N’western runs win streak to four

Lehighton girls basketball coach Joe Berezwick had some definite concerns about facing Northwestern on Saturday.

As Berezwick prepared for the game, he watched video of Northwestern’s blow out win over Palmerton earlier in the week. Berezwick chose the game because his team had faced the Bombers in its season opener season and lost to by 20 points.

“We saw what they did against Palmerton and we knew we had a tough one on our hands,” said Berezwick after his team dropped a 57-31 decision to Northwestern.

Berezwick knew his players would have to keep their composure against the Tigers’ press and their half-court defense. For the most part, his team did, but eventually, his players were worn down and Northwestern (4-2 overall, 3-0 Colonial) was able to take a 13-point halftime lead and stretch it out over the course of the second half.

Freshman Paige Sevrain put up 23 points for Northwestern, which she said was a personal high for her at any level of basketball.

“It’s been an adjustment having to change the way that I play, but the older girls have really helped me out and have made the adjustment easier for me,” said Sevrain.

Sevrain has made quite a statement in her first six varsity games. In the Tigers current four-game win streak, she is averaging 12.5 points per game.

“Paige Sevrain was a beast down there today and she had a heck of a game,” said Tiger coach Chris Deutsch. “We just kept feeding her the ball because we thought that was a good matchup and we took advantage of that. Then, she started hitting some outside shots, too and pulled up and hit a couple of jump shots. When she’s hitting like that, she’s hard to defend.”

Lehighton’s Hailey Miller finished with 10 points, seven in the first half, including a three-pointer with 3:14 left in the second quarter that cut the Tigers lead to six. That would be as close as the Indians would get as Northwestern went on a 7-0 run to finish out the quarter and build its lead to 26-13 at halftime.

The Tigers’ Ali Lister had 10 points, six of which came in the third quarter. She also pulled in a number of early rebounds and fed the ball up-court to set up a number of scoring plays for teammates. Lister’s six third quarter points came within a span of less than three-minutes. The combination of Lister hitting from the floor and Sevrain nailing five of her six foul shots in the quarter, pushed the Northwestern lead to 45-24 after three quarters.

Tess Ledeboer came off the bench to score four points in the final eight minutes as the Tigers continued to stretch out their lead.

“I knew a week ago that we were getting close,” said Deutsch of his team’s turnaround. “Now the girls are getting comfortable with each other and they’re starting to fit into their roles and we’re finally seeing what we thought would come out of all of this — an offense that’s hitting shots and a defense that can shut down some pretty good scorers and can help us to win games.”

BACK TO .500 ... After winning back-to-back games after its season-opening loss to Palmerton, Lehighton is now 2-2 on the season.

TURNAROUND ... For Northwestern, the win was their fourth straight after dropping their first two games of the season by a total of eight points. Since then, their four wins have had an average margin of victory of just under 25 points per game. That run includes a seven-point victory over Southern Lehigh on Friday night that Deutsch said was his team first against the Spartans in “five or six years.”

TEST TIME ... Northwestern picked up four wins over the past week, but the week ahead is the real test. They play at undefeated Moravian Academy Tuesday and then go to Northern Lehigh for their rivalry with the Bulldogs (3-1, 2-1) on Thursday. They then play at Pottsville on Saturday. Both the Northern Lehigh and Pottsville games are part of a girls-boys double-header.

LEHIGHTON

Klotz 1-1-2-3, Williams 0-0-0-0, Miller 3-3-4-10, Bowman 1-0-0-2, Meckes 0-1-2-1, Fisher 2-0-1-5, Gaston 0-0-0-0, Solomon 1-0-0-2, Schappell 0-0-0-0, Marchessault 3-2-4-8. TOTALS: 11-7-13-31.

NORTHWESTERN

Balliet 1-0-0-2, Lister 5-0-2-10, Miller 0-0-0-0, Jones 2-0-0-4, Ledeboer 2-1-2-5, S. Sevrain 3-2-2-9, Hess 2-0-0-4, Dorney 0-0-0-0, Funk 0-0-0-0, Giese 0-0-0-0, P. Sevrain 8-7-8-23. TOTALS: 23-10-14-57.

Lehighton 7 6 11 7 - 31

Northwestern 10 16 19 12 - 57

Three-Pointers: Lehighton - Miller 1, Fisher 1; Northwestern - S. Sevrain 1.