Both the Colonial League coaches and the Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic selection committee missed on a player for their list of all-stars.

Northwestern Lehigh’s Nina Miller is every bit of an all-star. Sometimes, simply pouring over box scores and statistics does not show you the caliber of a player and their value to a team. Miller’s performance Tuesday night was an example of how much she means to the Lady Tigers (23-1) as they downed Notre Dame (Green Pond) 31-26 in the Colonial League semifinals at Catasauqua High School.

Miller scored with four points in the game, with three of those points coming on a key shot that opened the fourth quarter and extended a Northwestern run to eight straight points. The run pushed the Lady Tigers to their largest lead of the game at 24-16.

As for the rest of the game, Miller was a thorn in the side of the Notre Dame offense, including a key fourth-quarter steal that led to a Northwestern basket at the other end of the court.

“I thought Nina probably hit the biggest shot of the game when she hit that three-pointer,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “It was a really tight game and that was huge. She had the guts to step up and make a big shot in a pressure situation.”

The opening minute of the game saw Northwestern’s Brook Balliet hit a three-pointer on the first possession and Notre Dame’s Carly Campbell drive down low for two of her eight first half points. From there though, defense was the name of the game.

The Lady Crusaders (17-6) kept Paige Sevrain out of the scoring column throughout the first half, but still could not prevent the Tigers from hanging onto the lead from the opening tip and up to halftime, when they headed for the locker room with a 14-9 edge.

“I was nervous about this game all day and was worried because I know how well coached they are and I knew (Notre Dame coach Josh Kopp) would have a game plan to counter some of the stuff we like to do,” said Deutsch.

Northwestern went up 16-9 on a basket from Maci Fisher to open the second half, but Notre Dame got a three from Emma Altmire before Julia Pohl and Olivia Schweitzer picked up buckets to tie the game at 16-16 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

“When they tied the game,” said Miller, “we came in during our time out and we talked and we knew we had to play clean defense, no fouls and just play them really tight.”

After the timeout, a lapse in communication between Miller and an official led to a turnover. When Miller inbounded the ball, she moved along the baseline and the referee on the far side whistled to stop the play and gave the ball to Notre Dame.

“I had asked him before he gave me the ball because I had made a mistake against them before and I remembered that specifically, so I double checked and he told me I could move,” said Miller.

After the three referees conferred, Notre Dame was awarded the ball, but Miller quickly picked off the inbound pass to give the ball back to Northwestern. At the other end of the court, Thomas was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to put Northwestern back on top.

On their next trip down, Sevrain seemingly had grown tired of being held scoreless and powered through defenders down low, going up for her first basket of the game and picking up a foul along the way. After hitting the freebie, Northwestern was up 21-16 which is how the third quarter ended.

Miller hit her opening three-pointer in the fourth and after Schweitzer countered with a three of her own, Sevrain again hit from down low. Notre Dame got buckets from Campbell and Emily Lessig to bring them within three at 26-23.

Northwestern hit five of nine foul shots down the stretch and relied on its defense to lock up the win.

Campbell led all scorers with 10 points, while Schweitzer had eight. For Northwestern, Balliet, Thomas and Sevrain all finished with seven.

Northwestern will look for its first ever string of three straight Colonial League championships in school history when the Tigers play Palmerton (20-3) in the league final Friday night at Freedom High School. Their two previous titles came against Palmerton, including a 49-35 win in 2021 that was the 300th win of Deutsch’s coaching career. Palmerton holds the distinction of being the last team to beat Northwestern when it downed the Lady Tigers at Northwestern back on December 6. Since then, Northwestern has rattled off 22 straight wins, a school record.

While Miller was left off the league all-star squad, Paige Sevrain was named the league MVP and sophomore Cara Thomas was named to the first team. Sophomore Brook Balliet was named an Honorable Mention by the league’s coaches. Sevrain and fellow senior Maci Fisher will play in the Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic next month at Northampton Community College.