Kaylynn Waters’ 31 points helped propel the Lady ’Canes to the championship of their own tipoff tournament.

New Castle (2-0) held a 21-12 lead after the first and went up, 39-25, at halftime. Both teams battled foul trouble as the squads combined to shoot 78 free throws.

“It was like an old Section 3-AAAA battle. It was a physical game and there was a lot of contact. The game was kind of ugly,” New Castle coach Jason Rankin said. “That’s a big win for us; that’s a quality team. We came out and played pretty well.”

The Lady ’Canes forced the Lady Titans, listed as one of the WPIAL’s top Class AAAA teams, into 33 turnovers.

“We said when we had the tournament set, there are three other good teams. A win against any of them would be a good one,” Rankin said. “Shaler came in with a lot of accolades and they’ve seen us before. We did what we had to do. It was a quality win and we have to keep moving along.”

Ja’Nia McPhatter added 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Christina Talbert had 13 points and six assists. Both were named to the all-tournament team. LaShauna Brothers had five points and nine rebounds. Dana Perrotta had six points, while Waters added 10 rebounds.