By Joe Simon
New Castle News

New Castle High girls basketball coach Jason Rankin isn’t one to call many timeouts.

But as he saw Ellwood City Lincoln trimming the Lady ’Canes’ lead early in the second quarter last night, he knew his girls needed to wake up.

“I just said, ‘We have to play all 32 minutes,’ ” Rankin said of his timeout talk. “All it takes is a four-minute swing, and a six-point lead can go to 22.”

His girls got the message, going on a 21-4 run to close out the first half and giving New Castle a lead it never relinquished in a 69-35 WPIAL Section 2-AAA win.

New Castle (1-0 section, 3-1 overall) led 21-16 early in the second quarter before its big rally gave the Lady ’Canes a 42-19 halftime edge. Kaylynn Waters led the charge, scoring 11 of her game-high 27 in the second period.

“That’s also when we really stepped up the pressure on defense,” Rankin said. “We did more actual trapping in the second quarter.”

Christina Talbert nearly recorded a triple-double, scoring 14 points to go along with 11 rebounds and eight assists. Kelsey Scott added nine points and a team-best 12 rebounds.

Ellwood City Lincoln (0-1, 2-2) used a balanced offensive attack to stay in striking distance in the first half. No one reached double figures, but 10 different players scored, led by Kara Sainato’s seven points and three assists. The Lady Wolverines’ downfall was 33 turnovers, many of which came from New Castle’s press.

“The girls were ready off the bat,” Ellwood City coach Jolene Servick said. “We played them hard in the first quarter, and it went a little downhill in the second and third, but it was good to play a team like that. The girls were aggressive and played hard throughout the game. We’ve just got to take care of the ball and stay out of foul trouble. Asia (Borders) was on the bench for most of the game. That really hurt us.”