The Lady 'Canes struggled early in dropping a 61-25 Section 2-AAA matchup to the Lady Cougars at the Ne-Ca-Hi Field House.

New Castle (4-9, 5-15) trailed 29-2 after one quarter and 40-13 at the break.

"We just have to continue to take a step forward," said first-year Lady 'Canes coach Maria Joseph. "This was obviously a step backward, but Blackhawk is a great team.

"They get after it defensively and they have girls that can shoot the ball. This wasn't the outcome that we wanted. But we'll continue to work hard."

Jaidyn Eggleston paced New Castle with 16 points.

Mady Aulbach tossed in 16 points to lead Blackhawk (12-1, 15-5), which is ranked No. 4 in the WPIAL in Class AAA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.