. “And through practices we’ve built that team chemistry. We have more to build, but it’s still coming along really well.”

Northern Lehigh cashed in at the free throw line, going 18-for-25 in the contest, and converting on second-chance opportunities.

“We had to dig deep,” said junior Cadence Whalen. “We had three games this week, but I think what really helped us was our rebounds. Aubrey (Pollard) had an amazing rebounding game. Our entire team had an amazing rebounding game; we had over 40 rebounds.

“And on defense, just keep talking,” added Pollard. “You have to switch it up every once in a while so they don’t know what we’re doing. And rebounds are a really big thing for our defense to get us going on offense.”

Whalen finished with 13 points, while sophomore Katelyn Barthold added nine.

“They work well together,” Berezwick said. “They have a nice chemistry, and it showed here tonight. They got the lead early, and they just kept it. We were trying to come back, but credit to them for keeping us at bay, and give us credit for not going away. We just didn’t have enough at the end.”

STATS

... Repsher finished with a team-high 14 points for the Indians, while junior Charli McHugh added nine.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

... Northern Lehigh is 3-0 at home this season. The Bulldogs topped Panther Valley at home in their season opener on Dec. 2 and knocked off Catasauqua before downing Lehighton on Friday.

TIGER TALES

... The next scheduled opponent for both teams is Northwestern. Lehighton will host the Tigers today, while Northern Lehigh will visit Northwestern on Dec. 15 for its next game.

LEHIGHTON

Serfass 2-2-2-6, Repsher 5-4-6-14, McHugh 3-3-6-9, Haley 3-0-0-7, Uyvari 0-0-0-0, Trotman 0-1-2-1, Bowman 2-0-0-4, Wojton 0-2-2-2, Hauser 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-12-18-43.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Whalen 3-7-8-13, K. Barthold 4-1-3-9, Pollard 6-7-10-19, Bosch 0-0-0-0, D. Barthold 1-2-2-5, Peters 1-1-2-3, Snyder 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-18-25-49.

Lehighton 12 8 9 14 - 43

No. Lehigh 17 13 10 9 - 49

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Haley 1; Northern Lehigh - D. Barthold 1.