With two tough losses in the Colonial League last week, defending league champion Northwestern was looking to bounce back.

In a non-league battle against Jim Thorpe on Saturday afternoon, the Tigers did just that.It was apparent that Chris Deutsch's crew took out some frustration on the young Olympians as Northwestern built a 24-2 first quarter lead en route to a 62-34 win.Following defeats from Saucon Valley and Palmerton last week, the Tigers utilized their staple pressure defense to force the young Jim Thorpe guards into miscues on their way to the rout.Fourteen first quarter turnovers by the Olympians allowed Northwestern to build a nearly insurmountable lead. Five fastbreak layups by the Tigers, along with two Sabrina Mertz treys, allowed the Tigers to go up 24-0, before Thorpe freshman Kayley Kovac put in a lay-up with a minute remaining in the first to create the lead after one session of play."I definitely think those two losses put a little bit of an edge on our shoulder," senior point guard Sabrina Mertz said after she scored a team-high 18 points in the win. "We knew we had to come out of the gates strong, but we also knew that Jim Thorpe was a good team with a lot of younger kids."With Kovac scoring over 20 points in the past couple games, I thought (Sarah) Segan did a great job defensively on her early on. Also, defensively, as a whole, I thought we did a really good job today."The 'freshman phenom' that is Kayley Kovac poured in 50 points in her first two games of this season, making Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch go to Segan for the defensive assignment. After limiting her to seven first-half points, it's safe to say that the strategy worked."Segan did a heck of a job on Kayley tonight," Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac said. "She took away Kayley's right hand and made her go to her left and it just seemed like we were constantly running into double-teams. So you have to credit Segan for the way she came out and put the clamps on her assignment."In the second frame, the victors continued to pour it on, as they doubled up their opponent, 16-8 for a 40-10 lead at the break."I thought we came out with a lot of energy and intensity to start the game," Deutsch said. "We talked before this game how disappointed I was in our defensive effort the first two games, allowing so many points during those two."Gabriell Sevrain and Erika Thomas both notched six points in the second frame to counter Kovac's five to produce the big halftime lead.In the third, it was the Mertz and Segan show, as they accounted for all of the Tigers' points, with Mertz scoring five and Segan six. Meanwhile, Kovac's constant hustle and aggressive-style of play led to her scoring 10 of the Olympians' 14.With the bench cleared in the fourth, Thorpe's Gabby Binder notched all of her six points, while Leighanna Lister tallied four."We weren't ready to play a team of their caliber at this point in the season," said coach Kovac. "Their pressure got to us and it wasn't so much the turnovers, but it sped us up and caused us to make some bad decisions. As freshmen and sophomores out there, the girls played as freshmen and sophomores. But credit Northwestern for its defensive effort."Kovac worked for all of her 21 points in the game while also bringing down 10 boards.For the Tigers (3-2 overall), Mertz's 18 was followed by Thomas and Segan, who both scored 13.JIM THORPEDoughty 0-0-0-0, P. Kovac 0-0-0-0, Condly 0-0-0-0, Ohl 0-0-0-0, Naranjo 3-0-2-6, Binder 3-0-2-6, K. Kovac 8-5-11-21, Cressman 0-0-0-0, Waselus 0-1-2-1, Bush 0-0-0-0, Lignore 1-0-1-2, Gabel 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-6-18-36.NORTHWESTERNStitzel 1-0-0-2, Mertz 7-1-2-18, Landrigan 0-0-0-0, Chisdale 0-0-0-0, Segan 5-3-3-13, Pasquale 0-0-0-0, Koenig 0-0-4-0, Williamson 1-0-0-2, Thomas 6-1-2-13, Kromer 1-0-0-2, Lister 4-0-1-8, Anderson 0-0-0-0, Serrain 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 28-5-12-64.Jim Thorpe 2 8 14 12 - 36Northwestern 24 16 14 10 - 64Three pointers: JT - none; NW - Mertz 3.