Northwestern falls to Moravian

Northwestern has never been much for giving up.

So despite having their leading scorer out and down by 13 midway through the fourth quarter, the Tigers fight to reach the Colonial League championship game was far from over.

Northwestern would cut the lead down to two points, but couldn’t quite overcome the deficit as it fell to Moravian Academy 49-45 on Wednesday.

Just over a minute-and-a-half into the game, a battle for the ball was interrupted by a scream as senior Sydney Sevrain fell to the court along with a player from Moravian Academy. As trainers ran out, Sevrain clutched her left leg before being helped up and off of the court. Later, she was on crutches and there was no immediate idea of the severity of the injury, which turned out to be to her ankle.

“It’s sad to see any player go down like that, especially a senior, who plays her heart out,” said coach Chris Deutsch. “At that point, we just had to go to our next girl up philosophy and keep playing hard.”

The Tigers regrouped, and the two teams fought back-and-forth, with Northwestern Lehigh moving out to its biggest lead of 7-2 with just :37 left in the first quarter.

The Lions moved to within three by the end of the quarter and then grabbed the lead back early in the second quarter as the two teams again took turns holding the lead. Moravian Academy senior Quinn O’Connor hit a three-pointer with 5:28 left in the first half, and Grace Moyer followed that up with a basket of her own to make it 13-9, as the two teams traded baskets to have Moravian Academy up 15-11 at halftime.

“I thought that was good, that we were in good shape at that point,” said Deutsch. “We had kind of gotten past the shock of losing Syd, and we were only down four, so we thought we could work with that.”

Throughout the game, Northwestern was turned away when it tried to work the ball down low as Maya Ettle, a 6-4 senior, swatted away shot-after-shot.

Leading by a point midway through the third quarter, Moravian Academy got hot and went on a 7-0 run to take a 28-20 lead, which it extended to a 33-22 by quarter’s end.

Ettle was scoreless through the first three quarters, but she went to work offensively and picked up six points in a two-minute span halfway through the final quarter as Moravian Academy built its largest lead at 43-30 with 3:49 to play.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Northwestern started hitting from long distance, drilling four three-pointers in a span of less than two minutes to make it a 47-45 game with :05 left on the clock. But Moravian Academy’s O’Connor went to the line and hit two free-throws with :02 left to put the game away. The freebies gave her 15 points in the contest and left her just two points shy of the 1,000-point milestone.

“It’s disappointing, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m proud of how our girls fought back. They could have quit, but they played as hard as ever and I’m proud of that,” said Deutsch. “I told them that there are going to be disappointments in life, but it’s all about how you bounce back from them, and that’s what we have to do now for districts.”

NUMBERS ... Northwestern’s Ali Lister led all scorers with 18 points. Kailyn Jones (13) and Paige Sevrain (11) were also in double-digits. For Moravian Academy, Marina Falzone finished with 16.

NEXT UP... Moravian Academy will play Notre Dame-Green Pond Friday night for the Colonial League championship. The Crusaders downed Bangor 51-36 in the other semifinal game. Northwestern Lehigh figures to open district play against Allentown Central Catholic next Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 tournament, according to Deutsch.

MORAVIAN ACADEMY

Moser 3-1-2-7, S. Ettle 2-1-3-5, M. Falzone 7-2-6-16, H. Falzone 0-0-0-0, M. Ettle 2-2-2-6, O’Connor 5-4-5-15, TOTALS: 19-10-18-49.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Lister 7-2-4-18, Jones 5-0-0-13, Ledeboer 0-0-0-0, S. Sevrain 0-0-0-0, Hess 0-0-0-0, Dorney 1-0-0-3, P. Sevrain 3-5-6-11, TOTALS: 16-7-10-45.

Moravian 4 11 18 16 - 49

Northwestern 7 4 11 23 - 45

Three-pointers: Moravian – O’Connor 1. NWL – Lister 2, Jones 3, Dorney 1.