WHITEHALL - Crediting any one player for Lehighton’s 37-34 District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal win over Northwestern Lehigh on Saturday is a tough task.

Sophomore Charli McHugh finished with 18 points, just one shy of her career high, but she pointed to senior Aaliyah Fisher for her defensive play against Tigers’ standout Paige Sevrain.

Indian head coach Joe Berezwick wrapped the issue up nicely.

“It really was a team effort, because everybody did what they needed to do, and they all did it well,” said Berezwick, whose team had to win three of its final four regular season games to even reach the district tournament. “From Charli to Aaliyah to Hailey (Miller), and really everybody who got on the court for us this afternoon, they all stuck to our game plan and executed it well.”

Sevrain has led Northwestern in scoring all season, averaging 15 points per game, and again was its leading scorer on Saturday - dropping in 14 points. The difference was that the Lehighton defense prevented Sevrain from having one of her high-scoring games, and were able to keep her off the boards and limit her rebounding opportunities.

“That really goes out to Aaliyah Fisher, because she played her really well,” said McHugh. “We knew it was going to be tough because they are a good team, but we just stuck to the game plan that the coaches drew up, and it worked.”

Northwestern opened with several early foul shots by Cara Thomas to take a 2-0 lead, but it would trail through the rest of the game until the final minute when Cara Thomas stripped the ball away and fed it to senior Rachel Dorney, who drove the lane to give the Tigers a 34-32 lead.

On the other end of the court, McHugh again went to work to execute the game plan when she drew Sevrain out to the wing to defend her. Just as Sevrain stepped toward the sophomore forward, McHugh advanced and was fouled on her way to dropping in a layup that tied the game.

She then converted her foul shot, and would finish out the scoring with two more free-throws to ice the win.

“That was the play we drew up during the timeout, and I knew I could beat her off the dribble,” McHugh said. “I made the basket and drew the contact, and it worked out perfectly for us.”

The Tigers came into the game as the No. 2 seed, and were fresh off a Colonial League championship game victory over Palmerton a week earlier.

“To be honest, I was a little concerned because we did not have a good week of practice,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “We were listless all week, and didn’t have a lot of intensity in our practices and scrimmages, and I was concerned about that.

“I was hoping we would put everything together today and snap out of it, but we never got in sync, and we played below what we are capable of doing.”

With the win, seventh-seeded Lehighton (12-11) guaranteed itself at least two more games. It will face Allentown Central Catholic Tuesday in the semifinals, and then either go on to play for the district championship or play in a consolation game - where the winner will get an invitation to play in states.

The loss ended the season for Northwestern (21-5).

HANGING IN THERE ... While Northwestern struggled to find a groove, it never trailed by more than seven points. At halftime, Lehighton held a 16-15 lead, and held a 28-24 advantage after three quarters.

TESTING THE MEMORY BANKS ... Joe Berezwick talked to a lot of people who have been around the Lehighton program for a long time, and none of them could remember the team winning a game in districts. “If we did win one, it was sometime either in the early 90s or before, but nobody could really remember,” said the coach after the win. After some research, it was discovered the Indians’ last district win came in 1997 when they defeated Southern Lehigh in a quarterfinal round matchup.

LEHIGHTON

McHugh 6-6-7-18, Williams 2-0-0-5, Miller 3-0-2-7, Bowman 2-0-0-4, Fisher 1-0-0-3, Repsher 0-0-1-0, Wojton 0-0-0-0, Hauser 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-6-10-37.

NORTHWESTERN

Bro. Balliet 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0, Bry. Balliet 1-0-0-2, Thomas 1-6-8-8, Fisher 3-0-0-6, Dorney 2-0-0-4, Sevrain 5-4-4-14. TOTALS: 12-10-12-34.

Lehighton 10 6 12 9 - 37

Northwestern 5 10 9 10 - 34

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Williams 1, Miller 1, Fisher 1; Northwestern - None.