In the two previous meetings between Lehighton and Northwestern, the Tigers picked up wins by a combined margin of victory of just three points.

By that definition, Wednesday’s semifinal game between the two teams was a blowout.

A final three-point shot by Northwestern missed the mark, as Lehighton avenged its two previous losses to the Tigers with a 52-49 win to give the Tribe a ticket to Friday night’s Colonial League championship game at Freedom High School.

The game ultimately was a story of two quality players who carried their teams at different points throughout the contest. The ebbs and flows of the night followed the success of those players.

For Northwestern, it was sophomore Natalie Conner who came out firing and put up 13 first quarter points, as the Indians were unable to find a way to slow her down.

For Lehighton, senior Ryleigh Trotman was held scoreless in the first quarter as her team fell behind quickly and trailed 18-6 at the end of the first period.

From there, Lehighton switched things up and gave Leah Uyvari the unenviable task of guarding Conner. The move at least slowed Northwestern’s leading scorer, who still finished with a game-high 27 points.

The second quarter also saw Trotman become a force for Lehighton both offensively and defensively. The Indians rattled off the first seven points of the second quarter and when Northwestern looked to rekindle its offense, Uyvari responded with a three pointer and Trotman pulled down a rebound and put it back up for a basket to cut the Tigers lead to 22-18.

It was the second time in the quarter that Trotman grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into a basket for the Indians. Emma Freeman did some temporary damage when she nailed a three-pointer for Northwestern with 1:15 left in the half to make it 25-18.

“It’s not just me,” Trotman said of the Lehighton offense. “It’s the girls who get the ball to me in a great spot, and all I have to do is execute. We all had to work together to get ourselves going and try to pull ourselves back into the game. We never hung our heads though, because we knew we could do it.”

Conner, meanwhile, was held scoreless in the second quarter, but looked to get back into the swing of things and opened the second half with a jump shot that put Northwestern up by nine.

Just prior to the midway point of the quarter, Trotman dropped in a three-pointer to make it 28-27. Lehighton’s defense continued to disrupt things for the Northwestern offense, and on its next trip down the court, Trotman went to the same spot and added her second three-pointer of the quarter to put Lehighton up 30-28, the Tribe’s first lead since the opening minute of the game when Uyvari scored the first basket of the contest.

With Northwestern looking to find ways of slowing Trotman, Lehighton’s other big gun, Olivia Serfass – who was held to just four first-half points – was able to work her magic. Serfass scored eight third-quarter points, including hitting a nice baseline jumper, and then getting a steal at the other end of the court and racing down for another bucket that put the Indians up 34-28.

Uyvari ended the quarter with another bucket from beyond the arc to give Lehighton its largest lead to that point at 37-30.

“I told the girls at halftime that Northwestern Lehigh shot seven-for-nine, and we were only down by seven points, despite their great shooting,” said Lehighton coach Nadia Gauronsky. “I told them to just keep chipping away at it, and that’s what they did.”

The two teams went back-and-forth and traded baskets, which benefited Lehighton as the Indians had time on their side.

Rebounding was a key as Lehighton controlled the boards, especially on the offensive end, with both Serfass and Trotman getting second chance-points in the final quarter. Trotman’s put-back gave Lehighton its largest lead at 48-39, as she finished with 21 points.

Northwestern looked to pull off some late heroics when Conner hit on a jumper from the foul line, and big sister Mallory Conner got control of the ball off a turnover and turned it into a three-pointer to pull the Tigers within one at 50-49 with :17.9 left in regulation.

Ava Serfass hit two free throws for a three-point lead with :03 left, but Northwestern was able to get the ball quickly to Conner, who put up a potential game-tying three-pointer, but the shot missed its mark and started the celebration for the Indians.

FINAL FRIDAY… Lehighton will now face Notre Dame Green Pond, the top seed in the tournament Friday night at Freedom High School for the Colonial League championship. For seniors Olivia Serfass, Leah Uyvari, and Ryleigh Trotman, this is their first trip to the league finals in their run at Lehighton. “It’s a super feeling. It’s something that we all wanted, and we said in the locker room that we weren’t ready for this to end,” said Trotman. Lehighton beat the Crusaders Dec. 4 in the regular season opener.

LEHIGHTON

O. Serfass 6-0-0-12, Reph 0-0-0-0, Uyvari 4-2-2-12, Trotman 9-0-0-21, A. Serfass 2-3-6-7, Parliman 0-0-2-0, TOTALS: 22-5-10-52.

NORTHWESTERN

C. Gober 1-1-2-3, Freeman 3-0-1-7, H. Gober 1-1-2-4, N. Conner 7-4-6-27, M. Conner 3-0-0-8, Reinhart 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 15-6-11-49.

Lehighton 6 12 19 15 - 52

Northwestern 18 7 5 19 - 49

Three-Pointers: Lehighton – Trotman 3, Uyvari 2. Northwestern – N. Conner 3, M. Conner 2, Freeman 1, H. Gober 1.

Records: Lehighton (22-2); Northwestern (20-4)