Northwestern's players remember the frustrating losses that Northern Lehigh has inflicted on them over the past few years. And they got some revenge last Thursday.

After graduating nearly all of the players that contributed to the Lady Bulldogs three-year run as a Colonial League playoff contender, this year's team is a young and rebuilding unit that will surely take its lumps against experienced and talented teams like Northwestern.

The Tigers jumped out to a 20-4 lead against Northern Lehigh last Thursday en route to a 67-20 victory.

"We were talking before the game about how when I was a freshman we lost [to Northern Lehigh] by 40 or 50 points," said Northwestern senior forward Kaleen Suter. "This year to come back and really beat them is a good feeling."

The Tigers used pressure defense to build the big lead. They forced 11 Northern Lehigh turnovers in the first quarter, which led to Northwestern getting off 26 shots in the first eight minutes while the Bulldogs put up just six shots and made only one.

"Defense is our key right now," said point guard Sabrina Mertz, who had 14 points and four steals in the game. "Our defense translates into offense and that's how we score most of our points. We really want to pressure the ball."

The second half went a lot like the first. Northern Lehigh turned the ball over nine times and got off only seven shots. The Tigers put up 16 shots and made 11 of them to open a 46-13 lead at halftime. The Tigers went 7-for-12 from three-point range in the first half as Mertz and Sara Jones made two each.

Northwestern improved to 4-0 with the win and is now 2-0 in Colonial League play. A showdown with Bangor looms Thursday, both team's last game before league play breaks for the holidays.

"We have a tough week coming up next week," said Suter. "So we're going to have to stay focused and not let these wins go to our head."

Jones nearing

1,000 points

Sara Jones came into the season with 881 career points. She scored 15 against Stroudsburg, 26 against Pleasant Valley, 10 against Pen Argyl, 15 versus Northern Lehigh and 18 against Palmerton.

The senior guard heads into Thursday's game against Bangor with 965 total points.

Some time in the next few games she will cross the 1,000-point threshold. She asked Deutsch if the team could avoid making a big deal about her achievement, although he is not sure if he wants to honor that request.

"She came up to me and said 'Coach, if I'm fortunate enough to score 1,000 points, please don't stop the game because it's not about me, it's about the team,'" Deutsch said. "I've never heard that. You don't have kids do that stuff. She's so unselfish.

"I'm so proud of her. Her freshman year we went through some tough times. We won three games and it was tough. You could see how much she cared. She hates to lose with a passion."

Despite the request, Deutsch plans to stop the game when Jones reaches the milestone because he strongly believes she deserves that recognition.