Chris Deutsch has coached Northwestern Lehigh’s girls basketball program for 22 seasons now and has seen a lot of good teams along the way.

He remembers a Bethlehem Catholic team with 2,000-point scorer Kalista Walters as being the best he has seen. On Saturday, he got a close-up look at the team that he would put in second on his list of top teams, the Neumann Goretti Saints.

The Tigers traveled to Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia Saturday to face Neumann in the first round of states and saw their season end on the wrong side of a 76-27 score.

Neumann Goretti features Philadelphia Catholic League MVP Caroline Easley and sophomore guard Reginna Baker, who is being recruited by Temple University. The Saints were also the champions of the PCL, one of the most respected leagues in the commonwealth.

“We played Bethlehem Catholic back when they had Kalista Walters and that was the best team I have ever seen,” said Deutsch. “This team (Neumann Goretti) is the second best. They are athletic, they’re fast, and they can shoot. I don’t know if they’ll win the state championship, but they are really good. I think they would beat just about any team from any classification in the Lehigh Valley.”

Neumann had extended spurts where it pushed its lead, including a 24-0 run. That run started late in the first quarter and lasted until the 3:00 mark of the second quarter and put the Tigers down 43-9. After a Brook Balliet three-pointer, Neumann Goretti turned it into a 32-2 run to go into halftime with a 51-12 lead.

But the Northwestern seniors were not ready to finish their high school careers. Senior Cara Thomas opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and Balliet quickly followed with another to make it 51-18.

“We could have just quit,” Deutsch said. “But the girls wanted to go back out there and see what they could do. I thought it was big that we kept working.”

Before the quarter was over, Balliet hit another three-pointer and a couple of foul shots. Balliet, who loves to play big games no matter what sport, finished with 11 points, including three three-pointers in the game.

“Brook really stepped up late in the year and played really well. She’s definitely a leader in that way and we are going to miss her,” said Deutsch. “She won’t be easy to replace.”

Neumann Goretti didn’t only find ways to break the Northwestern defense, but it also put on an impressive defensive display. The Saints held Thomas, Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer, to just five points. Freshman sensation Natalie Conner was also held to five points in the game.

Baker scored 26 points in the win. Easley and junior Zion Coston both knocked down three from beyond the arc on their way to 11 points each.

Even with the loss, Deutsch saw some good things from his players and told them to hold their heads high.

“I told the girls after the game that getting to states was a good goal for us to have set at the start of the season and they accomplished that goal,” said Deutsch. “They also won 24 games this year, which is just one short of our team high, so they had a great season and have nothing to be disappointed about.”

Balliet and Thomas were voted in by media members to play in the Senior Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic that will be played March 30 at Northampton Community College.