A familiar face will be absent from the WPIAL girls basketball playoffs.

New Castle High dropped its third straight game and seventh in the last eight in a 63-42 Section 2-AAA home decision to Central Valley.

The loss eliminates the Lady ’Canes (3-7, 7-12) from playoff contention for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.

“It’s disheartening,” first-year New Castle coach Scott Dibble said of missing the playoffs. “That was one of our goals.

“We are playing in one of the toughest sections. We just didn’t have the horses to run with them all year. I feel for the seniors; it’s tough. I give them nothing but props. They did everything I asked of them. It’s just unfortunate that we’re not going to the playoffs.”

The Lady Warriors (7-2, 15-2) built a 32-15 halftime advantage and never looked back.

“They sat in a 2-3 zone and pressed us from the beginning,” Dibble said. “We did a relatively good job, but their size wears you down.

“They were getting offensive rebounds and putbacks. Size was the biggest difference for us.”

New Castle trailed 47-23 after three quarters before erupting for 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Kelsey Scott netted a team-high 17 points for the Lady ’Canes and Dana Perrotta was next with 15. Darrian Johnson followed with five.

Madi Rowan poured in a game-high 25 points for Central Valley, which is ranked No. 2 in the WPIAL in Class AAA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and bound for the postseason. Rowan is a daughter of former Beaver Falls star Ron Rowan.

Kiana Law added 17 markers for the Lady Warriors and Seairra Barrett chipped in with 12.