POTTSVILLE - North Schuylkill had 6.4 seconds to keep its district title hopes alive.

After surrendering the lead to Northwestern for the first time all game in the final minute of Wednesday’s District 11 Class 4A girls semifinal, the Spartans had the last shot and two 1,000-point scorers willing to take it.

The play went to Maddy Wetzel, who drove into the lane and laid up a short jump shot that slid through the net with no time on the clock to give her team a 50-49 win and send it to Saturday’s title game against Allentown Central Catholic.

“It was one or the other, Kamryn (Mengel) or Maddy,” said Spartan head coach Rich Wetzel. “It’s hard to stop one of them from getting to the bucket. It’s just a matter of if they make it or not. They’re very tough when they go to the bucket, and (Northwestern) didn’t want to foul.”

Wetzel (23 points) and Mengel (17 points) accounted for 80% of the Spartans’ offense in the game.

“We just couldn’t get a stop at the end of the game,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Deutsch. “Credit to (Wetzel). She made a tough shot. I didn’t think our defense was bad on that last possession.”

The Spartans (24-1) used their pressure defense to force 20 Tiger turnovers. They built a 15-point lead (41-26) late in the third quarter and seemed poised to cruise to a victory and a spot in Saturday’s title game against Central Catholic.

Northwestern had other ideas. Still trailing by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, a three-pointer from Rylee McGinley and a basket from Paige Sevrain cut the Spartan lead to 46-37 and started what turned into a 12-0 run for the Tigers. Brook Balliet capped the run with a three-pointer that got her team within a point at 46-45 with 3:25 on the game clock.

Northwestern (24-2) turned up the pressure on defense, and forced three Spartan turnovers in the middle of the quarter, two on steals by Cara Thomas. The Tigers also started getting the ball to Sevrain - their 1,000-point scorer. She scored 10 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter.

Mengel stopped the bleeding with a basket and a foul, but missed the free throw. Sevrain answered at the other end to keep her team within a point with 2:49 left. Over two minutes went by before the next basket was scored. Again, it was Sevrain in the paint giving her team at 49-48 lead with :33 left.

The Tigers made several defensive stops in the final 30 seconds, but the Spartans wisely fouled and Northwestern twice missed the front end of one-and-one attempts that could have extended the lead or put the game out of reach.

“We didn’t quit,” said Duetsch. “I thought we had a lot of energy in the first half. Our energy level picked up in the second half. Our defense cranked up in the fourth quarter, and we started making shots.”

ANOTHER LEAGUE CHAMP .... After beating Colonial League champ Northwestern, the Schuylkill League champion Spartans will take on another league champ in the title game as they face East Penn Conference winner Central Catholic Saturday. The Vikings beat Blue Mountain 52-44 in Wednesday’s other semifinal game.

EXTRA INCENTIVE ... The Tigers could earn one more home game this season. They will meet Blue Mountain in a third-place game Saturday at a neutral site with the winner advancing to the state playoffs. The District 11 third-place team moves on to a subregional matchup against District 4’s third-place team with the District 11 team hosting. The winner advances to take on the District 2 champ in the first round of the state playoffs Saturday, March 11.

NUMBERS ... North Schuylkill made 23 of 45 shots in the game. The Spartans took 38 shots over the first three quarters, but when the Tigers turned up the defense in the fourth, they only allowed five shots to the Spartans. Northwestern went 21-for-45 from the field.

NORTHWESTERN

Gober 0-1-2-1, Balliet 2-0-0-8, Miller 0-0-0-0, Bissell 0-0-0-0, McGinley 2-0-0-6, Thomas 3-1-4-7, Fisher 2-0-2-4, Sevrain 11-1-2-23. TOTALS 21-3-10-49.

NORTH SCHUYLKILL

Burke 1-0-0-2, Gawrylik 4-0-0-8, Mengel 7-3-7-17, Wetzel 11-0-0-23, Hall 0-0-0-0, Koutch 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-3-7-50.

Northwestern 8 9 13 19 – 49

North Schuylkill 12 15 16 7 – 50

Three-pointers: NW – Balliet 2, McGinley 2; NS – Wetzel 1.