Two minutes and 15 seconds.

That’s how much time was left in Wednesday’s Colonial League game for the Northern Lehigh Bulldogs to protect a slim three-point lead and upset the Lehighton Indians.

But good teams find ways to win when they’re not playing up to the level of most of their season performances.

At the two-minute mark, Lehighton’s Olivia Serfass drilled a clutch baseline three-pointer to tie the game at 34. Twenty-two seconds later, she scored on a running one-hander, and with the Tribe converting three free throws in the waning seconds, the Indians finished their 18th win of the season with a 39-35 victory.

The head coaches from both teams made comments after the game causing one to wonder who won and who lost.

“We did everything right,” said Northern Lehigh’s Brandon Hibbler.

“We looked tired, and we played too slow,” said Indians mentor Nadia Gauronsky.

They both had plenty of evidence to support their remarks.

The Bulldogs played a solid defensive game with their 2-3 zone and didn’t allow penetration for high percentage shots. Their star guard — Tegan Simms — had a monster game, leading all players with 26 points and scoring nearly three-quarters of her team’s total number.

Lehighton scored just two baskets and five points in the first eight minutes of the game, one on a driving layup by Ryleigh Trotman and another by Brielle Parliman with under two minutes left in the period.

The second period proved to be much of the same.

The home team shot 2-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-15 for the half, and when Jaylene Ramos drained a three-ball with four ticks on the clock before the intermission, the Bulldogs had all the momentum going into the second half.

And Northern Lehigh kept its mojo going.

Simms opened the scoring in the third period with eight straight points to bolster the lead to 21-12 with 3:46 left in the session. The Tribe then showed why they are one of the area’s elite teams.

Parliman closed the gap to three points when she stole the ball and scored on a layup with five seconds in the period that finished off a 10-3 streak for the Maroon and White.

Trailing 25-22 heading into the final eight minutes, Lehighton’s pressure defense nearly backfired by putting the Bulldogs in the bonus for free throws. A Williams put back off a Simms three-ball shot that rung around the iron and out gave her team a four-point advantage at 30-26 with 3:30 left on the clock.

That became the moment for Serfass — who led the Tribe with 19 points — to take control. Her put back sliced Northern Lehigh’s lead in half. Following two free throws by Simms, her three-point play made the score 32-31, but 15 seconds later, Simms answered with a jumper at the top of the key.

With two minutes to play, Serfass tied it with a baseline trey. After a defensive stop, she lifted Lehighton to a 36-34 lead with a spinning one-hander in the paint. From there on, the Tribe put the game on ice with three foul shots.

“When Jaylene fouled out, that hurt us at the end,” said Hibbler. “That said, we played hard the whole game and we executed our game plan. I told the girls to keep their heads up.”

Gauronsky echoed Hibbler’s comment.

“They played a fabulous game against us, and we didn’t look polished at all. We’ve had no games or practices in a week, and before that we had two tough losses against Northwestern and a close win over a good Tamaqua team.

“I wanted us to speed up the flow of the game, but we never did much of that. I think what inspired our team at the end was that they didn’t want to lose on our senior night.”

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER … In the third quarter, the Tribe had not scored a basket until there were 40 seconds left and both Leah Uyvari and Parliman scored off consecutive steals and uncontested lay-ups.

A SHOOTING STAR … Junior Tegan Simms plays the shooting guard for the Bulldogs and has been averaging 15 points a game this season. Her incredible performance in this game nearly willed her team to victory.

SENIOR CEREMONY … The game began with a ceremonial tribute pass to Lehighton injured senior, C’anna Hewey, to get her name in the scorebook.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Simms 9-6-8-26, Williams 1-2-2-4, Ramos 1-1-2-4, Snyder 0-1-2-1, Gad 0-0-0-0, Tosh 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-10-14-35.

LEHIGHTON

O. Serfass 6-5-8-19, Parliman 2-5-6-9, Uyvari 1-2-4-4, Trotman 1-2-2-4, A. Serfass 1-1-3-3, Reph 0-0-0-0, Hewey 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-15-22-39.

Northern Lehigh 6 6 13 10 - 35

Lehighton 5 6 11 17 - 39

Three-pointers: Northern Lehigh - Simms 2, Ramos 1; Lehighton - O. Serfass 2.

Records: Northern Lehigh (8-12; 6-10); Lehighton (18-2; 15-2).