A late rally by the Lady 'Canes fell short in a 54-46 nonsection home loss to the Lady Golden Rams.

New Castle (3-9) trailed 43-26 after three periods before outscoring Highlands 20-11 in the final frame. The Lady 'Canes got no closer than the final margin though.

"I challenged them at halftime," said first-year New Castle coach Maria Joseph. "I told them we have to put together a better second half.

"We had a surge in the fourth quarter and we kept battling. We had some defensive stops that we weren't getting earlier in the game. I thought our intensity picked up, especially on the defensive end. But we have to put that together for four quarters."

Lindsay Frabotta and Kayla Harvey paced the Lady 'Canes with 15 points apiece. Harvey pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds as well.

"Harvey and Frabotta were in and out of the lineup in the second half with foul trouble," Joseph said. "They played hard and kept working hard when they were in.

"They got a lot of nice looks at the hoop, especially in the fourth. We crawled back into it. They were both very aggressive around the hoop and getting it to the rim."

Nicole Boda recorded a game-high 22 points for the Lady Golden Rams (8-4).

New Castle (2-4 section) hosts section foe Ellwood City Lincoln (2-4, 4-8) at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the final game of the first half of league play. Both teams are a game back of Central Valley in the race for the fourth and final playoff berth out of the section. Each squad lost by 10 markers to the Lady Warriors in the first meeting.

"We're getting better with different aspects of the game," Joseph said. "We just have to put it all together. Once we do we'll be fine.

"Each day we're getting a little bit better. We're just going to keep pushing and get better with each minute we play."