With the recent success Salisbury has had against Dieruff, there was optimism for the Lady Falcons as they tipped off their season on Friday night.

But those hopes were quickly dismissed on the Huskies’ home court.

After falling into a 10-7 hole early in the second quarter, Dieruff closed the half on a 17-3 spurt to hold a commanding 24-13 advantage at intermission. Salisbury (0-1) got to within seven points early in the third, but the Huskies’ scoring avalanche couldn’t be stopped in their 50-40 victory at Dieruff High School.

The Huskies led by as many as 21 points midway in the fourth quarter before Salisbury tacked on a couple of points late.

“As we said to them in there, if you have a bad night shooting, that’s it,” Mladosich said. “But we didn’t rebound the ball at all. They got seven rebounds off of foul shots. That’s just simple-they’re right there, you have to box them out. We have to physically get tougher inside.

“I think Dieruff played very well. They have some nice players. We cut it to seven in the second half there. We’ll get better. It will take some work.”

The Lady Falcons were at a disadvantage even before the opening tip sailed in the air. Two of their regular starters were not available against the Huskies. Kristen Bucchin sat out due to injury, while Caylin Meikrantz missed the game due to other obligations.

The absence of Bucchin and Meikrantz threw a kink in Mladosich’s rotation plans, forcing him to start two freshmen in guard Rylee Donaldson and forward Caitlin Scialla against the Huskies.

“We have to get everybody at practice one day,” Mladosich said. “We’ve been to the point where we don’t have our whole team there. Tomorrow [Saturday against Blue Mountain] we’ll play minus three starters. That’s a tough situation.

“We have to worry about what we have, not about what we don’t have.”

Mladosich said his team shot just 10-for-47 from the field.

One of the main reasons for that low shooting number is the lack of varsity experience. Other than guard Lindsay Bauer and forward Sydney Utesch, the rest of Friday’s line up had little or no varsity experience.

Bauer scored a game-high 24 points and was responsible for seven of those 10 field goals. Paige Nicholas and Kelly Gardus combined for the other three Lady Falcon buckets, all coming in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.

Coming into the year, Mladosich understood finding a second and third option to Bauer would be vital. He’s hoping the return of Bucchin and Meikrantz provides an answer. He also doesn’t want the rest of the Falcons to be hesitant about shooting when the opportunity presents itself.

“Some other people that are wide open have got to shoot,” Mladosich said. “But two of them are freshmen.”

Bauer scored 13 of Salisbury’s 22 in Saturday’s game against Blue Mountain, which the Eagles won 41-22.

While both teams got off to slow starts in the first quarter on Friday-with Salisbury holding a 6-5 advantage after eight minutes-Dieruff began to use its size as a cornerstone of its breakaway in the third and fourth quarters. Katie Alvarez (18 points) and Vanessa Slater (10) continued to gain solid position on the post blocks and have success against the Lady Falcons’ inexperienced frontcourt.

“I think when they do have some size and they’re athletic, you really have to box them out,” Mladosich said. “And we didn’t. We didn’t make any contact. We block shots, but we don’t get the ball. You have to get those things.”

“We have to front them. It’s hard work to get in front of them. That’s my point, our effort has to get better.”

Mladosich also admitted that Dieruff’s tempo up and down the floor played a large part in its 19-point second quarter and 14-point third quarter.

“We tried to press a little bit and pick up the pace because we were so lethargic,” Mladosich said. “But when they have some athletes that beat you down the court, that happens. We’ll get better.”

Cheri Lacey added 12 points for the Huskes. Kelly Gardus rounded out Salisbury’s scorers with five.