Defense has been the backbone of Northwestern Lehigh’s success in the opening two rounds of the Colonial League girls basketball playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, the Tigers’ defense forced one turnover after another and turned many of those turnovers into points. They did the same thing Monday night in a lopsided 75-38 win over Pen Argyl in the semifinals.

In its last two games, Northwestern has:

• Been the recipient of a combined 63 turnovers by its opponents.

• Have put up 141 points.

• Have an average margin of victory of 34 points in the two wins.

In the win over the Green Knights on Monday, Northwestern took advantage of 19 first-quarter turnovers and coasted to a 28-7 lead after the first quarter, spurred on by 11 points in the quarter by senior Cara Thomas.

Freshman Natalie Conner put up 15 points in the second quarter, hitting three three-pointers as the Lady Tigers put the game into running clock mode when Conner hit a little jumper with 3:46 left in the half to give Northwestern a 49-19 lead that it pushed to 60-22 at halftime.

A key for Northwestern was being able to control Julia Vargo, who scored 36 points in the Knights’ quarterfinal win against Northern Lehigh. In relative terms, the Tigers did contain the senior guard who scored 20 in the loss, which was good enough to severely hamper the Pen Argyl offense.

“We thought coming in that if we could keep her somewhere in the 15- to 20-point range we would be in good shape,” said coach Chris Deutsch. “You basically have two choices against her; either try to shut down the rest of the team, or shut down Vargo. We knew she was going to score some points, but we couldn’t let her take over the game.”

Another mission for Northwestern was to keep tabs on Ashlyn Oessenick to prevent her from hitting three-pointers, and they were able to force her inside and limit her three-point opportunities while holding her to just two points.

“We always focus on our defense, and are able to get a lot of points off of them (turnovers) in transition. We work hard on our defense, and it has paid off for us,” said Conner.

On the offensive end, Emma Freeman hit four of Northwestern’s eight three-pointers, with Conner getting three, and Thomas one late in the first quarter. Conner led all scorers with 23 points, while Thomas had 22 and Freeman scored a career-high 14 points in the win.

Olivia Reinhart was a catalyst early on for the Tigers, as she commanded the boards and was able to get passes through defenders and into the hands of teammates. Reinhart had six points in the first quarter to help get Northwestern off to a quick start.

“Olivia did a really good job for us in the paint tonight. She does a lot of things really well that don’t always get recognition for her, but if we don’t have her out there we would certainly miss (her),” said Deutsch. “Her passing was especially sharp tonight, and she is unselfish enough to get the ball to other players who are in a better position to score.”

FREEDOM ... Northwestern now travels to Freedom High School in Bethlehem for the Colonial League championship game on Friday night. The Tigers will face No. 2 seed Notre Dame of Green Pond, which knocked off Palmerton 42-25 in the other semifinal game. Northwestern will be playing for its fourth straight Colonial League championship against the Crusaders, who won the league crown in the 2019-2020 season. Pen Argyl’s season is not done, as the Green Knights have qualified for the District 11 3A tournament.

BOMBERS CRASH ... After falling to Palmerton in the season finale, Northwestern wouldn’t have minded facing them again for the league championship, but the Blue Bombers struggled against Notre Dame of Green Pond in the semis and exited the league tournament. The Tigers and Bombers could still have a postseason meeting in districts with both teams being in the 4A classification.

PEN ARGYL

Cunningham 2-2-2-6, Martini 2-0-0-4, C. Wilgus 2-0-0-4, Whitman 0-0-0-0, Vargo 6-8-10-20, Scherer 0-0-0-0, Gloth 0-0-0-0, Weaver 1-0-0-2, Oessenick 1-0-0-2, K. Wilgus 0-0-0-0, TOTALS: 14-10-12-38.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Balliet 0-1-2-1, Scheffler 0-0-0-0, Bissell 1-2-2-4, Thomas 7-7-11-22, Kistler 1-0-0-2, Gober 0-1-2-1, N. Conner 9-2-2-23, M. Conner 1-0-0-2, Zentz 0-0-0-0, Kahl 0-0-0-0, Reinhart 2-2-2-6, TOTALS: 26-15-21-75.

Pen Argyl 7 15 10 6 - 38

Northwestern Lehigh 28 32 9 6 - 75

Three-pointers: Pen Argyl – None. Northwestern – N. Conner 4, Freeman 3, Thomas 1.

Records: Pen Argyl (16-8), Northwestern (22-2)