The wait is over for one Catasauqua basketball team, while it continues for another.

Catasauqua’s boys’ basketball team defeated host Palisades, 57-44, Tuesday night, while the girls’ team suffered a 42-16 home defeat to the Pirates.

Both teams began the night with 0-3 records.

The boys’ team (1-3) broke open a tight, 27-22 game in their favor at halftime during the third quarter when they went on a 14-5 run and took a commanding 41-27 advantage.

From there, the Rough Riders saw their 17-point lead dwindle down to nine with just over one minute remaining, but the Pirates couldn’t close the gap.

Senior Derek Troxell, who paced the Roughies with 17 of his game-high 23 points after halftime, was both relieved and optimistic.

“This feels really good especially after the first tough, three games,” said Troxell. “It was kind of a home game for us because our bench was into it. We really got into it in the second half and that was the difference

“We started off slow tonight, but in the third quarter, we got it going. We just have to work on finishing and hopefully, we can continue to do that.”

Head coach Eric Snyder saw plenty of positives, but he still keeps the big picture in mind.

One of those positives was freshman Nasir McLean, who had a career-high 13 points.

“Nasir doesn’t force the issue,” said Snyder. For a freshman, he is calm, cool, and collective. We know he can shoot, but he is a freshman and hesitant. If he can start hitting and shooting with confidence, that will open up some things.

“We played Bangor tough, Southern Lehigh tough, and we came in here and got a win. We got to get more on offense and dig in more on defense. If we can keep scores around 50, we have a shot to win.”

Girls’ head coach Mark Seremula watched his team play Palisades with standout center Trinity Williams close early, but the Roughs (0-4) couldn’t keep pace. Williams had a game-high 19 points.

“We were down 9-8, and then it all went down hill,” he said. “We just can’t score. They pressured us on the wings, and pushed and forced us where they wanted us to go.

“We have to be able to force the defense and get stronger with the basketball.”

Senior guard Lexi Rushatz scored all of her team-high 10 points in the opening half, as she accounted for all but two of the Roughies’ first-half total.

Seremula knows his team is on the horizon.

“We gave up 14 points in the second half, but we couldn’t make it close,” he added. “We are giving up points in the 40s, but we have to get better offensively. We’re going into our fifth game, and we’re still making the same mistakes.

“We’re going to have growing pains because we are a young team, but we have to learn from it.”