The Neshannock High girls basketball team crossed another item off its list of goals Saturday.

The Lady Lancers raced to a 17-point lead after one period and rolled to a 74-37 WPIAL Section 2-AA home win over Shenango. The victory clinched at least a share of the section championship for Neshannock, the program’s first since the 2005-2006 season. The Lady Lancers already had a district playoff spot in the bag a couple of weeks back.

“I think it’s great,” Lady Lancers coach Luann Grybowski said. “That hasn’t happened for a while and that’s been our goal all along, to get to that point; to gain some respect and to keep this program moving in the right direction.”

Neshannock (9-1 section, 19-1 overall) held a 22-5 lead after the opening quarter and pushed it to 40-20 at halftime.

“We had a great first quarter,” Grybowski said. “We let up a little bit in the second quarter. I wasn’t happy with the second quarter.

“Overall, I was pleased. This is a tough time of the year. The kids are getting to the point where they are losing their legs.”

Lady Wildcats coach Brian Turk noted the impact of the slow start for his team.

“We just didn’t show up to play it seemed at times,” he said. “We missed too many shots early.

“They played great defense. We just didn’t get off to a good start and it led to four bad periods because of it.”

Madison McHale paced the Lady Lancers with 27 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. She scored 10 of her points in the first quarter.

Tayler Grybowski, the coach’s daughter followed with 19 markers, 10 boards and five assists. Cassidy Burrelli chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds for the winners. Seven of her points came in the first quarter.

Neshannock was 28 of 52 from the field, including 23 assists. Erin Warvell handed out seven assists.

“I’m really happy with the shooting,” Luann Grybowski said. “We had a lot of high-percentage shots and that helps.

“A lot of kids cut to the basket, making good, hard cuts. That’s the beauty of it. When you have that many assists, you can’t ask for much more than that. Everybody passed the ball well. The girls were very unselfish and that’s what it takes.”

The Lady Lancers turned the ball over just eight times.

“We met our goal in turnovers for the game, too,” Luann Grybowski said. “That was one of our lowest amount of turnovers for a game this season.”

Samantha Seaburn supplied team highs in points (9) and rebounds (9) for the Lady Wildcats. Angelina Sibeto was next with eight markers and three steals.

Shenango (6-4, 11-8) remains on the verge of clinching the section’s fourth and final playoff bid despite the loss. The Lady Wildcats can advance by either winning one of their remaining two games (at Laurel today or home to Mohawk on Friday), or with a Mohawk victory over Riverside today. The fifth-place Lady Panthers (5-5, 8-9) host New Brighton (0-11, 1-16 ) on Thursday.

“Our goal is to win out and beat two good teams,” Turk said. “It’d be nice to get wins over two credible teams.”