The Lady Lancers turned up the defensive effort in a win over visiting Shenango in a Section 1-AA meeting.

Neshannock held the Lady Wildcats to 19 second-half points and was able to create separation after leading by only 12 points at halftime.

“We didn’t give up many easy baskets, I’m most pleased with the defensive end of the floor,” Neshannock coach Luann Grybowski said. “I thought we played well defensively, we had to hit shots to pull away.”

The Lady Lancers (9-2, 16-3) shot well from the floor, connecting on 21 of their 47 attempts and 11 of their 18 three-point shots.

“They set good screens and they found the open guy,” Luann Grybowski said. “Tayler hit hers, Madison hit hers. It was a good night.”

McHale led all scorers with 19 points and seven assists, while Tayler Grybowski totaled 15.

Samantha Seaburn paced Shenango (5-5, 11-8) with 10 points.

Neshannock’s defense flustered the Lady Wildcats’ offense, only allowing them to score double-digit points in only the final quarter.

“We had a hard time of getting entry passes in,” Shenango coach Brian Turk said. “That’s credit to their defense, they made stops and denied hard. We didn’t set good screens to get the girls open.

“Neshannock got some good looks and ran their offense cleanly. They shot lights out in the second half. They shot the ball pretty well, hats off to them. I thought we could have played a lot better.”