A year ago, after two Colonial League games, the Northwestern girls' basketball team saw itself sitting without a league victory.

A year later, times have changed, especially after playing the same Saucon Valley and Palmerton programs to start league play.On Tuesday night, Northwestern returned the favor and got the best of Saucon Valley, as the Tigers were able to continue the momentum gained in that lop-sided victory to come right back and score another one with a 64-19 Colonial League victory over the Blue Bombers."Palmerton lost a lot, there's no doubt about that," Northwestern coach Chris Deutsch said. "They basically graduated everybody from last year. (Leighanna) Leister and (Erika) Beers are the only girls they basically have back."I understand that, but they beat us twice last year. So there was a thing here for us to get off to a good start against them. Palmerton is a little down right now, but the longer you let a team like that in a game and believe that something can happen, anything can happen on any given night."Deutsch wanted nothing more than to see his Tigers "jump on them right from the start" and that's what his players did thanks in part to a 23-point opening quarter. It was a goal of his "to get off to a good start and put the pressure on" the Blue Bombers. And the Tigers made the Bombers try and "play catch-up" the rest of the way.Erika Thomas and Lister were the key ingredients to a Tigers' 8-0 run to start the game. Beers made a right-handed lay-up to put the Bombers on the board to end that run.After Beers' lay-up, however, it was a combination of points from five different players (Lister, Abigail Chisdak, Gabrielle Sevrain, Mikaela Koenig, and Thomas) that helped the Tigers roll off yet another run - this time 15 straight - to take a comfortable 23-2 lead after one.While it was Thomas and Lister leading the way in the first, it was two different Tigers taking over in the second quarter. This time, it was Sevrain, who finished with a team-high 12 points, and Jessica Williamson, who both finished with six points apiece in the second, to help the Tigers take a more than comfortable 38-8 lead into half.It definitely helped work in favor of Deutsch's strategy for this season."We want to be a team that when you come to scout us that you just can't stop one or two girls and that's going to be it," said Deutsch, who saw 10 of his 13 girls that played score a point or more during the game. "We got balance and that's what you want to have out there. On any given night, any of those five girls out there that start can score for us. Plus, those girls who come off the bench already know their roles. When you have that, you're set. The more you play together, the better we're going to get."While things were no different in the second half, it was just one of those nights for the Blue Bombers."What are you going to do, they're a good team," Palmerton coach Rod Strohl said. "Their seniors are very good. Their underclassmen play well with their seniors. Did I expect it to be that bad? I don't think so., but it's part of the game."So, we just said, 'Pack it in and let them shoot' and they had one of those good shooting nights. That's more power to them."Sophomore Leister finished with 10 points to lead the Bombers, while Beers added six.RIPPLE THOSE CHORDS ... Northwestern rattled off a 23-point first quarter thanks in part to hitting 10 of their 16 shots attempted (63 percent). The Tigers went on to finish the night shooting 43 percent from the floor (26-for-60), while the visiting Bombers netted only 14 percent (5-for-37) of their shots.CLASS ACT ... Chris Deutsch showed respect and cleared the benches midway through the third quarter. The Tigers held a 46-10 lead with 4:54 left in the third, but the seasoned Tigers' mentor gave his youth the chance to gain some valuable varsity minutes.PALMERTONHirochek 0-0-3-0, Shupp 0-0-0-0, Leister 2-5-7-10, Frantz 0-0-2-0, Wentz 0-0-0-0, Muniz 1-0-0-2, Beers 2-2-4-6, Goodhile 0-1-5-1. TOTALS: 5-8-21-19.NORTHWESTERNStitzel 0-0-0-0, Hambrick 0-0-0-0, Lister 4-1-1-9, Chisdak 3-2-2-8, Sevrain 6-0-0-12, Pasquale 1-0-0-3, Koenig 1-2-2-4, Williamson 4-0-0-8, Christopher 3-1-1-7, Dietrich 0-1-2-1, Thomas 2-1-2-6, Sekerak 3-0-0-6, Smith 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 64.Palmerton 2 6 7 4 - 19N'western 23 15 13 13 - 64Three-pointers: P - Leister 1; NW - Pasquale 1, Thomas 1.