New Castle trailed by two in the third quarter, but then went on a 17-0 run to secure at least a share of the Section 2-AAA title.

Beaver came out fired up on its senior night and played the Lady ’Canes even for a while. But New Castle (10-1, 16-3) took over in the third, thanks to a change in defense and strong performances from several different players.

“It was senior night, so they were emotional,” New Castle coach Jason Rankin said. “We didn’t press as much (in the first half). We trapped a little more in the second half and I think that’s what got us going. We had some steals, got some runouts and we hit some shots. We just kept coming at them.”

Christina Talbert led the Lady ’Canes with 25 points, 13 coming in the second half, and also had nine assists. LaShauna Brothers sank 14 of her 20 in the final two quarters and grabbed four steals. Dana Perrotta added 11 points. Shelby Lloyd scored 19 to pace Beaver (4-7, 8-12).

New Castle, ranked No. 2 in the WPIAL in Class AAA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has two big games in the next four days. The first is today against Hollidaysburg (14-1), which is ranked No. 9 in the state by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, in nonsection action. Then the Lady ’Canes host Ambridge on Friday for a chance to secure an outright section title. A loss to Ambridge would mean the teams share the title.

“I feel like we’ll be battle tested once we get to the playoffs,” Rankin said. “These are games where we’re really going to need to execute well.”