Central Catholic has knocked a lot of teams out of districts over the years, ending many teams’ seasons.

Northwestern didn’t want to be added to that long list when it met the seven-time state champs Saturday at Northern Lehigh High School.

The Tigers withstood a second-half Vikette rally before coming away with a 52-41 win in the District 11 girls Class 4A quarterfinals.

“This is my 17th year coaching here, and this is the first time we’ve ever beaten them,” said Tiger head coach Chris Deutsch. “We thought coming in it was an even game. I thought this could come down to the first team to score 30 points. If you told me we were going to score 52 … I didn’t see that coming.”

The No. 4 seed Tigers move on to face top-seeded Bethlehem Catholic in Wednesday’s semifinal at 7:30 p.m. at Catasauqua High School.

Northwestern (21-4) used its size to control the paint with 5-foot-9 senior Sage Christopher and 6-0 sophomore Emily Sekerak. The Tigers got hot outside shooting from Sydney Sevrain (17 points) and Kaylin Jones. And they played solid team defense, with Jones and Ali Lister locking down Central Catholic’s top two scorers most of the game.

Northwestern saw an early 12-point lead slip away in the second quarter. Central Catholic fought back and led by as much as 39-33 with less than two minutes left in the first half.

Baskets by Christopher and Mackenzie Hess to end the fourth quarter made it 39-37. Sekerak and Christopher started the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets for a 41-39 lead.

“We got up five and then we let somebody wide open,” said Central Catholic head coach Mike Kopp. “They had two baskets that were relatively easy against our defense, and I think that gave them the momentum.”

A Maria Traglia basket with 4:56 left tied the game at 41-41, but that was the last time Central Catholic scored. Sekerak’s put-back basket with 3:12 left gave the Tigers the lead for good.

“They kept their composure” said Deutsch of his team that starts three sophomores. “I didn’t know how we would handle tight situations. This is as proud as I’ve been in a long time. I’m so proud of these girls.”

Sevrain went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 2:03. She made 11 of 12 free throws on the night.

“We worked so hard during the season, and we knew this was going to be a tough game,” said Jones. “To pull it through at the end means a lot to us.”

The Tigers’ played solid defense all game, but clamped down even tighter in the fourth quarter to allow just one field goal on 19 Central fourth-quarter attempts.

The Tigers battled through early foul trouble to three starters. Sekerak and Christopher both picked up two fouls in the first quarter. Sevrain had two in the first five minutes, and got her third foul just before halftime.

“We were able to get through that and survive,” said Deutsch. “Our other girls came off the bench and did a great job to do that.”

The focus of Northwestern’s defense was to limit Central’s Jess Davis (eight points) and Emily Vaughn (six points). Lister and Jones were primarily responsible for guarding those players, and Deutsch used some nontraditional defenses to accomplish that goal.

Most of Northwestern’s roster was in middle school the last time these two teams met, but Sevrain, a junior, remembered a 31-28 loss to Central Catholic in the 2017 district semifinals.

“Two years ago, we lost to them on a buzzer-beater and that was devastating,” Sevrain said. “We had a lot of energy coming into the game [Saturday]. It kind of died a little bit, and that’s when we lost the lead. But we picked it back up and came out on top.”

DEFENSE … Northwestern held Central Catholic to 25 percent shooting (14-for-55) in the game. The Tigers also controlled the boards, outrebounding Central 35-21 in the game. Sekerak pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

SLOW START ... The Vikings (14-10) missed their first 11 attempts from the field, as Davis and Vaughn got off only four shots in the first quarter.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Vaughn 1-4-4-6, Hoeing 0-0-0-0, Kidd 0-2-2-2, Davis 3-0-0-8, Roth 2-1-3-5, Szmigiel 0-4-4-4, Traglia 8-0-0-16. TOTALS: 14-11-13-41.

NORTHWESTERN

Betz 0-0-0-0, Lister 2-0-2-5, Jones 3-0-0-8, Ledeboer 1-0-0-2, Sevrain 2-11-12-17, Hess 1-0-0-2, Sekerak 4-1-4-9, Christopher 3-3-4-9. TOTALS: 16-15-22-52

Central Catholic 11 17 11 2 - 41

Northwestern 17 10 10 15 - 52

Three-pointers: ACC - Davis 2; Northwestern - Sevrain 2, Lister 1, Jones 1.