Defense and Asia Borders were all that the Ellwood City Lincoln girls basketball team needed last night.

The Lady Wolverines earned a hard-fought road victory in a nonsection defensive struggle at Shenango, 36-31.

“We needed this win, and our defense stepped up and got us some steals that we converted into points,” Ellwood coach Jolene Servick said. “We still have not put four solid quarters together, but we needed this win heading into a big section game against New Castle.”

Borders couldn’t be contained, scoring 16 points and grabbing 17 rebounds for the winners.

“We held her in check in the first and third quarters,” Lady Wildcats coach Brian Turk said. “She got her fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line. That closed out the game.”

The defensive battle began early, as the first quarter ended with the Lady Wolverines ahead 6-4.

“It was 4-0 with about three minutes in the first,” Turk said. “Both teams struggled to put the ball in the hoop. We just couldn’t find the hoop there in the last two periods. We shot 9 of 15 from the free-throw line. If we make a few more of those, we might win the game.”

Rebounds were critical to the game’s outcome. Borders and teammate Angela McCowin contributed 27 boards to the Lady Wolverines 38-28 advantage.

“When you give second and third tries to those girls, they’re going to get the ball to the hole,” Turk said.

Shenango (6-6) has dropped two straight decisions and will look to right itself in a crucial Section 2-AA battle at 7:30 tonight at Laurel.

“I think we might have struggled to get things going because it was a nonsection game,” Turk said. “Not to take anything away from Ellwood, but I think some of our girls were looking forward to the game at Laurel.”

Samantha Seaburn led the Lady Wildcats with 10 points. Jenna Petrucci and Victoria Weinschenk each had six.

Ellwood City (6-6) jumped back to the .500 mark after falling below it for the first time this season in a loss to Central Valley. The Lady Wolverines will host Section 2-AAA rival New Castle at 7:30 tonight.

“We cut down on our turnovers, but missed too many layups tonight. That can't happen when we play teams in our section,” Servick said. “We started out slow, then had a great second quarter. Things got sloppy again in the third and fourth quarters. We need consistency, but I'm proud of my girls. They all played aggressive and stepped up, which is what I asked them to do.”