Northwestern isn’t the only team to find Central Catholic to be a nemesis in the district playoffs. The seven-time state champs have ended a lot of teams’ seasons over the years.

This year’s Lady Tiger basketball team didn’t want to be added to that long list.

Northwestern withstood a second-half Vikettes comeback before leaving Northern Lehigh High School with a 52-41 win Saturday in the District 11 girls Class 4A quarterfinals.

“This is my 17th year coaching here and this is the first time we’ve ever beaten them,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “We thought coming in it was an even game. I thought this could come down to the first team to score 30 points. If you told me we were going to score 52…I didn’t see that coming.”

The No. 4 seed Tigers move on to face top-seeded Bethlehem Catholic in Wednesday’s semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Catasauqua high School.

Northwestern (21-4) used its size to control the paint with 5-foot-9 senior Sage Christopher and 6-0 sophomore Emily Sekerak (9 points, 11 rebounds). The Tigers got hot outside shooting from Sydney Sevrain (17 points) and Kaylin Jones (8 points). And they played solid team defense with Jones and teammate Ali Lister locking down Central Catholic’s top two scorers for most of the game.

Northwestern saw an early 12-point lead slip away in the second quarter and Central Catholic seemed to have all the momentum as it fought back and led by as much as 39-33 with less than two minutes left in the period. But baskets Christopher and Mackenzie Hess ended the third quarter before Sekerak and Christopher started the fourth quarter with back to back baskets for a 41-39 lead.

“When we got up five and then we let somebody wide open,” said Central Catholic head coach Mike Kopp. “They had two baskets that were relatively easy against our defense and I think that gave them the momentum.”

A Maria Traglia basket with 4:56 tied the game at 41-41, but that was the last time Central Catholic scored in the game. Sekerak’s put-back basket with 3:12 left gave the Tigers the lead for good.

“They kept their composure,” said Deutsch. “I didn’t know how we would handle tight situations. This is as proud as I’ve been in a long time. I’m so proud of these girls. We played well.”

Sevrain went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 2:03 to help seal the win. She made 11 of 12 free throws in the game.

“We worked so hard for us during the season and we knew this was going to be a tough game,” said Jones. “To pull it through at the end means a lot to us.”

The Tigers played solid defense the entire game, but clamped down even tighter in the fourth quarter to hold Central scoreless for the final 4:56 and allow just one field goal on 19 fourth-quarter shots.

The Tigers battled through early foul trouble to three key players. Sekerak and Christopher both picked up two fouls in the first quarter. Sevrain had two in the first five minutes and got a third foul just before halftime.

“We were able to get through that and survive,” said Deutsch. “Our other girls came off the bench and did a great job to do that.”

The focus of Northwestern’s defense was to limit Jess Davis (8 points) and Emily Vaughn (6 points). Lister and Jones were primarily responsible for guarding those players and Deutsch used some nontraditional defenses to accomplish that goal.

The Vikings missed their first 11 attempts from the field. Davis and Vaughn got off only four shots in the first quarter as the Tigers built a 17-5 lead early on.

The Tigers made all three of their three-point attempts in the first quarter as Jones hit one to open the game. Sevrain nailed one with 5:10 left that put her team ahead 8-2. And Lister drained one from deep to make it 13-5 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.

Traglia helped keep Central in the game, scoring 10 of her 16 points in the middle two quarters. Kopp called it the best game of the season for the senior who averages around two points per game.

While Traglia showed an ability to score down low on the Tigers, Northwestern still controlled the boards, outrebounding the Vikettes 35-21. Sekerak led the way with 11 rebounds for Northwestern.

While most of Northwestern’s starting line up was in middle school the last time these two teams met, Sevrain, a junior, remembered the 31-28 loss her team suffered to Central Catholic in the 2017 district semifinals.

“Two years ago we lost to them on a buzzer beater and that was devastating,” Sevrain said. “We had a lot of energy coming into the game [Saturday]. It kind of died a little bit and that’s when we lost the lead. But we picked it back up and came out on top. We’re all beyond excited.”

Northwestern went 5-for-10 from three-point range with Jones hitting both of her attempts and Lister making her only attempt from beyond the arch.

Northwestern head Central Catholic to 25 percent shooting (14-for-55) in the game.

Central ends its season with a 14-10 record after losses in the first round of the East Penn Conference and District 11 tournaments.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Vaughn 1-4-4-6, Hoeing 0-0-0-0, Kidd 0-2-2-2, Davis 3-0-0-8, Roth 2-1-2-5, Szmigiel 0-4-4-4, Traglia 8-0-0-16. TOTALS: 14-11-12-41.

NORTHWESTERN

Betz 0-0-0-0, Lister 2-0-2-5, Jones 3-0-0-8, Ledeboer 1-0-0-2, Sevrain 2-11-12-17, Hess 1-0-0-2, Sekerak 4-1-4-9, Christopher 3-3-3-9. TOTALS: 16-15-21-52

Central Catholic 11 17 11 2 – 41

Northwestern 17 10 10 15 - 52

Three-pointers: CC – Davis 2; NW - Sevrain 2, Lister 1, Jones 1.