After his Tigers downed Tamaqua 47-29 in the District 11 quarterfinals at Catasauqua High School Wednesday night, Northwestern Lehigh coach Chris Deutsch admitted that his team didn’t play its best game of the season.

But the Tigers forced 11 turnovers at one point in the third quarter that saw them take their six-point halftime lead and stretch it to 21 going into the final quarter.

“I liked how aggressive we were tonight,” said Deutsch. “The other night against Palmerton, we only got to the foul line three times, and they got there 18 times, so you won’t win many games playing like that. Tonight we got in the double digits in foul shot opportunities, and it was because we played more aggressively.”

Both teams struggled through the first quarter, combining for nine turnovers as the Blue Raiders took an early 10-8 lead after the first eight minutes. The Northwestern defense began to flex its muscles in the second period, and held Tamaqua to two points over the final five minutes of the quarter, grabbing the lead and then stretching it to 22-12 when Tamaqua got its first basket of the quarter. By halftime, the lead was whittled down to 22-16.

The Tigers’ defense was tough in the third quarter, forcing 11 turnovers. Northwestern got its first four points from the foul line, as Olivia Reinhart and Cara Thomas both went two-for-two from the line. Thomas went on a run to hit three baskets over the next three minutes, and Brook Balliet added a three-pointer as the Tigers scored 15 unanswered points to start the third quarter.

Lauren Ligenza got to the line and hit one of two foul shots for the only scoring of the quarter for Tamaqua, as the Raiders went just one-for-nine from the foul line in the period, a far cry from their six-for-nine shooting in the first half.

“I think at halftime we just realized that we needed to step it up on both sides of the court. Our defense has played really well and we were doing okay early on, but we just had to play tougher defensively and start finding some opportunities for shots,” said Balliet. “Once we started to get it going a little, we kind of got into a rhythm and I think it frustrated them a little.”

In the final quarter, Balliet hit another three-pointer to make it 42-17 as the Tigers relaxed their defense before securing the 18-point win.

Thomas finished with 23 points to lead all scorers, while Lorelei Plasha finished with eight to lead Tamaqua.

The loss ends the season for Tamaqua (17-9), while the win guarantees Northwestern Lehigh (19-6) at least two more games, as the PIAA will take three teams from the District 11 4A classification into the state tournament. Northwestern, the fourth seed, will take on top seed Blue Mountain Saturday at 1 p.m. at Martz Hall in Pottsville.

“I think that we have some things to clean up after tonight,” said Thomas. “We came out with the win and we are really glad about that, but we need to do better on our rebounding. That’s been an issue for us consistently, and we have to improve on it now because we are playing better teams and we can’t give them too many opportunities. The other team is getting too many offensive rebounds, and too many chances to score.”

THE 1,000 COUNTDOWN

… With Northwestern guaranteed at least two more games, Cara Thomas will likely cross the 1,000-point plateau in her junior season. Thomas stands at 994 points following her 23-point performance against the Raiders. No other girls’ player at Northwestern has reached the milestone prior to their senior season. Just last year, Thomas was the one dishing off an assist to Paige Sevrain that put Sevrain over the 1,000-point mark, and then offered up the ball when Sevrain became the program’s leading scorer last March. Thomas’ sister, Erika, finished her career in 2006 with 1,007 points.

THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED

… Northwestern needs one win to reach the district finals, where the Tigers have not been since 2006 when they lost to Central Catholic in the 3A classification. A year before that, the Tigers won the 2A district championship when they beat Pine Grove, following a loss to North Schuylkill in the district finals a year earlier.

RAIDER RUN

... Tamaqua finished the season strong, topping Panther Valley in a playoff to earn a Division 1 wild card spot in the Schuylkill League playoffs before knocking off Minersville in the quarterfinals. The Blue Raiders battled North Schuylkill in the semifinals, holding a lead in the second half before falling by five points.

TAMAQUA

Robb 1-3-4-5, S. Plasha 2-0-4-4, Ligenza 0-5-10-5, Hope 1-0-3-2, L. Plasha 3-2-4-8, Miller 0-1-2-1, Bartenope 1-0-0-2, Black 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 9-11-28-29

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Balliet 3-0-4-8, Schaffer 0-0-0-0, Freeman 2-0-0-6, Thomas 8-6-10-23, Fenstermaker 0-0-0-0, Minnich 1-0-0-2, Conner 0-0-0-0, Gober 0-2-2-2, Reinhart 2-2-2-6. TOTALS: 16-10-18-47

Tamaqua 10 6 1 12 - 29

Northwestern 8 14 15 10 - 47

Three-pointers: Tamaqua – none. Northwestern Lehigh – Balliet 2, Freeman 2, Thomas 1.