New Castle’s Kaylynn Waters reached a milestone in a nonsection loss to Gateway on the road.

Waters, a sharpshooting senior, netted 25 points for the Lady ’Canes (3-2) to surpass the 1,000-point plateau. She has 1,009 markers, tying her for 33rd place all-time in county annals with New Castle graduate Carolyn “Bo” Slack (1981-84). Waters is just the eighth player in program history to achieve the milestone.

Waters is averaging 29.8 points a game this season. She’s coming off a torn left ACL injury suffered in the fourth game last year.

“That’s a tremendous milestone,” New Castle coach Jason Rankin said. “She’s worked hard to come back. She’s played really well to this point. I’m really proud of her, for what she’s done this year and for our program.”

New Castle is ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class AAA by the Post-Gazette and Gateway is ranked No. 3 in the district in Class AAAA.

Waters tallied 11 of her markers in the second quarter as the Lady ’Canes rallied from a 15-6 deficit to close to 30-25 at the break. She finished with seven rebounds and three steals.

“She got us going in the second quarter,” Rankin said.

The Lady Gators (4-0) punished the Lady ’Canes on the offensive glass, pulling down 17 rebounds and 30 overall.

“Rebounding is about positioning and desire,” Rankin said. “We just couldn’t come up with the rebounds to keep them from scoring.

“The second and third shots kept them afloat. They are a very big team. We just didn’t box out well. I told the girls if we had just got some more rebounds in the third quarter this game would have been closer or we’d be winning. The lack of rebounding was the key.”

The Lady ’Canes registered 26 total boards, but the damage was done by Gateway on the offensive glass.

Christina Talbert contributed nine points, eight rebounds and four steals for the Lady ’Canes.

Destiny Brown, a senior and Baylor University recruit, registered a game-best 29 points for Gateway. Brown notched 13 of her markers in the second period.

“It was like a duel against Kaylynn in the second quarter,” Rankin said. “She kind of kept Gateway going.”

Brown added eight rebounds and seven assists as well.

The Lady ’Canes were within 27-25 late in the second quarter before Brown closed the half with a 35-foot shot at the horn.

“We knew Brown would get her points,” Rankin said. “She’s an all-around player.”

New Castle was just 16 of 57 from the floor.

The Lady ’Canes scored just six points in the first quarter and four more in the fourth.