The Mohawk High girls basketball team opened section play on a positive note last night.

Shelby Brown scored 20 points as the Lady Warriors’ defense was too much for visiting WPIAL Section 2-AA rival Neshannock, 56-36.

“She’s off to a really good start,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said of Brown. “She gets her points in a variety of ways. She can do multiple things and that puts pressure on the defense.”

Mohawk (1-0 section, 3-1 overall) controlled the second quarter, allowing just two points to the Lady Lancers (0-1, 1-3).

“I thought we played extremely well defensively, especially in the first three quarters, to limit them to 20.” O’Lare said. “That second quarter was a huge difference in the game.”

Mohawk guard Devon Giancola was second on the team with 13 points including one 3-pointer. Paige Ruby was next with 10 points.

“Devon played well tonight. She got her points in a lot of different ways, too,” O’Lare said. “It was nice to see her open her game up a little bit.”

The second quarter puzzled Neshannock coach Luann Grybowski.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “We played well in the first quarter. The second quarter, I can’t put my finger on it. The third and fourth quarters were pretty even. We just didn’t shoot the ball well and gave up some easy baskets.”

Alexandra Fischer led the Lady Lancers with 10 points and shot 3 of 6 from the foul line. Erin Warvell was next with seven points.

The game saw the return of Madison McHale for Neshannock after transferring back to the school. The Lady Lancers star paced the team with 17.9 points a game a season ago with 36 3-pointers before transferring to Minnesota. She had five points on the night.