The Union High girls basketball team took a giant step last night.

Sisters Miranda Heaney and Marissa Heaney netted 17 points apiece to lift the Lady Scots to a 58-49 WPIAL Section 1-A home win over Cornell.

The win propels Union (4-3 section, 10-6 overall) into a tie with Aliquippa (4-3, 5-7) for third place in the section. The Lady Scots also completed a season sweep of the Lady Raiders (3-4, 5-10), who are in fifth place.

The top four teams in each section qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.

“This was a huge game that we really needed to win,” Lady Scots coach Brian Fadden said. “We played well from the beginning.”

Quigley Catholic (6-0, 9-4) paces the section and Rochester is in second (5-2, 8-7). Both teams won the first encounter against Union in the first half of section play.

The Lady Scots are gunning for their first WPIAL playoff berth since the 2008-2009 season.

Union opened the game on a 9-0 run and built a 16-6 buffer after the first period. The Lady Scots never trailed.

“I think there was a lot of excitement,” Fadden said. “Once we took control, we calmed down and played our game.

“I think the strong start helped us.”

Savannah Partridge contributed 16 points for the Lady Scots, nine came in the third quarter.

Nine of Union’s 21 field goals were from behind the arc.

“I thought we shot the ball very well,”Fadden said. “We were hitting from the outside, but we were struggling a little bit inside.”

Brittney Hines led all scorers with 19 points for Cornell and Mason DePetro chipped in with 17.