Defense was key again as the visiting Lady Warriors bested Section 1-AA foe Beaver Falls.

Mohawk held the Lady Tigers (3-5, 6-9) to just 10 first-half points, with Ashley McConnell stepping up in the spotlight.

“I thought we played very well defensively in the first half,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said. “Ashley McConnell had a tough matchup and did a great job of keying on one of their top players.”

Erin Giancola paced the Lady Warriors (6-2, 12-3) with 21 points and eight rebounds. Her performance, McConnell’s defensive presence and the play of the bench helped Mohawk win its eighth game in nine contests.

“The three reasons that we won tonight, Erin finished well tonight,” O’Lare said. “McConnell played an outstanding game on defense. We got in a lot of foul trouble but our bench came in and extended the lead.

“We’ve used our bench, we haven’t had to use them much. But we had to use them with three kids on the bench in foul trouble. They came in and played very well together and gave us a boost going into the half.”