The New Castle High girls basketball team continues to roll.

The Lady ’Canes built a 23-point lead and cruised to a 74-63 nonconference win last night.

New Castle (3-0) is ranked No. 1 in the WPIAL by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“At this early stage in the year, we want to talk about playing well and doing what we need to do to win,” said first-year Lady ’Canes coach Jason Rankin. “I’m happy with having some good margins but we need more work defensively.

“We’re playing well in spurts, throwing haymakers early and knocking teams out early.”

New Castle led 48-27 at halftime and 61-38 after three periods.

Kaylynn Waters recorded a game-high 24 points, nine of which coming in the first quarter. LaShauna Brothers was next with 19 markers and 11 rebounds.

“LaShauna played a great all-around game,” Rankin said. “She wasn’t in foul trouble and that was good.

“Kaylynn scored a lot for us but she has to defend a little bit better.”

JaNia McPhatter chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds for the winners, while Christina Talbert added eight markers, eight steals and seven assists.

Kendall Hoffman led the Lady Trojans (1-2) with 18 points, while Erin DiSanti and Carah Johnson chipped in with eight markers each.

North Catholic outscored New Castle 25-13 in the final quarter to close the deficit.

The Lady ’Canes, winners of 11 straight regular season games, return to action at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at South Park in nonconference action.