The Northwestern Lehigh girls basketball team has put together a six-game winning streak and three of those wins saw the Tigers cross the 60-point plateau in games against Salisbury, Northern Lehigh and Pottsville. Win number six of the run was a little harder-fought as they downed Catasauqua 35-23 Monday night.

Against the Rough Riders (3-4, 1-3), Northwestern got off to a slow start and led by just two at halftime and six at the end of the third quarter. The difference in the second half was a tougher defense and senior Paige Sevrain scoring 10 of her game-high 16 points over the final two quarters.

“We all run our positions very well on defense,” said Sevrain. “We communicate well, and we rely a lot on each other to play our part and staying connected has been a big part of our team.”

Northwestern Lehigh has effectively used a pressure defense against teams, and it worked well in turning around a slow start against Catty.

The offense was on full display against both Northern Lehigh (0-7, 0-4) and Pottsville. The Tigers (7-1 overall, 5-1 Colonial League) downed the Bulldogs 61-11 with four players putting up double digit point totals. Senior Maci Fisher and sophomore Cara Thomas led the team with 13 points each, while Sevrain and freshman Hannah Gober both chipped in with 10.

In a 60-33 win at Pottsville (5-2, 3-0 Schuylkill League), Sevrain dropped in a season-high 23 points and sophomore Brook Balliet scored 14 in the win.

The fact that freshmen and sophomores are playing a sizable role with the team is not lost on Sevrain.

“They are making a lot of progress and they are a very talented group,” she said. “I think they are going to get even stronger as the season goes on because there is so much talent there and they really work hard at their game.”

As a team, the Lady Tigers are averaging 49.9 points per game, with freshmen and sophomores averaging 28.9 points per game. Balliet leads the young group with 10.3 points per game and Thomas is averaging 9.7 per game.

Northwestern Lehigh has one game before the holiday break when the Tigers host Blue Mountain in a nonleague game tonight. As an added attraction, Sevrain is set to cross the 1,000-point mark for her career as she comes into the game with 993 total points.