Through the team's first nine games, the Salisbury girls' basketball team didn't know what losing felt like.

The biggest question following Friday's Colonial League contest against Notre Dame (Green Pond) is how will the Falcons respond after that first loss.

Thanks in large part to a quick start that saw the Crusaders lead 15-8 after the first quarter, as well as an injury to Salisbury's top ball-handler in Lindsay Bauer, Notre Dame handed the Falcons their first loss of the season with a 53-42 victory.

"Obviously without Lindsay we're a guard short to start with," said Salisbury head coach Joe Mladosich. "Without her, it's hard to control the tempo the way we want to, even though we didn't play very well in the beginning. Notre Dame played with a lot of energy. They got all of the loose balls.

"We'll see how we come back in practice. We play Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday next week."

Bauer, who is Salisbury's second-leading scorer, assisted on the first three field goals of the game. But just over a minute into the second quarter, she was forced to the sidelines and did not return.

Bauer caught an elbow to her jaw, an injury that would force her to miss the remaining 24:51 of game time.

"She is our point guard, so that hurts," Mladosich said. "She plays underneath very well. She is long and lanky. We can move her up to play at the top, so we kind of lose two positions when we lose her."

Following Bauer's exit, the Crusaders pushed their lead to 24-10 in the second quarter before taking a 10-point lead into halftime. Notre Dame's Gabby Altmire had seven of her career-high 24 in that second period.

The Falcons, meanwhile, struggled with the Crusaders' full court pressure all night. With the Falcons' guard rotation playing out of position for much of the game, the team shot 7-for-22 from the field and turned the ball over 10 times in the first half. Rebounding was also a big factor, as the Crusaders held a 33-26 advantage in that category.

"They are guard loaded," Mladosich said, "so when they get ahead, it's hard for us to match that. Losing Lindsay hurt. It changes the way that we have to play."

The Falcons, however, wouldn't go away without a fight after the break.

Caylin Meikrantz assisted on a Meagan Eripret basket that got Salisbury to within six points at 28-22. Jenna Keet then set up Holly Szita on an out-of-bounds play, and her field goal made it a four-point game, the closest it had been since the Crusaders led 9-6 with 3:25 to play in the first.

But the Crusaders responded. Savannah Lynch first hit a 3-pointer to stop a Falcon 4-0 spurt, and Altmire scored the next six points for the Crusaders to take a 37-24 lead into the fourth.

"To me, it looked like we participated in a game and not competed," Mladosich said. "At certain times we did. We had some energy in the second half. I thought at the end of the game we played hard."

The Falcons were never able to get the Crusaders' lead under double digits in the final eight minutes.

Eripret matched Altmire's 24, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to lead all scorers. She also had 11 rebounds and two blocks. Szita recorded eight points for the Falcons.

Julie Romich had 13 points and six rebounds for the Crusaders.

Results from Tuesday's game at Northwestern were not available at time of press. The Falcons travel to Allen on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. They host Bangor two days later at 1:15 p.m.