They had size and they had strength.

And they used it to their advantage.

And because they did, they’ll be playing for the Lady Indian Holiday Classic tournament championship tonight.

Whitehall’s height and physical play were just too much for Northern Lehigh to overcome Friday night in the opening game of the tourney as the Bulldogs eventually dropped a 48-41 decision.

The mismatch inside was apparent right from the start as the Zephyrs racked up 10 offensive rebounds in the opening quarter. Those boards led directly to 11 points as the EPC schools jumped out to a 16-9 start.

“We teach the girls to go get the basketball and we want them to be physical,” said Whitehall head coach James Middleton. “We want them to use their size to our advantage, and tonight we executed that.”

“That’s going to be our Achilles,” said Nolehi mentor Chris Heery. “We know that. And honestly, they didn’t kill us inside. They killed us outside the arc. Their first (nine) points were from behind the arc.”

Makaela Bordner hit twice from distance, while Jaylene Wilson hit once, but all three shots came because of Whitehall’s bigs getting offensive rebounds and kicking the ball out.

While the Bulldogs hung tough, using a three and inside bucket from Tegan Simms to force a 9-9 tie, the Zephyrs used a seven-point run over the final minute and a half of the frame to gain a lead they would never lose. Abigail Kneller converted a three-point play after hitting a putback, and Jade Alvarez also scored inside.

“Yes, they’re bigger than us, but we didn’t box out well,” said Heery. “We know that, and we know we can do a better job than that ... They just had a couple stretches against us.”

The margin yo-yoed between five and seven points throughout the second quarter as Northern Lehigh’s pressure defense did a good job creating turnovers, which obviously limited shots and fewer opportunities to convert off of offensive rebounds.

However, the Bulldogs could never get into a flow at their offensive end.

“Our problem was we shot poorly,” said Heery. “I know in the first half we were only 2-of 18 from the floor, not counting layups. You’re not going to win too many games shooting that.

“Our passes were also bad tonight, and we usually aren’t a bad passing team. It didn’t always develop into a turnover but there were a lot of plays that we had a wide-open person and we were too late or too high or too low and it didn’t flow into our play. It just got the ball from A to B.”

A mini 9-4 spurt — highlighted by a pair of Katelynn Barthold field goals — late in the third quarter got the Bulldogs within three, but Whitehall countered with nine unanswered points to take its largest lead at 44-32 with just under five minutes to play.

The Bulldogs did have some opportunities to battle back, but could never get any closer than the final margin of victory.

“We didn’t capitalize on some things that we did well,” said Heery about running their offense. “And then we didn’t finish the job.

“We did turn them over more than they turned us over ... We got more transition points than they did, but the rebounding killed us.”

BOARD BATTLE ... Whitehall finished with a 40-22 rebounding advantage, including 23 at the offensive end. Keona Spooner paced the winners with nine boards — four offensive, while Alvarez had eight (five offensive) and Kneller added seven (six offensive).

TOP SCORERS ... Barthold led all scorers with 18 points, while teammate and sister Dakota Barthold finished with 10. Simms chipped in nine and was the focus of Whitehall’s defense. “No. 43 (Simms) is a really good player we saw on film so we wanted to come in and take the ball out of her hands,” said Middleton. “Coming in, that was one of the things we wanted to do. Get the ball out of her hands and make everybody else beat us.”

UP AHEAD ... Whitehall will face host Lehighton in today’s title game, while Nolehi takes on East Stroudsburg South in the consolation round.

WHITEHALL

Otanez 0-0-0-0, Brown 1-0-0-2, Wilson 3-0-0-7, Donlon 0-0-0-0, Spooner 0-0-0-0, Bordner 5-2-2-15, Bynoc 3-0-0-6, Troxell 1-0-0-3, Alvarez 4-2-2-10, Kneller 2-1-5-5. TOTALS: 19-5-9-48.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Tosh 0-0-0-0, Williams 1-0-0-2, Gad 0-0-0-0, K. Barthold 8-2-2-18, Ramos 0-0-0-0, D. Barthold 4-1-4-10, Richards 0-0-0-0, Simms 4-0-0-9, Snyder 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 18-3-6-41.

Whitehall 16 10 12 10 - 48

No. Lehigh 9 12 11 9 - 41

Three-pointers: Whitehall - Bordner 3, Wilson 1, Troxell 1; Northern Lehigh - Simms 1, D. Barthold 1.

Records: Whitehall (3-6); Northern Lehigh (3-4).