Come playoff time, losses can be devastating for seniors because they know they have a limited number of opportunities to take the court wearing their high school uniform. With that in mind, Northwestern Lehigh (19-4) received some early leadership from senior Rachel Dorney and then relied upon impressive team defense to advance to the Colonial League semifinals with a 51-43 win over Pen Argyl (13-10).

Northwestern started slowly but Dorney came through with eight points in the first quarter to keep her team within striking distance. With the Lady Tigers trailing 6-0 early, Dorney went to work over the final six minutes of the quarter, combining with freshman Cara Thomas to become one of just two Lady Tigers in the scoring column through the first eight minutes of the game.

Pen Argyl used the strength of 10 first-quarter points from junior Jillian Morro to lead 16-13 by the end of the first quarter.

“We don’t have a lot of seniors, but I was really proud of the way that Rachel stepped up tonight,” said Tiger head coach Chris Deutsch. “She did a nice job when we were really struggling and hit some big shots and that’s what senior leadership is all about.”

Dorney’s forte isn’t as much delivering points as it is just being an overall team leader and a defensive spark plug for the team. Once the Tigers offense got on track, Dorney left the scoring up to others and returned to being the defensive stalwart on the floor.

“It’s my senior year so I want to make the most of it, especially here in the playoffs,” she said. “I just do whatever I can to help the team win. We came out with a few nerves, and it took us a little time to get back into playing. Collectively, we all contributed to getting the win.”

Pen Argyl led from the start of the game until the midway point of the second quarter. After that, there were eight lead changes in the game. Three times in the second quarter Northwestern tied the game only to have Pen Argyl reclaim the lead. When junior Paige Sevrain drilled a pair of foul shots with 4:03 left in the second, the Lady Tigers took their first lead with a 24-23 advantage.

“We weren’t very good defensively in the first half, but credit them because they were getting a lot of layups and transitioning well off missed shots,” said Deutsch. “To be honest, I think we were lucky to only be down by three at the half because they played a better half than we did.”

Things began to change after the break as the Tigers took control of the game defensively and started to force turnovers and take advantage of the smallest miscues. Morro kept things going in the right direction for Pen Argyl by hitting foul shots and driving for layups, but Northwestern Lehigh cut the lead down to one by the end of the third quarter. The Lady Tigers took the lead for good when Sevrain opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up 43-42.

If the defense led Northwestern in the third quarter, it dominated in the fourth when the Tigers shut down the lanes to the basket, forcing shots to come from outside the paint. Sevrain took over the rebounding and finished the game with 11 boards, seven of which were in the final two quarters.

Thomas finished with a game-high 18 points in addition to doing her part defensively, helping Northwestern Lehigh to hold the Lady Knights to just three points in the game’s final 10 minutes.

Second-half comebacks have become the norm for the Tigers, who have become known as a force to be reckoned with late in the game. Opposing teams need to take note that if the Lady Tigers are close at halftime, Northwestern is likely to mount a challenge.

“It’s certainly not my words of wisdom,” said Deutsch with a laugh in trying to explain the trend. “The assistant coaches come up with most of the good ideas and you have to credit the girls because they go out and execute everything.”

“We played OK in the first half, but most of the issues were defensively,” said Thomas. “The coach talked to us about the defense during halftime and we locked things down in the second half and that is what led us to getting the win. We are confident right now because we have seen all these teams before and we know what to expect and know what we need to do to win.”