The Northwestern girls basketball team used several different defenses during Wednesday's game against Notre Dame (Green Pond).

But it was a defense that Tigers' head coach Chris Deutsch hadn't used all game that turned out to be the one that helped the Tigers to a 49-43 upset victory over the Crusaders, who entered the game with just one Colonial League loss.With 1:26 left in the fourth quarter, Deutsch decided to call a timeout after Erika Thomas made one of two free throws to tie the score for the eighth time in the game, 43-43.He thought the Crusaders would play for one last shot, but instead they ran their offense and looked for a shot. Deutsch called for his team to play a defense it calls "Arizona."Seconds later, Gabby Sevrain got her hands on the ball and forced a turnover. The Tigers' sophomore guard raced the other way and got a lay-up for the go-ahead basket with 1:05 left in the game."The play came up huge for us at the right time," Deutsch stressed. "It is a play we didn't do all night long. We looked at it since we only had about two or three team fouls. So, we thought we would be very aggressive in the end."After that, the Crusaders (10-2 overall, 7-2 Colonial League) missed several shots and were forced to foul. The Tigers' Jessica Williamson and Erika Thomas each hit both ends of one-and-one free throw attempts to seal the win.The win keeps the Tigers (10-5, 8-3) in position for a league playoff berth. If the season ended today Northwestern would be the No. 5 seed in the six-team Colonial League tournament."This win helped our confidence level a lot," Sevrain said. "We feel really good about this win. We showed we can play together as a team , as we really have meshed well over the season."But, as far as the steal and lay-up, it definitely was a good feeling. All I thought was I better make this lay-up."While the Tigers were playing mostly zone defense throughout the game, the call for a more aggressive play led to the victory."Our coach always emphasizes defense," said senior Erika Thomas, who scored a game-high 17 points for the Tigers. "His motto is, 'Defense can create offense.' So, we knew if we played tough defense that it could help create our offense and I think it did that tonight."The Tigers' Leighanna Lister scored 11 points in the win.REDEMPTION ...Last season No. 2 seed Notre Dame knocked off No. 5 seed Northwestern in the Colonial League championship game. That loss served as a motivator in Wednesday's game. "Losing to them in the championship game last year was really hard obviously," Thomas said. "Getting this win tonight definitely boosted our confidence level. We had a couple tough losses, but this shows we can play with everybody, and we're going to keep building on it from here."HANDS-UP...With the Tigers' hands in their faces, the Tigers' defense forced Notre Dame into shooting 27 percent from the floor (16-for-6). When the game was on the line in the fourth, the Crusaders went 2-for-13 over the final eight minutes.ONE WIN AWAY ...The Tigers are one win away from clinching their fifth straight district playoff berth and 11th postseason appearance under the guidance of Deutsch. They take on undefeated Southern Lehigh on Tuesday.NOTRE DAME GPGorman 0-0-0-0, Galle 3-0-0-8, Carlin 0-0-0-0, Farley 4-0-0-8, Lynch 1-1-2-3, Kelly 0-2-2-2, Brandt 2-0-0-5, Murphy 5-5-6-15, Esposito 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 16-8-12-43.NORTHWESTERNLister 5-1-3-11, Chisdak 2-0-0-4, Sevrain 2-2-2-6, Pasquale 0-0-0-0, Koenig 3-0-0-6, Williamson 1-2-2-5, Dietrich 0-0-0-0, Thomas 6-3-4-17. TOTALS: 19-8-11-49.Notre Dame GP 7 19 13 4 - 43Northwestern 12 12 11 14 - 49Three-pointers: NDGP - Galle 2, Brandt 1; NW - Thomas 2, Williamson 1.