In last season’s Colonial League playoffs, Northwestern Lehigh came in as the top seed and went on to beat number-three seeded Palmerton to win the league championship and in doing so, collect win number 300 for head coach Chris Deutsch.

This season, the Tigers hope to have the playoffs go the opposite way as the third-seeded Lady Tigers look to knock off Palmerton, which holds this season’s top spot coming into the league tournament.

Palmerton (20-1 overall, 18-0 Colonial League) stumbled only against juggernaut Jim Thorpe (20-1, 13-0 Schuylkill League) this season.

The league tournament gets underway Thursday with Northwestern Lehigh facing sixth-seeded Pen Argyl in the quarterfinal round. The winner of that game would face Bangor (15-6, 13-4), which is seeded ahead of Northwestern by virtue of winning the league’s East Division.

The two division champs get top seeds and first-round byes, giving them extra time off. In that regard, Deutsch does not mind having a first-round game to play because by the time the girls hit the court, they will have already had 11 days off.

A bye would have added another six days to the rest period.

“I think we will need to work on staying sharp,” said Deutsch. “We can’t be content with where we are. We have to have that hunger and a sense of urgency going into the postseason because it becomes one and done. The other thing we will need to do is to execute. There is some stuff to clean up and we will have the girls working on that, but I think we will be ready to go.”

The Lady Tigers finished the season with a 41-13 win over Catasauqua (8-14, 6-12). The starters had little playing time late in the game, but freshman Cara Thomas still finished with a game-high 13 points, while junior Maci Fisher finished with nine and classmate Paige Sevrain finished with eight.

Three days earlier, Northwestern downed rival Northern Lehigh 58-45 behind a career-high 28 points by Sevrain.

“I was very happy to get those points,” said an understated Sevrain after the win over Catty. “We needed those points, so it helped the team and that’s what matters.

“Overall, we are playing well, especially on the defensive part. I think we need more work on the offensive side because some games it’s almost like we’re just not there. We’re working on it, and we are all excited about the playoffs coming up. There are always some nerves, but it is what we have been working for all season.”

Sevrain has led the team in scoring during the regular season, averaging just over 14 points per game.

Coming into the postseason, Sevrain has 788 career points and is on track to finish her career with over 1,000 points for Northwestern Lehigh. Thomas has averaged 11.5 points per game in her first varsity season.