Both Northwestern coach Chris Deutsch and senior Cara Thomas breathed a sigh of relief when Thomas worked her way through traffic to get what appeared to be a routine basket with 5:24 left in the third quarter to give the Tigers a 26-point lead over Bangor in the opening round of the Colonial League playoffs Friday night.

The basket put Thomas at 1,452 points for her career, ending a four-year journey to become the all-time leading scorer in Northwestern Lehigh basketball history, surpassing the 1,451 points scored by Steve Showers in 2001. It also helped the Tigers secure a 66-35 win over the Slaters and a spot in the league semifinals on Monday night.

“Yeah, I’m definitely glad it’s over,” said Thomas. “Now we can just focus on winning games from here out because that stuff is a distraction, and it takes away from what the game is all about.”

Deutsch also admitted that the pursuit for both the girls’ all-time scoring mark of 1,259 and the all-time mark of 1,452 was a distraction but credited his senior player with how she handled it.

“For her, it was never about any of the milestones or records. That’s one of the things I love about Cara, that she is unselfish and plays first and foremost for the team,” said Deutsch. “She never let any of this get to her.”

The Slaters battled from behind early, but the Tigers scored the final five points of the first quarter to take a 19-12 lead. Freshman Natalie Conner scored 10 points in the opening eight minutes, and Thomas finished the quarter with seven. Thomas also picked up two quick fouls and would sit out the entire second quarter to avoid any further foul trouble.

Fellow senior Brook Balliet picked up the slack with nine points in the second quarter, as Northwestern took advantage of 17 first half turnovers by Bangor and went on a 17-0 run to take a 38-19 halftime lead.

Thomas’ scoring record came in the midst of Northwestern putting up 16 unanswered points in the third quarter, with Conner adding another six points in that run, including a little jumper with 3:44 left to put Northwestern up by 30. When the quarter ended, the Slaters trailed 56-23. Conner led all scorers with 26 points in the game.

“We played well defensively again tonight, and our press was really aggressive and created a lot of turnovers and a lot of offense for us,” said Thomas. “We like to focus on defense, and when we do that it generates a lot of offensive chances for us.

“We know coming into the playoffs that we have a target on us because we’re favored to win the league. We still have to go out and prove ourselves and deal with the pressure. For me, I like the pressure, and I think my team can take the pressure and live up to our standards the rest of the way.”

SAVE THE DATE ... Saturday’s predicted storm moved the quarterfinal round up to Friday, and the prediction of more bad weather on Tuesday moved the semifinal round up to Monday, giving teams a quick turnaround. Deutsch was thankful that he was able to rest many of his regulars in the final quarter. “It’s good to get a playoff game under our belts and to bounce back after the loss (to Palmerton) the other night. We have the short turnaround, so I was happy that we were able to rest some players late in the game.”

KNIGHTS IN GREEN SATIN ... Northwestern downed Pen Argyl 72-33 a month ago in the regular season. The Green Knights defeated Northern Lehigh 69-62 in the other quarterfinal game and will face the Tigers at a neutral site on Monday. The place and time will be announced over the weekend.

BANGOR

Figurski 1-2-2-5, Cole 2-0-0-6, G. Hartzell 0-0-0-0, H. Hartzell 0-0-0-0, La Bar 2-4-4-8, Mariano 0-0-0-0, Klingle 0-0-0-0, Nelson 6-1-1-14, Bartosh 1-0-0-2, Mera 0-0-0-0, Timar 0-0-0-0, Scarfaro 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-7-7-35.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Balliet 4-0-0-9, Scheffler 0-0-0-0, Freeman 2-0-0-5, Thomas 4-4-5-12, Kistler 0-0-0-0, Gober 3-0-0-7, N. Conner 10-3-4-26, M. Conner 2-0-0-5, Lentz 0-0-0-0, Rinehart 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 26-7-9-66.

Bangor 12 7 4 12 - 35

Northwestern 19 19 18 10 - 66

Three-pointers: Bangor – Cole 2, Figurski, Nelson; Northwestern Lehigh – N. Conner 3, Balliet, Freeman, Gober, M. Conner

Records: Bangor (12-10; 10-9 CL), Northwestern Lehigh (21-2; 18-1 CL)