CATASAUQUA - Marian and Northern Lehigh landed haymaker after haymaker for four straight quarters in their PIAA Class 2A second round matchup on Tuesday night.

Finally - with both teams jelly-legged, beaten and battered after 32 scintillating minutes of basketball - it was the Fillies who were able to outlast the Lady Dawgs 55-54 in an absolute classic at Catasauqua High School.

“What a game. I don’t think anyone expected anything less with these two teams,” said Marian coach Damian Fritz. “Credit to Northern Lehigh. That’s a very good team and a tough team. But I’m just so happy for our girls. They have put a lot of hard work and time in.

“I’m also happy for our parents and fans as well who support us. This was a fun game to be a part of.”

It was a hot start offensively for both teams as they exchanged blow-after-blow and shot-after-shot. Marian held a 15-14 lead after the first quarter.

The Fillies’ Carly Minchhoff heated up early, scoring nine points in the opening frame, establishing herself in the post and then ending the quarter with a triple. Two big three-pointers from Northern Lehigh’s freshman sharpshooter Tegan Simms would keep the Lady Dawgs in rhythm offensively.

The second quarter would almost mirror the first, except it was Northern Lehigh with the narrow lead (25-23) at the break instead of the Fillies. Aubrey Pollard’s four-point flurry to close the quarter provided the Lady Dawgs with the lead. Meanwhile, Minchhoff kept Marian in it with 15 of her team’s 23 points.

“This one was just a fight the whole way. Everyone out here on the floor tonight was playing so hard,” said Minchhoff. “It took every single one of us to be able to pull this one out. Each team had players step up, but we were able to make the plays to finish it out.”

Katelynn Barthold started the third quarter with a hit from beyond the arc to continue the momentum that Pollard gave Northern Lehigh late in the half. But the Fillies forced five turnovers in the quarter, and would go on a 13-4 run to take a 36-32 lead.

As they did throughout the game, however, the Lady Dawgs just kept coming. Two Pollard inside buckets tied the game yet again, and the teams went into the fourth quarter knotted at 40-40. Minchhoff once again had a big frame for Marian scoring 12 more points.

“I’m proud of our girls. They hung together and they never quit,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Chris Heery. “I know this was a tough loss, but it doesn’t take away at all from the great season that they have had.

“We did have some miscues and some miscommunications that led to turnovers in the game. We also committed a few by trying to be aggressive, getting the ball up the floor, but I’m always ok with it if some turnovers come by trying to make aggressive plays. Some of those turnovers led to key transition plays for them late in the game, however.”

Marian looked like it was going to pull away, getting out to a 49-42 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

But Northern Lehigh once again kept coming. A Pollard score, followed by a Simms’ three-pointer quickly cut the deficit to two. A pair of free throws by Pollard tied the game at 49-49.

Two huge free throws by Aliya Tikhtova, and an Addy Fritz transition deuce once again gave Marian some breathing room with 2:13 left to play. Again though, the Lady Dawgs answered with an inbounds play that found Katelynn Barthold in the left corner for a timely trifecta to get Northern Lehigh back within a point.

Fritz and Pollard then exchanged buckets to make it a 55-54 game with under a minute to play.

After a few possessions resulted in no points for either team, Minchhoff was fouled and went to the line with :05 remaining. Neither free throw was converted, and the Lady Dawgs were able to come down with the rebound, but were called for a travel trying to push the ball up the floor.

The Fillies were then able to inbound the ball and run out the clock.

Marian - a predominantly zone-trapping defensive team throughout the course of the season - switched things up and played mostly man-to-man. That proved to be the difference, especially after intermission, as it forced 10 second-half turnovers to help it pull out the win.

“They hit a few (easy) shots early and we got out of our man defense for a little while,” said Fritz. “But then we went right back to it. We were committed to it coming in, and I wanted to stick to the game plan. I just thought over time in the game, it gave us the best chance to win.

“I thought it could wear them down a little bit as the game went on. I think it also helped us rebound the ball much better than in the first matchup against them. We did a much better job of boxing out. Then in the fourth quarter, it helped us go on that run that made them have to fight back from a seven-point deficit.”

LEADING SCORERS … Minchhoff finished with a game-high 29 points for the Fillies. For NL, Pollard finished with 19 points, Simms added 14 and Katelynn Barthold netted 10.

NEXT UP … Marian improves to 22-6, and will now face the District 6 champion Marion Center on Friday night at a time and place TBA. Northern Lehigh finishes the season with a 17-11 record.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Whalen 0 2-2 2, K. Barthold 4 0-0 10, Pollard 7 4-6 19, D. Barthold 3 0-0 7, Simms 5 0-0 14, Snyder 1 0-0 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 6-8 54.

MARIAN

Tikhtova 2 2-3 6, Fritz 3 2-2 8, Minchhoff 12 0-2 29, Pugh 2 0-0 4, Hasara 1 1-2 3, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Martinelli 2 1-2 5. TOTALS: 22 6-11 55.

No. Lehigh 14 11 15 14 - 54

Marian 15 8 19 13 - 55

Three-pointers: M - Minchhoff 5; NL - Simms 4, K. Barthold 2, D. Barthold 1, Pollard 1.