Northern Lehigh is going to see its fair share of odd and — what they call in the basketball world “junk” — defenses this season.

That’s because the Bulldogs boast one of the best scorers in the Times News area in Jada Saeger.

But on Saturday afternoon against Salisbury, the Bulldogs turned the Falcons’ junk into their treasure. It was Saeger’s supporting cast that came through early for Northern Lehigh, using a big first half to take down Salisbury 52-33.

The Falcons came out early in a triangle and two, but kept both players on Saeger in the half court. They held the senior scoreless for most of the quarter, but it opened up the floor for other scoring opportunities, and the Bulldogs offense capitalized.

Lauren Hoffman and Emma Niebell each had four points in the first quarter, and Saeger finally got on the board at the end of the period when she stole a Falcons pass at halfcourt, tip-toed the sideline and drove in for a deuce as time expired in the frame. Her late two gave the Bulldogs a seven-point lead after one.

“We had some girls step up there in the first quarter, and really the entire game,” said Bulldogs head coach Ken Shankweiler. “We have some girls that can score. This win was really a total team win.

“I think the key was ... our defense really created our offense. We were able to get up and down the floor and score in transition, but the key early was our other girls stepping up for us.”

Northern Lehigh’s defense was huge, especially in the second quarter when they forced six Salisbury turnovers to go on a 20-7 run. Because the Bulldogs were able to get out in transition so much, the Falcons couldn’t set up their halfcourt defense, opening up the floor more for Saeger, who scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the stanza.

A Saeger triple got her started in the second. Her big shot was important not only for the Bulldogs, but also for her as it put the senior over the 1,000-point mark for her career.

“This was a good win, great to get our first win, everybody was really on their game today. We moved the ball well, and we were able to force some turnovers,” said Saeger. “Today has just been great. It feels great to score 1,000 points, I was actually nervous to do it at home, because I was worried I was going to cry, but I didn’t. It was so cool to have everyone come out and support me and then on top of it, the most important thing was we got the win.”

Salisbury had its best quarter of the game in the third, outscoring the Bulldogs 11-6, but after a 20-point Northern Lehigh lead at the half, the Falcons just dug themselves too deep of a hole.

The Bulldogs bounced back with a 14-point fourth, coming away with a 19-point Colonial League victory.

LEADERS ... Helping out Saeger was Niebell with 10 points and Hoffman with nine. Madison Seier also chipped in with eight. For Salisbury, Madison Bettucio scored a team-high 11 points.

SALISBURY

Wittman 1-0-0-3, Mohry 1-0-0-2, Holben 1-0-0-2, Kubinsky 1-0-1-2, Koutch 2-1-2-5, Rauch 2-0-0-4, Mizgerd 0-2-2-2, Rutt 0-2-2-0, Bettuccio 4-3-5-11. TOTALS: 12-8-12-33.

NO. LEHIGH

Guelcher 1-0-0-2, Hoffman 3-3-6-9, Saeger 9-4-5–23, Shupp 0-0-0-0, Seier 4-0-0-8, Niebell 4-2-2–0. TOTALS: 21-9-13-52.

Salisbury 5 7 11 10 - 33

No. Lehigh 12 20 6 14 - 52

Three-pointers: No. Lehigh - Saeger 1; Salisbury - Wittman 1.