Neshannock’s Madison McHale and Riverside’s Katie Stang went head-to-head in the Lady Lancers’ Section 1-AA victory.

McHale scored 36 points for the visiting Lady Lancers (3-0, 5-1), hitting six of her eight attempts from beyond the arc, while Stang tried to keep pace with 32 tallies for the Lady Panthers.

Regan Moorhouse added five points, seven boards and six steals for Neshannock, while Erin Warvell contributed seven points and four assists.

Injuries have forced McHale into the spotlight, even while dealing with foul trouble. The guard recorded two fouls in the first quarter and fouled out of the game with three minutes left in the game, but was still able to post game-changing numbers.

“She doesn’t even have a choice with Tayler (Grybowski) and Stephanie (Paras) out,” Neshannock coach Luann Grybowski said. “She hit a lot of threes tonight but I played her in the post a little bit too. She hit some key shots and it was just great to get out of there with a win. The kids played hard, we were down 18-8 early but we kept chipping away.”

Riverside trailed but, after McHale was disqualified, the Lady Panthers (3-1, 6-1) made a comeback thanks to Neshannock going 1 of 12 from the free-throw line after its star exited the game.

“It was frustrating but a win’s a win,” Grybowski said. “Even as bad as we shot and when your best player fouls out, you usually lose those games.

“They played hard and played through a lot of adversity.”