North Schuylkill's Mya Conti, middle, has her shot blocked by Schuylkill Haven's Mckenna Runkle as Haven's Audrey Hutchinson closes in (Photo by Kelly Wiley).

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — It was Audrey Hutchinson’s night, from start to finish.

Schuylkill Haven’s only senior, Hutchinson was honored prior to Thursday’s Schuylkill League Division I first-place showdown with North Schuylkill as part of Senior Night at the CACL Center.

There were cupcakes, balloons … even a gigantic flat head photo of Hutchinson that her family held up in the bleachers during the game.

The standout guard then made it a night to remember with a stellar fourth-quarter performance, scoring 12 of her game-high 20 points in the final frame to lead the Hurricanes to a 47-37 victory over the Spartans.

The victory clinches a share of the Division I title for the Hurricanes (16-4, 11-1 D-I), who have never won a Schuylkill League girls’ basketball divisional title.

The defending league champion, Haven can clinch the crown and a first-round bye in the Schuylkill League playoffs with one more league win — either Saturday against Panther Valley or Monday at Pine Grove.

“I was very nervous,” Hutchinson said. “Senior Night, it’s a big night. All eyes on me, being the only senior. I just had to go out there and try my best. That’s what I did.”

After trailing 32-31 midway through the fourth quarter, Schuylkill Haven closed the game on a 16-5 run.

Mckenna Runkle, who finished with 10 points, started the flurry with a short jumper. Hutchinson followed with a driving runner in the lane, Ava Terefencko converted a layup and Runkle hit a free throw. The quick 7-0 run gave Haven a 38-32 lead with 1:53 left.

Monica Selgrade sliced the deficit to 38-34 with 1:22 left with a driving bucket before Hutchinson made baskets on back-to-back possessions. Instead of pulling the ball out and trying to work time off the clock, Hutchinson was aggressive, taking the ball to the basket and scoring points.

“I don’t like when we feel comfortable,” Hutchinson said. “I feel like comfortable … you can’t get that way, especially in a high-stakes basketball game like this. Just keeping driving, either looking for the foul or a basket. Growing that lead, then we can get back on defense, still playing hard, but having that reassurance.”

The buckets gave the Hurricanes a 42-35 lead with 51.5 seconds left. Haven then iced it from the foul line, as Runkle hit 1-of-2 and Hutchinson converted 4-of-4.

Terefencko finished with 11 points for Schuylkill Haven, which has won eight straight. Kylie Siket, who was battling the flu, had all six of her points in the first half to help the Hurricanes take a 16-15 lead into intermission.

“We kept telling them to go hard, attack the basket, draw the foul,” Schuylkill Haven coach Tony Sanders said. “Hutchinson played a heck of a game tonight. She was our energy in the fourth quarter.

“Kylie battled through her sickness tonight and did a good job of taking care of the ball and knocking down a couple of shots for us.”

It was the second loss in as many nights for North Schuylkill, which shot 8-for-30 and committed 11 turnovers in the second half. Many of those missed shots were layups or shots from in close, especially when the game was tight in the fourth quarter.

Selgrade led North Schuylkill with 16 points, while Mya Conti had nine.

The Spartans (12-6, 10-3) have clinched a berth in the Schuylkill League playoffs but could fall to the third seed with a loss Monday against Tamaqua. The Blue Raiders (14-5, 9-3) clinched a playoff spot with a 45-35 victory over Panther Valley on Thursday.

“Right now we’re struggling to put the ball in the hole,” North Schuylkill coach Rich Wetzel said. “We’re getting way too many good looks and opportunities and right now we just can’t put it in there.

“The way we play, we’re using double the energy on the defensive end because we can’t put the ball in the hole. We’re chasing them instead of them chasing us.

“The bottom line is we can’t be getting 20-plus more shots a game and turning a team over 20-30 times and not coming out on the winning end. We’ll fix it.”

Game Summary

NORTH SCHUYLKILL (37) — Selgrade 7 2-4 16, Conti 3 3-4 9, Capone 2 2-2 7, Ja. Stitzer 0 0-0 0, Digris 1 0-0 3, Urbanowicz 1 0-0 2, Gawrylik 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 7-10 37.

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN (47) — Hutchinson 6 8-8 20, Siket 2 1-2 6, Runkle 4 2-7 10, Terefencko 5 0-2 11, Strenkoski 0 0-0 0, Wade 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 11-19 47.

3-point FGs: Capone, Digris, Siket, Terefencko

Officials: Reed, Wojciechowsky, Shober

JV Score: No game