Basketball Recap: New Castle Comes Up Short

New Castle was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They fell 55-44 to the Eastern Hancock Royals. The result was an unpleasant reminder to the Trojans of the 66-36 defeat they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in January of 2024.

Despite the loss, New Castle saw an underclassman step up: freshman Carlee Lanzer went 5 for 11 on her way to 19 points and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Piper Arthur, who posted 12 points.

Eastern Hancock found their leader in sophomore McKenzie Koch, who almost dropped a double-double on 34 points and nine boards. Koch's evening made it 18 games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Bella Sotelo was another key player, putting up nine points and six steals.

New Castle's defeat dropped their record down to 4-12. As for Eastern Hancock, the win (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 16-2.

New Castle will welcome Greenfield-Central at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Greenfield-Central has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games. Eastern Hancock has already played their next match (against Waldron), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.