The roles were reversed last Saturday night at the Colonial League girls' basketball championship in Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium at Freedom High School.

Instead of No. 1 Northwestern making a late surge in the contest in an effort to win, it was No. 2 Southern Lehigh frantically playing catchup as the Lady Tigers got out to an early lead on the Lady Spartans.

Unlike most of Northwestern's late rallies, Southern Lehigh's came up a little short as Northwestern (23-1 overall) held on to a 48-38 victory to dethrone the three-time defending champions and claim the 2013-14 Colonial League title.

"It feels absolutely amazing," senior Trista Cunningham said. "We proved that we can beat them in the regular season. Now tonight we came back and showed that we are the better team.

"It feels amazing to get revenge."

The Lady Tigers had a shaky start on their path to revenge, opening the game with three straight turnovers. However, junior Sarah Segan, with six first-quarter points, helped steady the ship and take a 9-7 lead after the first quarter.

Following a tough battle in the first, the second quarter was all Northwestern. Southern Lehigh (17-5) struggled shooting as it went 0-for-12 from field and only registered two points that frame courtesy of two free throws by junior Tyler Saraceno.

The Lady Spartans' offensive woes mixed with stellar defense by the Lady Tigers allowed Northwestern to break open a comfortable 19-9 lead going into halftime.

"We think defense, defense, defense," said Segan, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, of the second quarter. "Defense leads to offense. So if we have strong defense, we can create things. That was good that we were working on that and only allowed them to nine points at half."

The second-half is where the transformation began as Southern Lehigh was sparked by the shooting of Melann Amory, who finished the game with 12 points and four rebounds. The senior started the third-quarter scoring for the Lady Spartans with a three-pointer with 7:09 left to make it 21-12. However, she didn't stop there.

Amory drained three more treys, along with another bucket, scoring all 12 of her points in the third to revive Southern Lehigh. Teammate Madelene McDonald, who led all scorers with 14 points, scored the rest of Southern Lehigh's points that frame as the Lady Spartans went on an 11-3 run to close out the quarter and cut their deficit to two, 32-30, heading to the fourth quarter.

"I just started thinking 'Oh, no'," head coach Chris Deutsch said of Southern Lehigh's third-quarter run. "I think we made terrific plays in the fourth quarter, though."

With their backs against the wall and the momentum with their opponent, the Lady Tigers began to battle as they saw the league title was in their sights.

McDonald, who scored all eight Southern Lehigh points in the fourth, knotted up the score at 34 with a lay-up with 6:06 left. Cunningham responded by converting a three-point play by making her foul shot to make it 39-36 with 4:36 remaining.

Another bucket by McDonald brought the Spartans to within one, but Cunningham would make 5 of 8 free throws over the next 3:16 of game time to extend the lead to 42-36 before McDonald made Southern Lehigh's last basket with 57.2 second remaining to cut the lead to four.

A pair of free throws by junior Sabrina Mertz (nine points, five rebounds) and sophomore Megan Landrigan (five points, five rebounds), along with another basket by Cunningham, ended the reign of Southern Lehigh at the top of Colonial League girls' basketball.

"To see the smiles on their faces, it is worth everything," Deutsch said. "The joy, the hard work they went through all year long [was worth it]. We can enjoy it for two days, but we have to get back to practice."

The Lady Tigers are practicing and preparing to face seventh-seeded Blue Mountain (14-8) in the District 11 AAA girls' basketball quarterfinal as Northwestern took the second seed in the bracket. Blue Mountain finished seventh in the Schuylkill League with a record of 7-5. That contest is slated for 7:30pm at Northern Lehigh High School this Saturday.