The Northwestern Lehigh and Palmerton girls basketball teams have met on the court three times this season with each team hosting a game and the third being on a neutral court.

The combined margin of victory in the three games is seven points. Games do not get much closer than that. Each team lost its home game by three points and on the court at Freedom High School last Friday, Northwestern downed the Lady Bombers 31-30 to win their third straight Colonial League championship with each of those wins coming over Palmerton.

The game came down to the final seconds and Blue Bombers coach Dan Beck set up a play that worked perfectly except for one thing: the length of Paige Sevrain’s fingers.

Sydney Frantz got the ball and dribbled across the arc where she found Cara Thomas to her immediate right and Sevrain directly in front of her. As the shot went up, so did Sevrain and the ball deflected off her fingertips directly to teammate Nina Miller, who got the ball across center court and as the horn blew. Miller lofted the ball straight up to mark the beginning of the celebration.

“I’m really proud,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest game, but we gutted it out. All year long the pressure has really been on us, and we gutted it out and found a way to win tonight.”

It certainly was not the prettiest of outings for the Lady Tigers, who trailed for much of the game. The Lady Tigers trailed by five at the end of the first quarter and finally tied the game on a basket from Brook Balliet that made it 14-14 with 1:59 left in the second quarter. The lead lasted just :09 before Palmerton’s Bethie Morgan hit a foul shot and Frantz sank a three-pointer to put the Bombers up 18-14 at halftime.

Thomas, the second leading scorer this season for Northwestern got into foul trouble with three first half fouls but would not pick up her fourth until the final seconds of the game.

“Coming into the second half, I knew I had to play a little more reserved, but other than that, I just kept going for the ball and trying to play the best defense that I could,” said Thomas, who has averaged 10.5 points per game this season.

Balliet and Thomas hit the first two buckets of the second half to tie the game again, but :22 later, Morgan put Palmerton back on top with a driving layup. The teams went scoreless for the next three minutes until Balliet hit a three-pointer to give Northwestern its first lead of the night.

Rylee McGinley, who came off the bench in the second quarter to hit a three, dropped in another to give Northwestern Lehigh a 24-20 lead. This time, the lead lasted for a whole :34 before Palmerton got back-to-back threes from Morgan and Hannah Barry and led 26-24 after three quarters.

McGinley, a sophomore, was not done with her three-point show and opened the final quarter with her third of the night. Maci Fisher followed with her first basket of the night to give the Lady Tigers a 29-26 lead with 5:39 left in regulation.

“This is super exciting,” said McGinley. “Last year I didn’t play in the championship, so this time it felt really good to not only play but contribute to this team. We had some rough points in this game, but we came through.”

How long would the lead last this time? As it turned out, it would be the longest stretch of the game that Northwestern led. Frantz made it 29-28 with 5:27 left, but the next basket would not come until the 2:50 mark when Megan Matsko hit one of two foul shots to again tie the game.

The shot of the night came with :32 left to play when Thomas found Balliet down low and got the ball to her. Balliet, another of the Lady Tigers super sophomores, made a move past a defender and put up a reverse layup to give Northwestern Lehigh a 31-29 lead.

Morgan hit one of two freebies with :20 remaining and when Northwestern came to the other end of the court, they played keep away until Palmerton would force a jump ball with the possession arrow in their favor, setting up the final sequence of plays.

“We knew coming out of the timeout just before that play that we had to play the best defense possible,” said Miller. “I was just fortunate that my teammates made that play and I was there to get the ball so they couldn’t get another shot.”

Not only is this the third straight Colonial League championship for Northwestern Lehigh, but the Tigers’ 23-game winning streak and their 24-win season are both records for the team. They will look to extend both of their winning records when they play Saucon Valley Saturday in districts.