The Tigers took round one in thrilling fashion.

Two of the top teams in the Colonial League met on Friday night as Lehighton hosted Northwestern in a highly anticipated matchup.

The contest turned out to be as advertised with the two combatants needing overtime to settle the score. In the dying seconds of the extra frame, it was the Tigers who capitalized on the final possession to claim the victory 51-49 and hand the Indians their first loss of the season.

“It was a really exciting game,” said Northwestern’s Hannah Gober. “Both teams performed really well. I think this is some of the best basketball you’re going to see in the Colonial League this year.”

“I think the fans got their money’s worth today,” Tiger head coach Chris Deutsch said. “I think it was a great girls basketball game. It was back and forth. It was a game of runs. We had a run; they had a run, and then we just made one play there at the end of the overtime.”

Both teams wasted no time trading those runs.

The Tribe received its offense from numerous sources, while the Tigers’ Natalie Conner came out of the gate flying with nine first quarter points.

Olivia Serfass, who tallied four in the first for Lehighton, added another four in the second. After seven ties (six in the first) and five lead changes, it was the Indians holding a 21-19 halftime lead.

With eight turnovers in the half, the Tigers were in need of improving their ball management. It made the difference for the visitors during the third period.

“I thought we were a little sloppy there in the first half, but credit Lehighton for playing defense like that,” Deutsch said. “They did a good job defensively taking certain things away. We made a little adjustment to start the third quarter. We went to a zone, and I thought it sort of took them a little out of sync there a little bit in the third quarter.”

The defensive change allowed Northwestern to open the second half with a 5-0 run, including four from Conner, who found her groove again after going scoreless in the second quarter.

The Indians responded with a three from Brielle Parliman and another five from Serfass, but Conner’s older sister, Mallory, caught fire with six points to keep the Tigers ahead 36-33 after three quarters.

It was Lehighton’s turn for a run. With the help of six points from Ryleigh Trotman and a go-ahead three from Leah Uyvari, the Tribe had its first lead since halftime ,42-40.

After trading five points each, including Emma Freeman and Uyvari trading threes in the final minute, Natalie Conner knotted everything up at 47-47, sending the game to overtime.

Northwestern broke the ice as Gober found a cutting Mallory Connor before Uyvari sank two free throws to tie things at 49-49.

Lehighton then forced a turnover but couldn’t hit the three on its next possession, allowing the Tigers to get the ball with under 10 seconds left.

On the inbound, Gober drove straight to the basket and found a wide open Natalie Conner down the lane to put up the game-winning shot with three seconds left.

“As soon as I see Hannah drive, that’s like my cue to cut because I know that’ll always be open,” Conner said. “My defender turns her back and it’s just a perfect play. It was part of the play we were running and it just happened to be that way.”

Conner finished with a team-high 19 points and added seven rebounds, while her Mallory Conner put up 12. Gober was instrumental in setting up both Conners in overtime and hadfour assists overall. Olivia Reinhart had eight rebounds and four assists for the Lady Tigers.

The perfect season may be over, but head coach Nadia Gauronsky sees an opportunity for her team to take some pressure off themselves.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated us doing this well,” she said. “So for us to have a loss now, I think it provides a breath to refocus and regroup. Now we can go back to having fun and enjoying playing the game.”

FINAL STATS… Despite the defeat, both Serfass and Trotman finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds each. Trotman added three blocks.

REMATCH… These two teams will see each other again when the Indians travel to Northwestern on Friday.

“We’re proud of the way that we handled them,” said Serfass. “We came up short, but we’re excited to be able to compete again against them next week.”

“We beat them on their home court and they’re going to want to do the same next week,” Gober said. “Having such a quick turn around, hopefully the tempo for both teams are still high. I’m looking forward to the rematch.”

NORTHWESTERN

Bernhard 1-0-1-2, Freeman 1-0-0-3, Snyder 1-0-0-2, H. Gober 2-3-6-7, N. Conner 8-2-2-19, M. Conner 6-0-0-12, Reinhart 2-1-2-6. TOTALS: 21-6-11-51.

LEHIGHTON

O. Serfass 6-1-1-14, Reph 0-0-0-0, Uyvari 4-2-2-12, Trotman 7-0-1-14, A. Serfass 1-0-0-2, Parliman 3-0-0-7. TOTALS: 21-3-4-49.

N’western 13 6 17 11 4 - 51

Lehighton 13 8 12 14 2 - 49

Three-pointers: Northwestern - Freeman 1, N. Conner 1, Reinhart 1; Lehighton - Uyvari 2, O. Serfass 1, Parliman 1.

Records: Northwestern (14-3; 12-2); Lehighton (15-1; 13-1).