You’d be hard-pressed to find a team in the Colonial League that has gone through a tougher stretch than the one the Northwestern girls’ basketball team just did.

That difficult spurt came to an end on Monday night with a league game against Bangor, the Colonial League’s East Division leader. Northwestern battled until the final whistle and nearly pulled off the upset, but the Slaters kept their distance atop the division standings with a 45-42 victory.

Over the past five games, Northwestern (8-5 in CL) has faced Moravian Academy (11-3) twice, unbeaten Southern Lehigh (13-0) and Notre Dame-Green Pond (10-2), to go along with the Slaters (11-1). Those four teams have a combined .882 winning percentage in league games.

“I thought the effort was good,” coach Chris Deutsch said. “I’m a little disappointed with the mental aspect at the end. I don’t think we were mentally sharp today. We had some mental breakdowns defensively. Some things we don’t do, we did.”

A number of those mental breakdowns were seen in the final seconds. Trailing 44-42 with 31 seconds to play after Bangor went ahead with two free throws, Northwestern turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions with a chance at the game-tying or go-ahead shot in their hands.

Moments later, after Bangor had hit one of two free throws, Northwestern had one last chance with nine seconds left on the clock. But instead of getting off a potential game-tying three-pointer, the Lady Tigers were once again left without a shot at the rim.

“I think we were pressing a little bit,” Deutsch said. “You’re trying to get girls experience here. We only have one senior. They are learning.”

The first three quarters featured a series of runs by both teams. While Northwestern led 19-18 midway through the second quarter, Bangor closed out the half on an 11-2 run to lead by eight points at the break. But Northwestern had a comeback of its own stored in its back pocket. The Tigers, led by seven points in the frame from Leighanna Lister team-high 16), tied the game at 32-32 heading into the fourth.

Sydney Sevrain, who made all four of her three-pointers and scored 13, hit one from long range early in the fourth quarter to give Northwestern a 37-35 lead. That would be the Tigers’ last lead. And while Sevrain was able to hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 42 with under a minute remaining, Northwestern wouldn’t get another shot off.

“Sydney has that mentality like, ‘You know what, I missed a shot but I’m taking the next one,’” Deutsch said. “She really steps up. She is hitting a lot of big shots for us this year. She gives us instant offense coming off the bench.”

Bangor shot a staggering 21 shots from 3-point range on Monday night, led by Barone’s seven attempts from long range. The Slaters hit five of those shots.

A victory over the Slaters would have cemented Northwestern’s spot in the District 11 tournament. Their next win, which could come as early as Wednesday at Northern Lehigh, will qualify the Tigers (10-7 overall) for another postseason appearance.