NEW HOPE — New Hope-Solebury’s dual threat was too much for Northern Lehigh to slow down Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the District 11/1 Class 3A girls playoff game.

The Lions used their size under the basket along with proficient outside shooting from point guard Emily Wilson to beat the Bulldogs 59-46 and advance to the semifinals.

“They worked the ball really well,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Chris Heery. “And when we would go to help down on the inside, [Wilson] was open on the kick outs. When we went man they would isolate [Ella Dudick]. We were going back and forth to different defenses, but they’re a well-coached team and a very good team.”

Dudick, a 6-foot-1 senior center, led the Lions’ front court with 12 points and nine rebounds while making six of her eight attempts from the field in the game. Along with 6-foot freshman forward Mary Tressler (10 points, 13 rebounds), New Hope-Solebury had a formidable front court that the Bulldogs didn’t have an answer for.

“Playing in the Suburban One League,” said NH-S head coach Andy Krasna, “against 6A teams, the physicality of those teams really helped us prepare us for this game. We had to play schools with 3,500 kids in them like Pennsbury and Upper Dublin. During the season it was tough because it was overwhelming at times. As the season went on we actually competed.”

The game was tight until the Lions pulled away late in the second quarter when a three from Wilson (team-high 15 points) and a basket by Dudick turned a tie game into a 27-22 lead at halftime.

New Hope-Solebury outscored NL 8-2 over the first four minutes of the second half with the Bulldogs’ only points coming from a pair of Katleynn Barthold free throws. Their first basket of the second half came from Kylee Snyder with 4:00 left in the third quarter.

The Lions built the lead to 14 points before a Tegan Simms three-pointer at the buzzer made it 45-35 heading into the final stanza.

A Wilson three-pointer early in the second half stretched the lead and allowed the Lions to slow things down and work for easy baskets over the final six minutes of the game. Their lead got to 53-37 before Northern Lehigh closed the gap to single digits in the final minutes.

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start and had to work hard to recover as they shot just 3-for-12 in the first quarter and were out-rebounded 15-7 in the first eight minutes.

“Offensively we really struggled on the boards,” said Heery. “Defensively I thought we did an OK job against [Dudick]. She had a lot of height on us. [Tressler] was also a tough inside player.

“Our outside shot that’s usually there wasn’t there tonight. It wasn’t that they were rushing their shots. They just weren’t falling. That’s part of basketball. Some nights they fall some nights they don’t.”

Barthold scored a game-high 24 points for the Bulldogs.

A FINE SEASON ENDS...The Bulldogs (16-8) season comes to an end with the loss. “This is one of the nicest group of kids I’ve ever coached,” said Heery.

RICHARDS RETURNS TO COURT...Bulldog senior Jackie Richards, whose season was derailed after a tragic house first disrupted her family’s life prior to the season, got on the court for the Bulldogs for the first time this season late in Friday’s game. Richards is one of three seniors that will graduate from the team, along with Barthold and twin sister Dekota Barthold.

MOVING ON ... New Hope-Solebury (14-9), the No. 3 seed in Class 3A, will take on No. 2 seed Schuykill Haven in Tuesday’s semifinal. The No. 2 seed Hurricanes beat No. 10 Mahanoy 49-37 in Friday’s quarterfinal round. No. 1 Notre Dame (Green Pond) and No. 4 Executive Education Academy meet in the other semifinal.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Tosh 1-0-0-3, Williams 1-0-0-2, Gad 0-0-0-0, K. Barthold 10-4-4-24, Ramos 1-0-0-2, D. Barthold 1-0-1-2, Richards 0-0-0-0, Simms 3-1-2-9, Snyder 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 19-5-7-46.

NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY

D. Wilson 0-0-2-0, Jermyn 0-0-0-0, Fennell 2-0-0-4, Elizondo 6-1-2-15, E. Wilson 6-2-2-18, Gugger 0-0-0-0, Tressler 4-2-6-10, Ducick 6-0-1-12. TOTALS: 24-5-13-59.

No. Lehigh 7 15 13 11 - 46

NH-Solebury 10 17 19 13 - 59

Three-pointers: Northern Lehigh - Simms 2, Tosh 1; New Hope-Solebury - E. Wilson 4, Elizondo 2.

Records: Northern Lehigh (16-8); New Hope-Solebury (14-9).