Devastated, but not destroyed.

The effects of Northwestern’s gut-wrenching loss to North Schuylkill in the District 11 Class 4A semifinals could have easily carried over to Saturday’s consolation game against Blue Mountain.

But the Tigers didn’t allow that to happen.

These Tigers weren’t folding their proverbial tent. Instead, they regrouped the way all good teams do.

Northwestern’s senior leadership helped turn the devastation from earlier in the week to motivation against the Eagles.

The result was a 50-36 victory that kept the Tigers’ season alive.

There were plenty of highlights for Northwestern (26-2), but none stood out more than the performance of Paige Sevrain. The talented senior not only provided outstanding leadership in helping her teammates bounce back from their loss to the Spartans, but she also provided plenty of highlights on the court against Blue Mountain as well.

The most memorable of the on-court moments for the Bloomsburg University-bound player came with 1:56 remaining when she ducked inside and kissed a shot off the glass to become the all-time girls basketball scoring leader in Northwestern history.

By that time, Sevrain and her teammates had all but wrapped up their most important goal - winning the game and advancing to the state tournament.

“I didn’t know what to think at first,” Sevrain said with a wide smile. “Once I got it, it was very exciting. Oh God, I said to myself, ‘you finally did it.’

“But breaking the record wasn’t my first priority today. My first priority was to help the team win.”

And they did exactly that - despite having to overcome one of the toughest losses head coach Chris Deutsch can remember experiencing during his long tenure with the Tigers.

“I’ve been coaching here 20 years, and after the loss to North Schuylkill as I was walking to the lockers, I really tried to dig deep and use all my experience to figure out the best way to help put the loss behind us and focus on what we still had ahead of us,” Deutsch said. “I can tell you this, that loss was a tough one … it was a gut-punch.

“But I’m really proud of how we came back from that loss. I thought our team showed a lot of maturity. Having three seniors like Paige (Sevrain), Maci (Fisher), and Nina (Miller) was a huge help, too. They made sure that we were focused today and not still thinking about the North Schuylkill game.”

Nearly every player had a hand in firing up the engine.

Brook Balliet led the Tigers with 12 points, while Cara Thomas added 10. Sevrain followed with nine, and both Fisher and Paige Bissell finished with eight points.

Though Northwestern held just a scant 6-5 lead after a quarter, one could sense it was just a matter of time.

In the second quarter, the Tigers began to flex their muscles to open the second quarter. Sevrain hit a foul shot to polish off a three-point play to start a run, Balliet followed with a triple. Thomas, Bissell, Balliet and Sevrain all added more points before the quarter ended as Northwestern built a 25-12 halftime lead.

The Tigers sealed the win in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 15-5 to open a commanding 40-17 advantage.

“Our girls did a very good job of executing,” said Deutsch. “I know Blue Mountain was missing a couple of key players from when we played them earlier in the year, and they’re a different team without them.

“But I’m extremely proud of the way our girls came out and took care of business.”

The Tigers had a 26-24 rebounding edge with, Sevrain and Fisher grabbing eight apiece.

Semifinal Heartbreak

After surrendering the lead to Northwestern for the first time all game in the final minute of last Wednesday’s District 11 Class 4A girls semifinal, North Schuylkill had the last shot and two 1,000-point scorers willing to take it.

The play went to Maddy Wetzel, who drove into the lane and laid up a short jump shot that slid through the net with no time on the clock to give her team a 50-49 win and send it to Saturday’s title game against Allentown Central Catholic.

“It was one or the other, Kamryn (Mengel) or Maddy,” said Spartan head coach Rich Wetzel. “It’s hard to stop one of them from getting to the bucket. It’s just a matter of if they make it or not. They’re very tough when they go to the bucket, and (Northwestern) didn’t want to foul.”

Wetzel (23 points) and Mengel (17 points) accounted for 80 percent of the Spartans’ offense in the game.

“We just couldn’t get a stop at the end of the game,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “Credit to (Wetzel). She made a tough shot. I didn’t think our defense was bad on that last possession.”

The Spartans (24-1) used their pressure defense to force 20 Tiger turnovers. They built a 15-point lead (41-26) late in the third quarter and seemed poised to cruise to a victory and a spot in Saturday’s title game against Central Catholic.

Northwestern had other ideas. Still trailing by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, a three-pointer from Rylee McGinley and a basket from Sevrain cut the Spartan lead to 46-37 and started what turned into a 12-0 run for the Tigers. Balliet capped the run with a three-pointer that got her team within a point at 46-45 with 3:25 on the game clock.

Northwestern (24-2) turned up the pressure on defense, and forced three Spartan turnovers in the middle of the quarter, two on steals by Thomas. The Tigers also started getting the ball to Sevrain - their 1,000-point scorer. She scored 10 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter.

Mengel stopped the bleeding with a basket and a foul, but missed the free throw. Sevrain answered at the other end to keep her team within a point with 2:49 left. Over two minutes went by before the next basket was scored. Again, it was Sevrain in the paint giving her team at 49-48 lead with :33 left.

The Tigers made several defensive stops in the final 30 seconds, but the Spartans wisely fouled and Northwestern twice missed the front end of one-and-one attempts that could have extended the lead or put the game out of reach.

“We didn’t quit,” said Deutsch. “I thought we had a lot of energy in the first half. Our energy level picked up in the second half. Our defense cranked up in the fourth quarter, and we started making shots.”