CANONSBURG — The Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic girls basketball team was excited to get back on the floor Saturday afternoon.

Maybe a little nervous, too.

The Trojanettes struggled from the field in the first half of a 54-40 win over Cochranton in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs at Canon-McMillan High School.

North Catholic forced 17 turnovers in the first half, but was unable to capitalize, shooting 26 percent (9-of-34) from the field.

“We had to slow it down because we were forcing too many shots and not running our plays all the way through,” said 6-foot-2 sophomore center Sam Breen, who finished with 29 points and 11 rebounds. “Once we started settling down and running through our offense, we were getting good looks.”

Once the Trojanettes relaxed, they found enough offense to earn their first state playoff win since they reached the title game in 2012.

North Catholic (20-6) will play California — a 40-28 winner over Venango Catholic — in the second round at 6 p.m. Wednesday night at Canon-McMillan.

The Trojanettes weren't slow from the start. North Catholic held a 12-2 lead after a jumper by Mary Cassamassa with 4:16 left in the first quarter.

Cochranton responded with a 14-4 run to tie the game at 16 with 5:09 left before halftime.

The Cardinals (18-7) capped that run with a jumper by Lexi O'Donnell. O'Donnell was fouled after her shot, giving Cochranton possession.

Morghan Egli, who finished with 10 points, followed with a layup to tie the game.

“Our effort was good,” Cardinals coach Gary Egli said. “They never let me down.”

Cochranton never found a spurt to wrestle the lead away and went into halftime tied at 20.

North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann said the Trojanettes weren't finishing good looks in the first half. Twenty of the Trojanettes' 25 misses were in the paint.

“Sometimes layups are missed because of the pressure that's put on,” Rottmann said. “Tonight the looks we normally make, we couldn't get one to fall to save our lives.”

Cassamassa, who finished with seven points, put the Trojanettes ahead for good with a layup 36 seconds into the second half.

Both teams traded baskets until North Catholic opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to stretch its lead to 45-31. Rottmann moved the Trojanettes to a zone defense in the second half and Cochranton couldn't shoot them out of it.

“We had to worry about protecting Sam and Mia, so we went into the zone,” Rottmann said. “They had a couple shooters that hit some shots, but they had to work a little bit harder.”

Lindsay Wagner led the Cardinals with 12 points, while Evelyn Brazil led North Catholic with four assists.

Breen was pleased with how the Trojanettes bounced back after it lost to Vincentian Academy 74-35 in the WPIAL Class A championship game last Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.

“We were all pretty excited to get there,” Breen said. “My grade and the freshmen haven't been to the state playoffs and that's exciting.”

COCHRANTON 40

Lexi O'Donnell 3 0-0 7, Abby Clulow 2 2-2 6, Kassidy Dickson 1 0-0 3, Morghan Egli 5 0-3 10, Lindsay Wagner 6 0-0 12, Sam Hall 0 0-0 0, Macknzhie Buchan 1 0-0 2, Hannah Harvey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 2-5 40.

CW NORTH CATHOLIC 54

Mia Palmer 2 1-2 5, Abby Goetz 4 0-0 8, Evelyn Brazil 0 5-6 5, Mary Cassamassa 3 1-1 7, Sam Breen 10 8-8 29, Kiki Palmer 0 0-0 0, Amanda Bucklew 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 15-17 54.

Cochranton 8 12 9 13 — 37

North Catholic12 8 17 17 — 54

3-point goals: Cochranton 2 (O'Donnell, Dickson); North Catholic 1 (Breen)

Wednesday: North Catholic vs. California 6 p.m. at Canon-McMillan