By Patrick E. Litowitz
New Castle News

The Mohawk High girls withstood a fierce fourth-quarter rally to stop Mercer in last night’s Mohawk Tipoff Tournament.

The Lady Warriors’ 46-42 victory was the showcase season-opening contest that featured six teams. In earlier games, Shenango topped Wilmington, 46-39, and Union toppled Northgate, 42-26.

The Lady Warriors raced to a 32-17 halftime advantage thanks to Devon Giancola’s 12 points and Shelby’s Brown’s nine.

The Lady Mustangs unnerved the hosts as the second half unfolded.

“Mercer gets after you, and I hope we were doing the same,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said. “We didn’t do a great job in the second half of putting the ball into the basket.”

In the last five minutes of the third quarter, the Lady Warriors committed five fouls. Meanwhile, Lexie Arkwright was engineering Mercer’s comeback plans.

Arkwright scored 14 of her 19 game-high points in the second half. She brought the Lady Mustangs to within four points at 44-39 when she broke clean for a layup with less than two minutes left.

“That fourth quarter was a work in process just trying to finish it out,” O’Lare said. “With a lot of seniors on this team we should be comfortable late in games.”

Fouled with a 1:09 left, Brown swished two free throws to put Mohawk ahead 46-39. Meghan McKinney followed with a 3-pointer to narrow Mohawk’s lead to 46-42.

Giancola finished the game with 17 points and Brown poured in 14. Katie Hoover pulled in 15 rebounds to go with eight points.

The tournament resumes today with Union and Mercer facing off at 2 p.m., followed by Shenango and Northgate at 4 p.m. The host Lady Warriors meet Wilmington at 6.

(Email: plitowitz@ncnewsonline.com)