Northern Lehigh students will put on a play called Big Fish next month in their auditorium. On Wednesday night in their gymnasium, the Northwestern girls basketball team put on a production of Jekyll and Hyde.

Ms. Hyde showed up in the first half and then again in overtime, while Dr. Jekyll made an appearance in the second half. Hyde, of course, is the bad guy, while Jekyll the good guy.

The give and take of the two personalities led to a 51-41 loss for the Tigers in the District 11 4A semifinals against Allentown Central Catholic.

Hyde worked his evil and saw Northwestern fall behind by 13 points by halftime, mainly because of turnovers. Unofficially, Northwestern, the tournament’s top seed, had 10 turnovers in the first quarter and added six more in the second period. It also didn’t help that the fourth-seeded Vikettes out-rebounded the Tigers throughout the half.

When Jekyll came to play in the third quarter, Northwestern went on a ferocious run. A change in the defensive scheme at halftime had the Tigers frustrating Central Catholic at every turn, as they opened with eight unanswered points to make it a 26-21 game with 5:08 left in the third quarter.

After the Vikettes sank four foul shots, another run – this time a 7-0 stretch – moved the Tigers to within two at 30-28 when Natalie Conner sank a turnaround jumper with 1:58 left in the quarter.

Jekyll continued to play his part through the fourth quarter, but a strong Central Catholic defense seemingly shut the door and kept Northwestern down by three to four points for much of the period.

Paige Bissell hit a driving shot to make it 40-38 in favor of the Vikettes. Deploying a fouling plan in an attempt to finish the comeback, Cara Thomas was put in a position to either pick up her fifth foul or possibly allow a basket, and picked up her fifth foul, forcing her out of the game. Milly Wolf hit one of two foul shots to give Central a 41-38 lead, but Conner dropped in a three-pointer with just :06.7 left in regulation to tie the game.

“We changed defenses up and I think that helped us,” said Northwestern coach Chris Deutsch. “We told them that their shooting would return in the second half because we just aren’t the type of shooting team we saw in the first half. It wasn’t yelling and screaming, it was just being positive and telling them that if you have an open shot, take it.”

The two teams returned to the court to play a 4-minute overtime period, with Jekyll expected to be the leading character and the Northwestern faithful being a raucous audience for the expected final act.

Unfortunately, Hyde pushed his way on stage, and with Thomas on the bench, Central Catholic focused on shutting down Conner, and the Vikettes held the Tigers scoreless in overtime for a 51-41 win.

“I liked the way we came out in the second half when we were down 13. We made some more shots and played with more energy. We got the big shot to force the overtime, and then we just didn’t score,” said Deutsch. “We had those turnovers early, and then we didn’t do a very good job from the foul line. You can’t be 6-for-13 from the line; we’re better than that. We just didn’t do a good enough job from the foul line, which hurt us.”

The win puts Allentown Central Catholic into the district final for the fifth straight season, giving it a chance for not only a district three-peat, but also a fourth championship in five years.

Central Catholic wrapped up a bid to the PIAA tournament with the win, as did Palmerton, which beat North Schuylkill 47-39 in overtime in the other semifinal game. The Vikettes and Bombers will meet Saturday at Easton Middle School. All is not lost for Northwestern, which will look to grab the third state playoff spot from the district when the Tigers face North Schuylkill Saturday afternoon at Pleasant Valley High School in what will be a rematch of last year’s 4A consolation game that turned out to be the final game of the season for the Tigers.

“North Schuylkill ended our season last year, so we have another opportunity against them, and it will be a good challenge,” said Deutsch. “This is where you get to see who wants to stick around for the next step, and who is going to be packing their bags. Both teams have everything to play for, so it’s who wants to continue the winter season, and who may be looking toward the spring season.”

HIGHER AND HIGHER… A senior, Thomas scored 12 points in the loss. The performance put her at 1,540 career points, the most by any player in Northwestern basketball history, and she has currently scored a sensational 527 points this season. Thomas will have at least one more game to play, and possibly more should Northwestern reach the PIAA tournament.

ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Bubnis 0-0-0-0, Roberts 0-2-6-2, Spinosa 2-2-6-8, M. Seagreaves 4-3-4-11, Taylor 3-0-0-6, Wolf 6-10-13-24. TOTALS: 15-17-29-51.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Balliet 0-0-0-0, Bissell 2-2-3-6, Freeman 0-0-0-0, Thomas 4-4-8-12, Gober 2-0-0-4, N. Conner 8-0-2-19, M. Conner 0-0-0-0, Rinehart 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-6-13-41.

Central Catholic 15 11 6 9 10 - 51

Northwestern Lehigh 10 3 15 13 0 - 41

Three-pointers: ACC - Spinosa 2, Wolf 2. Northwestern – N. Conner 3.

Records: Northwestern (23-4); Central Catholic (14-10)