The Northwestern Lehigh girls basketball team wanted to send a message last week with games against Notre Dame – Green Pond and Palmerton. The Tigers failed to deliver that message, so head coach Chris Deutsch sent a message to his own team instead.

“I’m more disappointed [with the loss to Palmerton] than I was [in the loss to Notre Dame] because at least then we made a run at them,” he said. “I thought [Palmerton] had us under control all night and our effort was not really good and it was disappointing,” said Deutsch. “They are quick. They handle the ball well and they are just a tough team to beat. Our effort just didn’t match theirs.”

Palmerton (12-0 Colonial, (16-1 overall) downed Northwestern 46-31 and led the game from start to finish. Northwestern held top scorer Hannah Barry to nine points, but Sydney Frantz scored 12 and sophomore Courtney Connell finished with 13 to pace Palmerton.

Connell also pulled in nine rebounds for the Blue Bombers as they consistently were able to get multiple chances on offense while limiting Northwestern’s chances.

The game teetered back and forth early, but Palmerton did open a six-point lead midway through the first quarter only to see the Tigers come back to cut the lead to two on a pair of drives through the lane by Cara Thomas. Palmerton worked the lead back to 15-10 at the end of the first quarter on a late basket by Megan Matsko. That basket sparked what would be a 7-0 run and later in the second quarter, an 8-0 run put the Bombers up 28-12 for their largest lead of the game.

Palmerton held a size advantage, and their speed and physical style of play gave Northwestern issues to contend with throughout the game.

“I thought the physicality bothered us and they were definitely more physical than we were,” said Deutsch. “I think we got outworked, so I’m going to call it an effort thing.”

Cara Thomas was the leading scorer for Northwestern in both games with 15 against the Crusaders (13-1, 15-3) and 14 against Palmerton.

Against both teams, turnovers were an issue for the Tigers.

The setbacks leave Northwestern Lehigh (9-4, 13-4) in a three-team battle for the final two playoff spots in the Colonial League. Pen Argyl and Northern Lehigh have both leap-frogged the Tigers and Bangor (9-5) and Catasauqua (8-6) were just behind Northwestern heading into this week. The Tigers have four regular season games remaining, including home games against Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua to end the season.

This week’s schedule has a road game at Southern Lehigh (3-10, 4-14) and a home contest against Salisbury (1-12, 3-14). As things stand now, Palmerton and Notre Dame would be division winners and be the first and second seed in league playoffs, getting first-round byes. Pen Argyl (11-3) would be the three seed with Northern Lehigh standing fourth at 10-5. In league play, Northwestern is 9-4, Bangor is 9-5 and Catasauqua is 8-6.