Central Catholic ousts banged-up Northwestern

CATASAUQUA — The injury bug bit the Tigers twice in two weeks.

In the Colonial League semifinals round nearly two weeks ago, Northwestern’s leading scorer Sydney Sevrain suffered an injury in the game and did not return. And then to open up district play over the weekend, the injury bug once again returned.

Ali Lister left the game late in the third quarter against No. 5 seed Central Catholic during Saturday’s District 11 4A quarterfinals. Lister returned midway through the fourth quarter but wasn’t herself, as the Vikings went on an 8-0 run during her absence to secure a 35-28 win.

“The one thing I can say is I thought our team was resilient,” head coach Chris Deutsch said. “We took some tough blows toward the end of the year. And I told our girls that you can’t judge the last two games for our whole season … Sometimes you have to have breaks go your way, and injuries unfortunately are a part of the game.”

The No. 4 seeded Tigers were without Sevrain as well. She participated in warmups, but didn’t practice the entire week after suffering her injury.

While the loss of Sevrain certainly had an impact on Northwestern, the unexpected exit of Lister was even tougher to overcome. The injury came on a play when she drove into the lane and found Paige Sevrain for a bucket and a 26-22 lead late in the third.

Central Catholic would end the frame with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Maria Saccani to get the Vikettes within a point. Then, it was the Vikettes’ defensive pressure that forced three-straight Northwestern turnovers and propelled Central Catholic to a game-defining 8-0 spurt. A steal and three-point play from Julia Roth gave the Vikettes a 30-26 advantage late.

Without Lister, the Tigers struggled to handle the ball in the fourth quarter.

Northwestern committed six turnovers in the frame and shot 1-for-7 from the field. “I’d like to take the leading scorer away from any team and see how effective they are going to be,” Deutsch said. “But our other girls did a great job. We followed the game plan. I thought we were right there. We were up four in the third, and Lister going down really hurt because they really cranked it up defensively and took advantage of that.”

Sevrain and Mackenzie Hess scored 11 of Northwestern’s 16 points in the first half, but the Tigers trailed by two going into the break. No team led by more than two points in the first half.

After Central Catholic scored the first two field goals of the third for a 22-16 advantage, Northwestern settled back in. Lister scored in transition moments later off a Vikette turnover to tie the game at 22. She then set up Tess Ledeboer for a jumper and a two-point lead.

Seconds later, the Lister-to-Sevrain connection gave Northwestern its largest lead of the game at 26-22. But it wouldn’t last long.

“They were doubling on (Sevrain),” Deutsch said. “I think if teams would guard her 1-on-1, yeah it would be great. But they are helping on her, and we need other girls to step up and hit a couple of shots, which will then open that up.”

Roth led Central Catholic with 10 points, while Maria Traglia scored eight and grabbed eight rebounds. Sevrain led all scorers with 13 for the Tigers.

The win advanced Central Catholic to Wednesday’s semifinals against No. 1 seed Bethlehem Catholic. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Whitehall High School. No. 2 Jim Thorpe and No. 3 Tamaqua will face off in the other semifinal game.

COLD FROM BEYOND ... Northwestern went 0-for-10 from the three-point line. The absence of Sevrain and exit of Lister certainly hurt the Tigers’ shooting. “We’re better than that,” Deutsch said. “Some of our other girls had decent looks and they just didn’t go down. I thought (Kailyn) Jones had a couple of good looks. A couple of them were in and out that just didn’t drop in.”

RELOAD, NOT REBUILD ... Northwestern graduates three seniors: Sydney Sevrain, Sydney Nyce and Hess. Those departures will be tough to replace, but Deutsch does return five of his top seven players. “We have a nice nucleus returning, but they have big shoes to fill,” Deutsch said. “The three seniors that are going to be leaving won’t be easy to replace. I think this is good experience, to get into these types of games for this younger group.”

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Saccani 2-0-1-5, Vaughan 2-2-4-7, Hoeing 0-2-2-2, Roth 3-4-7-10, Traglia 2-4-5-8, Szoke 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 10-13-21-35.

NORTHWESTERN

Lister 2-0-0-4, Jones 0-0-0-0, Ledeboer 2-1-2-5, Hess 3-0-0-6, P. Sevrain 6-1-1-13, Dorney 0-0-0-0, Funk 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-2-3-28.

Central Catholic 6 12 7 10 - 35

Northwestern 7 9 10 2 - 28

Three-pointers: Central Catholic - Saccani 1, Vaughan 1. Northwestern - None.