Before last weekend's SportsFest American Arch Girls Basketball Tournament at Cedar Beach, the Northwestern girls had not been together as a full group at any point in the summer.

When their run in SportsFest began on Saturday morning, the Lady Tigers had everyone in uniform for the first time in a competitive environment, giving the Lehigh Valley a sense as to what will come in the winter season.

And the showing was certainly impressive for head coach Chris Deutsch's Lady Tigers squad.

A week after losing their first two games in the Stellar "Catch A Rising Star" Basketball Showcase without forward Sarah Segan, the Lady Tigers won three games and advanced to Sunday afternoon play with Segan in attendance at SportsFest. Their run came to a close against eventual-champion Nazareth, 26-14, in the semifinals of the loser's bracket.

Northwestern, which earned victories over Allen (45-35) and Penn Crest (29-15) on Saturday and downed Parkland (37-25) on Sunday, was one of the final four girls teams standing.

"I definitely think it was a much better weekend," Deutsch said. "I think having Sarah Segan here makes a big difference. We beat a good Allen team, we beat a Penn Crest team, and we beat a good Parkland team. We played very well. I thought we took a lot of positives out of it.

"I thought our defense was much better this weekend. Even when our shots weren't going in, our defense kept us in games because we were playing really good."

Against one of the upper echelon Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) teams in Parkland, Deutsch saw a performance that was unlike any other so far in the summer. Not only did it impress Deutsch, it raised some eyebrows in the girls' basketball landscape, too.

After leading by six points at the half, the Lady Tigers ballooned that advantage to as many as 16 in the final 20 minutes of play.

In a matter of a week, the Lady Tigers went from one of the first teams out in Stellar to one of the final squads competing in SportsFest.

"That was as well as we played all summer, against Parkland," Deutsch said. "Both teams, Nazareth and us, had to play 40 minutes prior to that, so it comes down to conditioning and endurance. I thought our conditioning and endurance was fine. The shots just didn't go.

"We played five games together as a group. The more we play together, the better we have become. I can't wait to get them for the season to get them in the gym and work together as a group."

Segan, who was named to the all-tournament team, is one of the Lady Tigers' top players from last season's squad. Her ball-handling and rebounding ability is a unique mix that is key to the Lady Tigers' success.

"She is one of our bigger girls, so she can get us some rebounds," Deutsch said. "Rebounding was a critical issue last week, and we were getting killed rebounding.

"She also gets a lot of steals for us. She can handle the ball for us so Sabrina Mertz doesn't have to do all of the ball handling. I just thought it was a better team effort this weekend."

Parkland earned the boys' championship with their 70-53 win over Allen.