Coming off a loss to Southern Lehigh just three days earlier, the Northwestern girls basketball team was looking to bounce back with a win Friday night against Northern Lehigh.

The Tigers did just that with a 69-29 victory over the rival Bulldogs."I just like how we bounced back from the loss against Southern Lehigh," Deutsch said. "I thought we just had to jump on them from the start and that's what you have to do against teams like this. You can't give them belief that they can stay in the game."I thought we played with a lot of good energy, shared the ball, and did a nice job recovering from the other day."Erika Thomas gave the Tigers the necessary spark as the senior scored 12 of her 18 points in the opening quarter.She scored half of her total even before the Bulldogs put single point on the board. Thomas helped pace a 17-0 Tigers' spurt to begin the game, which was the kind of start that Deutsch wanted to see. Jill Olewine eventually ended the Northwestern run by hitting two free throws.The Tigers owned a 41-11 lead at intermission.While Thomas went on to finish with 18 points, Tiger teammate Leighanna Leister piled up a 15-point performance.The Bulldogs' sophomore Kaitlin Hoffman had an 18-point performance of her own."They didn't quit and that's a credit to them," Deutsch said. "They're a young team too. You know what, their girls came out and really showed us something in the second half, but I knew they were going to come out and play."While Northwestern moves to 4-2 overall (3-1 in CL), Northern Lehigh is searching for its first win of the season."You're going to take lumps along the way as it's a growing process," Northern Lehigh coach Tony Thomas said. "When you learn to walk, you will always fall down."The win was the 200th of Deutsch's head coaching career. Deutsch has been roaming the court side at Northwestern for 20 years (13 as girls head coach, seven as boys assistant)."It means three things," he said of the milestone. "One, I had great players for 13 years. Two, I have had great assistant coaches for 13 years. And, three, I'm probably getting a little older now from when I first started. I look at it as a team thing. It's not about me. It's about the program."