Defense delivered last night for the Mohawk High girls basketball team.

The Lady Warriors held New Brighton to five first-half points and pulled away for a 40-20 WPIAL Section 2-AA road win.

“The nice thing when you can talk about defense is you can talk about everybody,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said. “It’s not just one player. When you’re holding a team to 20 points, that means everyone is playing well defensively.”

The Lady Warriors rolled to a 23-5 halftime advantage, holding the Lady Lions to two points in the first quarter and three more in the second period.

“I thought we hit some shots early to get us going,” O’Lare said. “We had some good defensive possessions, too. We just grinded away. There wasn’t much to complain about defensively.”

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Mohawk (4-0 section, 8-4 overall) and kept its half-game lead over second-place Beaver Falls (4-1, 6-6). The Lady Warriors lost to Seneca Valley (Class AAAA), Mars (Class AAA) and Deer Lakes during that stretch. The Lady Lancers are 11-0 in Class AA.

“We needed that win after those three tough losses,” O’Lare said. “It’s nice to get that section win.

“To lose three in a row and bounce back like we did is a credit to our girls.”

Shelby Brown led all scorers with 13 points for Mohawk. Paige Ruby was next with 10 markers and six rebounds.

Lucia Fee pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds for the Lady Warriors, who outrebounded the hosts, 37-13. Devon Giancola followed with six boards.

Katelyn Hopkins tallied eight points for New Brighton.