Northern Lehigh coach Ken Shankweiler was worried about how long his team had to wait to play its first game of the season.

“It was getting tough to keep them focused, and they were tired of hearing me holler at practices,” he said.

Shankweiler is worried no more.

The Bulldogs came out with a growl and rolled to a 53-33 Colonial League victory over Catasauqua on Thursday night.

There was plenty to like about Northern Lehigh’s opening-game win.

Start with freshman phenom Aubry Pollard, who scorched the net for 17 first-half points. After Lexi Rushatz opened the scoring with a three-pointer for Catasaqua, Pollard answered with her own three-ball. She followed with a jump shot in the lane, and then a short banker off the glass and a free throw to almost single-handedly give NL an 8-5 lead.

“Aubry is a raw freshman,” said Shankweiler, “but she does things you can’t teach like jumping out of her socks when she crashes the boards.”

Pollard added a put back and a layup to give the Bulldogs a 12-5 advantage with 1:55 to go in the first period. But the Rough Riders stormed back behind triples from Rushatz and Brownwyn Pacchioli to grab a 13-12 lead after one quarter.

From that point on, Catasaqua (0-3) had trouble with turnovers caused by a fierce trapping defense by Northern Lehigh.

“With this group, we have a lot of length and a lot of speed, which is what you need to pressure the ball and trap the ballhandler,” said Shankweiler.

The Bulldogs’ defensive effort, plus a pair of Emma Niebell three-pointers, led a surge that gave them a 32-23 lead at the break.

Northern Lehigh built on its momentum in the third quarter, outscoring Catty 16-2 in the period to take total control of the game. Niebell led the assault with seven points.

“We have a great bunch of kids, and they can all shoot threes,” said Shankweiler about the six triples his team hit in the game. “That’s definitely a big part of our offensive game planning this year.”

Pollard paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 24 points for a strong start to her high school basketball career. Niebell added 13.

Rushatz and Delaney Troxell each had eight points for Catasauqua.

BARK AND BITE ... During the third quarter, the Bulldogs smothering defense stopped the Roughies cold, holding them to 1-for-10 shooting from the floor and forcing eight turnovers.

PAINTBALL ... NL’s offense was in high gear all night long. Working the ball into the paint for high percentage shots was effective, and when Catty collapsed its defense inside, the Bulldogs kicked the ball out for uncontested three-point attempts.

CATASAUQUA

Rushatz 3-0-0-8, Troxell 4-0-0-8, Pacchioli 2-0-0-5, Emery 2-0-0-4, Becker 2-0-0-4, C. Soltis 0-4-4-4, Hawk 0-0-0-0, Weidew 0-0-0-0, Gerhard 0-0-0-0, Polanco 0-0-0-0, Carvalho 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-4-4-33.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Pollard 10-3-6-24, Niebell 5-0-0-13, Seier 2-4-5-8, Griffith 2-0-0-6, Hunsicker 1-0-0-2, Whalen 0-0-0-0, Lear 0-0-0-0, Dougherty 0-0-0-0, Peters 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-7-11-53.

Catasauqua 13 10 2 8 - 33

Northern Lehigh 12 20 16 5 - 53

Three- pointers: Catasauqua - Rushatz 2, Pacchioli 1; Northern Lehigh - Niebell 3, Griffith 2, Pollard 1.