BETHLEHEM — Early turnovers and foul trouble were the downfall for the Northwestern girls Friday night at Freedom High School as they fell to Notre Dame of Green Pond 58-53 in overtime in the Colonial League championship game. The Tigers had battled back from a 10-point deficit early in the fourth quarter only to see Notre Dame pull away in overtime.

After falling behind early, Northwestern went on a 7-0 run for what would turn out to be their largest lead of the game at 17-12 in the final minute of the first quarter.

Notre Dame’s Ella Schweitzer then drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to three.

Schweitzer’s shot started the Crusaders on an 11-3 run that stretched to the midway point of the second quarter, giving them a 23-20 lead.

With 2:42 left before halftime, Tiger senior Cara Thomas drove the lane, picked up the basket and the foul to allow Northwestern to tie the game at 23-23.

Notre Dame wasn’t quite done, though, as Ava Shonk hit a pair of threes to give the Crusaders a 29-23 edge with 1:16 left in the first half. Northwestern uncharacteristically turned the ball over 11 times in the first quarter, leading to five points for the Crusaders.

“I didn’t think we did a good job against them defensively,” said Tigers head coach Chris Deutsch. “They hit a lot of threes, and then we had the turnovers and put ourselves down early.

“We had trouble getting defensive stops when we needed them, and they did a good job in those situations.”

With Notre Dame up by five with 5:57 left in the third quarter, Emily Lessig was fouled on her way through the paint and got the basket and a foul to stretch the Crusaders lead to 37-29.

The teams traded points for the rest of the quarter with the Crusaders getting a late basket on a layup from Ava Hobbie to push their lead back to eight at 40-32 going into the final quarter.

After just two turnovers in the first half, Notre Dame turned the ball over five times in the third quarter and eight times in the final period, leading to six points for Northwestern. That helped the Tigers work their way back.

Brook Balliet hit a jumper with 5:57 left to play and as Notre Dame looked to work their way back down the court, Balliet showed her defense when she stole the ball and turned it into a layup at the other end to cut the deficit to three. Balliet later hit one of two shots from the foul line and with 1:02 left, Paige Bissell scored from inside the paint to make it 46-44 in favor of the Crusaders.

Notre Dame’s Riley Boyle went one-for-two from the line and with just :13 left in regulation, Emma Freeman calmly took a step back from a defender on the left side of the arc and got nothing but net for a game tying three-pointer to send the game into overtime at 47-47.

Northwestern lost Thomas, their leading scorer this season, with 4:16 left in regulation when she was called for her fifth foul in the game.

“Even after we fell behind, we pulled ourselves together and fought our way back and I’m proud of the girls for doing that,” said Deutsch. “It definitely hurt when we lost Cara (Thomas) because she does a lot for us on both ends of the court, but we fought back.”

Shonk, a junior, took over the game in overtime for Notre Dame, scoring six points in the first 2:12 to stake the Crusaders to a 55-47 lead as part of an 8-0 run.

Freeman dropped in another three to cut the deficit to five at 55-50 with 1:37 left. The Tigers later moved to within four on a three-pointer by freshman Natalie Conner, but could not cut the lead any further.

“In that overtime, they made the shots, and we didn’t and that was the difference,” said Deutsch. “We play next Saturday, so we just have to regroup and come back stronger in districts.”

THANK YOU … Schuylkill Haven downed North Schuylkill in the Schuylkill League final which means that Northwestern maintains its top seed in the District 11 4A classification. That sets up a meeting against eighth-seeded Blue Mountain next Saturday at a neutral site in the district quarterfinals. A win in that game would guarantee the Tigers two more games since the PIAA is taking three teams from District 11 4A for the state tournament.

THE LOWEST HIGH … Thomas’ 12 points were the most for Northwestern but was the lowest of any of their high scorers in a game this season.

NOTRE DAME

Shank 5-3-6-15, Hammerstone 4-1-2-13, Boyle 2-3-4-7, Zambo 0-0-4-0, A. Hobbie 1-0-0-2, Lessig 4-5-8-14, Ryan 1-2-4-4, Schweitzer 1-0-0-3. TOTALS: 18-14-28-58.

NORTHWESTERN

Balliet 3-1-3-8, Bissell 2-5-5-9, Freeman 3-0-2-9, Thomas 5-2-5-12, Gober 1-0-0-3, N. Conner 4-1-1-10, Reinhart 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 19-9-16-53.

Notre Dame 15 14 11 7 11 - 58

Northwestern 17 8 7 15 6 - 53

Three-pointers: Notre Dame - Hammerstone 4, Shank 2, Lessig 1, Schweitzer 1; Northwestern - Freeman 3, Balliet 1, Gober 1, N. Conner 1.

Records: Notre Dame (20-5); Nortrhwestern (22-3).