Teams and players find out a lot about themselves in tough times.

Great teams rise to overcome adversity. The rest fall by the wayside.

The Northwestern girls basketball cruised through its first 20 games of the 2012-13 season. The Lady Tigers beat every team in front of them, most of them by wide margins.

But in the regular season's penultimate game, Northwestern fell to Bangor and eventually finished the season 21-1 overall, 15-1 in Colonial League play.

Over the next few weeks the Tigers have a chance to prove they're the kind of great team that can rise up to overcome adversity.

"The two weeks prior to the loss to Bangor our practices were stale," said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. "Since then we've had some of the best practices we've had all year. The girls are focused. They're determined. They're hungry."

Deutsch senses the hunger in his team full of players that have helped turn around the girls basketball program. Many of them are multi-sport athletes. Over half of the team's key players were part of two varsity soccer teams that went undefeated in the regular season but came up just short of a title.

"They've had success in other sports," said Deutsch. "But they haven't been able to get over the hump. I think they're ready to get over the hump"

The top-seeded Tigers faced Notre Dame (Green Pond) in Wednesday's league semifinals. (The game was played after Press' deadline. See next week's issue for league playoff coverage.)

A semifinal win would put Northwestern in Friday's title game against Southern Lehigh or Bangor.

A league title would not only help quench that thirst for a championship, it would also greatly improve the team's district tournament seeding. The other top teams in Class AA, Central Catholic and Bethlehem Catholic, both lost in Tuesday's Lehigh Valley Conference semifinals. If the Tigers can win the Colonial it would ensure a top seed and clear a path through the bracket taht would not include a meeting either LVC team until the title game, when a state tournament berth has already been locked up.

No matter what happens in the postseason, it's still been a great ride for the ninth-year head coach and his team.

"It's been a special regular season," Deutsch said. "It's the best regular season I've ever had at Northwestern. We expected a lot this season and these girls have exceeded expectations."

The team has more regular season wins than any team Deutsch coached and could eclipse the total of 24 wins that the 2006 team set as the program's benchmark.

Deutsch felt pride when the Colonial League all star team was released this week and all five Lady Tiger starters were on the team. League MVP candidate Sara Jones earned first team honors, while teammates Sabrina Mertz and Sara Segan were named to the second team with Trista Cunningham and Kaleen Suter honorable mentions.

"It's what I've been telling everyone all year," Deutsch said. "This team is not just Sara Jones. She's one of the best, if not the best player in the area. But our team isn't just one or two girls."