The Bethlehem Catholic High School girls basketball team’s Tuesday night didn’t start off great as Emmaus scored 15 of the first 17 points of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinal at the PPL Center in Allentown.

But the second-seeded Golden Hawks picked up their play on defense and completely turned things around after halftime to earn a 63-55 victory over the third-seeded Green Hornets.

Bethlehem Catholic will play top-seeded Easton in the EPC title game at 6 p.m. Thursday at the PPL Center. The Red Rovers defeated fourth-seeded Parkland 55-50 in Tuesday night’s second semifinal.

Bethlehem Catholic outscored Emmaus 18-6 in the third quarter to erase an eight-point halftime deficit.

Senior guard Aliyah Brame hit a corner 3-pointer 14 seconds into the third quarter to trim the Green Hornets’ advantage to 35-30. Freshman forward Ayva Radande scored off a loose ball and then hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one point with 6:12 left in the third quarter.

Following two free throws by DeVita with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter to increase the Emmaus lead to 37-34, Lewis recorded a putback with 4:05 on the clock and then senior guard Kendall Nickischer added her own putback with 2:47 remaining in the the third to make it 38-37 and give the Golden Hawks their first lead of the game.

A 3-pointer by freshman guard Kamryn Gallis increased Bethlehem Catholic’s lead to 43-39 with 1:27 left in the third quarter. Following a pair of free throws by Emmaus senior guard Olive Whitney with 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter that cut the Golden Hawks’ advantage to two points, Bethlehem Catholic went on an 8-0 run and made it a 51-41 lead with 6:11 remaining in the fourth quarter when Gallis hit a pair of foul shots.

Emmaus answered with its own 8-0 run and trimmed the Golden Hawks’ advantage to 51-49 with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Whitney. Bethlehem Catholic responded with 3-pointers 55 seconds apart by Gallis and senior guard Aliyah Brame. The Golden Hawks senior’s 3-pointer increased the lead to 57-49 with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter.

Following a 3-pointer by DeVita with 1:31 remaining in regulation cut Bethlehem Catholic’s edge to 57-52, Nickischer scored six consecutive points for the Golden Hawks. The senior guard gathered a loose ball and scored and then hit four free throws to make it a 11-point lead with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Nickischer connected on six of seven free throws on the night and scored a team-high 13 points.

Gallis tallied 11 points and Brame added 10 points for Bethlehem Catholic, which improved to 19-3 overall this season.

DeVita scored 22 points to lead Emmaus.

Whitney recorded four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points for the Green Hornets, who fell to 18-6 overall and will get ready for the District 11 Class 6A playoffs.

After Lewis scored with 7:17 left in the first quarter to give Bethlehem Catholic a 2-0 lead. Emmaus scored the next 15 points to take early control.

A 3-pointer by Whitney gave the Green Hornets a 3-2 advantage with 6:52 left in the opening quarter. A three-point play by senior guard Gabby DeVita pushed the Emmaus lead to six points with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter. DeVita turned a steal into layup to make it a 15-2 advantage for the Green Hornets with 3:38 on the clock.

The victory served as some revenge for the Golden Hawks as they lost to the Green Hornets 59-37 in last year’s EPC championship game.

This story will be updated. Check back on lehighvalleylive.com shortly for the full version.