A parade of smiling Catty faces passed by the scorer’s table on their way to the postgame handshake as the Roughs’ girls basketball team snapped a 12-game skid with a 40-28 win over Kutztown Area High School.

Head coach Mark Seremula spoke about the relief in picking up the team’s first win since the second game of the year.

“It feels good; I’m so happy for them,” he said. “I think they were putting too much pressure on themselves because we thought we had a couple of winnable games (Salisbury and Saucon Valley). They relaxed and just played today.”

The Cougars held an early 5-2 lead until sophomore point guard Lexi Rushatz ran off five points in a 24-second span toward the end of the period to give the Roughs a 7-5 lead at the first break.

Catasauqua broke things open in the second quarter, outscoring Kutztown 17-10. Rushatz had a monster quarter, tallying 12 points including hitting 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Rushatz gave credit for her performance to preparation and confidence.

“I practice on the weekends,” she said. “Before the game I was shooting around and making them, so I had confidence.”

The Roughs built on their 24-15 halftime lead by putting on the clamps defensively and controlling the pace. They held Kutztown scoreless over the last 6:51 of the third quarter on the way to an 8-2 advantage in the period.

“We were trying to hold the win, so we didn’t want to force anything,” Rushatz said. “I was trying to get other people points.”

The 15-point lead allowed Seremula to distribute his playing time.

“Twelve girls played, that’s important,” he said. “Everybody contributed. A big team win, keeping everyone involved.”

Rushatz tied her varsity career-high with 20 points. Taylor Richards netted five points to go with three rebounds and four steals. Julia Lacey also chipped in with five points. Allanah George added four points to go with six rebounds. Madison Hicks was the team’s leading rebounder with seven.

Next up for the Roughs is a series of three home games. On Thursday, Palisades comes to town fighting for a berth in the District XI 4A playoff (note - 6 p.m. start time). On Friday night (6:45 p.m.), the Colonial League West leading Southern Lehigh Spartans bring their squad to Catty. On Tuesday (6 p.m.), the Roughs will have an excellent chance to add to their win total, as a one-win Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg team visits.