The last-second play set up by Northwestern coach Chris Deutsch was executed perfectly -and looked for a moment like it would cap an incredible final second rally by the Tigers and force overtime.

But the three-point shot launched by Paige Bissell wound up just shy of the basket, and Lewisburg’s Teagan Osunde grabbed the rebound and held on tightly as the buzzer sounded to secure the Green Dragons’ 29-26 victory in the PIAA Class 4A sub-regional round on Tuesday night.

Trailing by six points with just seconds remaining, Northwestern’s season was on life support. But Riley McGinley drained a three-pointer with just :04 left in regulation to give the Tigers hope. After a quick foul, Lewisburg’s Sophie Kilbride missed a pair of opportunities to ice the game at the free throw line.

Northwestern rebounded the ball with less than two seconds remaining and quickly called a time out.

Inbounding the ball from her own baseline, McGinley heaved the ball to the opposite end of the floor where Paige Sevrain caught it and sent it quickly over to Bissell, who had an open look for the tying three-point shot.

“We did everything right,” said Deutsch. “The shot just didn’t go for us. We had a few of those tonight, but the girls can’t let this game be the memory that they take away from this season because it was a phenomenal year.”

The Dragons (18-8) led 8-4 after a Sydney Bolinski basket with 1:58 left in the opening quarter, but at the other end, Sevrain pulled down an offensive rebound and went right back up with a shot to make it a two-point game at the end of the first quarter.

With 4:54 left in the second quarter and Lewisburg up by one, Sevrain gave Northwestern (26-3) its first lead of the night with a short jumper from the paint that made it 10-9. On the trip back down the court, Kilbride hit a jumper and less than a minute later, Bolinski got nothing but net on a three-pointer to again stretch the Lewisburg lead to four. Sophomore Cara Thomas scored the next two baskets for Northwestern to tie the game before Bolinski hit a pair of free throws to give Lewisburg a 16-14 halftime edge.

“We felt pretty good about how the first half went,” said Deutsch. “We figured it was going to be a close game, and that the defenses would play a big part in it.”

Maddie Still drove the lane for a basket and picked up a foul just over a minute into the third quarter to make it 18-16, before she drained the freebie to put Lewisburg up by three.

Kilbride, - Lewisburg’s leading scorer this season - worked the baseline and put up a shot to give the Dragons their biggest lead of the night at 21-16 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Sevrain cut it to three, but Maddy Moyers buried two free throws to push Lewisburg to another five-point advantage at 23-18 at the end of the third.

With the quickness of the Dragons defense making it difficult to work down low, Northwestern went to the outside and Thomas hit a three-pointer to cut into the lead. Keeley Baker hit from close range for Lewisburg, and Brook Balliet dropped in two free throws to make it 25-23 with 3:32 left.

Northwestern was unable to pull any closer and had to resort to fouls. Still hit two from the free throw line and with just :23 left, Bolinski also hit two to make it 29-23 - the largest margin of the game.

The Tigers didn’t go away quietly, but their late-game heroics eventually came up just short.

“If you had told me today that we would hold them to just 29 points, I would have thought we would win,” said Deutsch. “Our defense has been a big part of our game this season, and we played well again tonight, we just couldn’t get some shots to go.

“You have to hand it to Lewisburg, because they played really well and did a good job on us defensively.”

MILESTONES AND RECORDS ... Northwestern produced plenty of excitement this season. The 26 wins are the most ever for the program, and its 24-game winning streak was also the longest in team history. It set another record by winning its third straight Colonial League championship. Sevrain reached the 1,000-point mark earlier this season, and went on to score 258 more points to become the program’s all-time leading scorer.

GOOD-BYES … Northwestern says adios to four senior players. Maci Fisher, Gabby Gober, Nina Miller, and Sevrain all graduate. Sevrain finished with 1,258 career points, finishing 12 ahead of Sara Jones from the Class of 2006.

LEWISBURG

Bolinski 2-4-4-9, Baker 3-1-4-7, Still 2-3-3-7, Kilbride 2-0-3-4, Moyers 0-2-2-2, Fellon 0-0-0-0, Osunde 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 9-10-16-29

NORTHWESTERN

Sevrain 5-0-0-10, Thomas 4-0-0-9, Balliet 1-2-2-4, McGinley 1-0-0-3, Miller 0-0-0-0, Bissell 0-0-0-0, Fisher 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 11-2-2-26

Lewisburg 8 8 7 6 – 29

Northwestern 6 8 4 6 – 26

Three-pointers: Lewisburg – Bolinski 1. Northwestern – McGinley 1, Thomas 1.