Despite the difference in league records, the Salisbury girls' basketball team was aware last week's meeting with Northwestern would be a grind.

And it certainly was.

In a game in which neither team led by more than six points through the first three-and-a-half quarters, the contest figured to be decided down the stretch. Unfortunately for the Falcons, it was an 8-3 run over the final minutes that propelled the Tigers (7-4 overall; 4-3 in Colonial League) to a 43-36 victory at Northwestern High School.

It was the second consecutive loss for the Falcons after falling to Notre Dame (Green Pond) nearly two weeks ago in the final league game before Christmas break.

"I keep telling them that instead of participating, somebody along the line has to compete," head coach Joe Mladosich said. "We have to compete better than what we're competing. We're not competing at all. We're just running through the motions at times."

The Falcons (11-2 overall; 6-2 in Colonial League) were able to rebound over the weekend with a 48-29 victory over Bangor on Saturday.

"I do believe we're better than we've played the last two games," Mladosich said after the loss to Northwestern. "We've got to get better. We got to work harder."

Salisbury led the Tigers 9-5 in the first quarter after Lindsay Bauer's jumper with 1:00 to play in the period. The Falcons, who fell behind briefly midway through the second, responded after halftime to lead 27-22 with 1:39 to play in the third.

But it was the final eight minutes that saw the Falcons' defense struggle to contain the Tigers.

Northwestern reeled off 18 points in that final quarter, including six apiece from Sarah Segan and Erika Thomas. Segan's three-point play with 6:43 left on the clock gave the Tigers a 32-29 advantage, their first lead since it was 18-17 in the second period.

"We're better than we played," Mladosich said. "All of the credit to Northwestern. They played us the way we needed to be played. I thought we didn't play well."

Salisbury got it back to a one-point game moments later after Sydney Utesch's bucket, and the Falcons trailed by just four in the final two minutes. But down the stretch, the offense continuously turned the ball back over without a field goal attempt on key possessions.

The Falcons turned it over five times in the final period and attempted just five field goals over that stretch. That was just part of the story, as the Falcons had 31 turnovers for the game, including 12 in the first period.

"Their pressure defense is good, but it's not that good," Mladosich said. "We turned it over 31 times, but we've got to get more scoring from different people. We're relying too heavily on Meagan [Eripret] and Lindsay to score all of our points."

Eripret led all scorers with 17 points to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks. Bauer scored eight in the loss.

For Northwestern, Segan's 15 points and eight rebounds led the way. Thomas made two 3-pointers and finished with 11.