BUTLER TWP — Seneca Valley girls basketball coach Rob Lombardo took the approach of a road team Monday night.

“Any time you go into somebody else's gym, you want to get the lead right away,” he said. “You don't want to play from behind and give that home team more confidence.

“You want them to have to play from behind.”

Mission accomplished on this night.

The Raiders (10-4, 3-3) forced 11 turnovers in the first quarter, had a 17-2 lead six minutes into the game and cruised to a 59-28 victory at Butler.

The Golden Tornado (2-10, 0-6) never got closer than 13 the rest of the way. The deficit peaked at 32 (57-25) with less than a minute to play.

“We're struggling with our guard play. We didn't handle their pressure well,” Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said.

Butler wound up with 31 turnovers in the contest. Seneca Valley had 24 turnovers itself.

“We wanted to play this game at a faster pace than we normally do,” Lombardo said. “We wanted to score a lot of points in transition off turnovers and we did that.

“But when you play at that quick a pace, you are going to have some miscues yourself ... The leash on the girls was a little bit longer tonight.”

The Raiders placed three girls in double figures, four had at least five rebounds and four had multiple assists. Paige Montrose paced SV with 15 points and six rebounds. She scored nine points in the fourth quarter.

After a lay-up by Alyssa Eyth and a short jumper by Jenna Kunst pulled Butler within 40-25 with 7:05 to play, the Raiders went on a 17-0 run.

The Tornado didn't score again until Allison Schubert sank a trey with 30 seconds remaining.

“They never let up on the pressure,” Lewandowski said. “They were up 25 in the fourth quarter and were still bringing it. That's OK. You file that kind of stuff away. It can serve as motivation.”

Erin Danik scored 14 points and had five rebounds for SV. She blocked seven shots and sank 10 of 12 free throws. The Raiders sank 20 of 25 free throws overall.

“Erin is shooting over 80 percent at the line,” Lombardo said. “When you get inside as often as she does, she's going to get fouled and she has to be able to convert.”

Brooke Lyczek contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Raiders. McKenna Gross, a freshman, had nine points and six steals.

Seneca Valley has been playing without regulars Lexus Lambert and Cristina Dunning due to injuries. Lambert has been sidelined for two weeks.

“We're 14 games into the season and have yet to have the starting lineup we projected in the preseason on the floor together,” Lombardo said. “We're hoping that day comes.

“We played a good total game tonight. We book-ended it, the way we started and the way we finished it.”

Eyth led Butler with nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Kunst had eight points and five rebounds before fouling out with five minutes left.

Sophomore guard Mia Rader saw her first game action of the season for the Tornado. She had been out three months with a broken hand.

SENECA VALLEY 59

Michaela Lamont 1-5 0-0 2, Carolyn Paslaski 1-3 0-0 2, Brooke Lyczek 5-13 0-1 12, McKenna Gross 3-11 3-4 9, Kelsey Cruttenden 0-0 2-2 2, Paige Montrose 5-9 4-4 15, Erin Danik 2-3 10-12 14, Toni Augustine 0-0 0-0 0, Karlie Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Ayami Harada 0-1 0-0 0, Anna Sullivan 1-1 0-0 2, Julie Milton 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 18-46 20-25 59.

BUTLER 28

Liz Kuhn 0-0 0-0 0, Alyssa Eyth 4-9 1-2 9, Melea Barlow 0-2 0-2 0, Jenna Kunst 4-6 0-0 8, Noel Pfabe 0-4 0-0 0, Julia Gibson 1-2 0-0 2, Tiana Schaffner 2-3 2-2 6, Kailey Olenick 0-11 0-0 0, Mia Rader 0-2 0-0 0, Allison Schubert 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 12-40 3-6 28.

Seneca Valley 17 10 13 19 — 59

Butler2 10 9 7 — 28

3-point goals: Lyczek, Montrose; Schubert

JV: Seneca Valley, 45-36 (SV: McKenna Gross 11, Michaela Lamont 10; B: Kailey Olenick 14)

Thursday: Seneca Valley at Oakland Catholic

Friday: North Hills at Butler