Seneca Valley's Gretchen Koken puts up a shot as Hempfield's Sarah Liberatore tries to defend during the first round of the WPIAL 6A playoffs Tuesday night. The Raiders lost, 64-40, and were eliminated from the playoffs.

O'HARA TWP — The opening moments of the third quarter were just what the doctor ordered for Seneca Valley.

The prognosis went downhill from there.

During the first two minutes of the second half, the Raiders forced Hempfield into four consecutive missed shots and dropped an 8-0 run to cut the Spartan lead to 34-30.

Hempfield rebounded with a 16-4 run of its own and was never threatened down the stretch in a 64-40 defeat of the Raiders in a WPIAL Class 6A girls basketball first-round playoff at Fox Chapel High School Tuesday night.

“We knew Seneca would make a run and give them credit for doing it,” said Hempfield coach Lindsy Muchnock, “but give credit to our girls for the way they responded.”

Part of that response came in the form of rebounding. The Spartans tallied 11 boards in the third quarter, five of them on the offensive glass.

“Their offensive rebounding was exactly what we saw on film,” said SV coach Rob Lombardo. “When you're playing a team that shoots the ball as well as Hempfield does, you can't give them second and third chances. Our pregame (talk) was, 'Box out, box out, Box out!'”

The Spartans (12-11) led 13-8 after one quarter and their lead reached 10 points midway through the second. The Raiders received treys from Gretchen Koken and Jaden Davinsizer to temper Hempfield's surge, but they were SV's only two made field goals of the second period and the Spartans entered halftime with a 34-22 lead.

SV's deficit would have been greater had it not been for an 11-for-16 effort from the free throw line in the first two quarters.

The Raiders had little success containing Hempfield senior guard Allison Podkul, whose drives and layups consistently had SV on its heels. Podkul scored 16 of her team-leading 18 points in the first half.

“Allison and Sarah (Liberatore, 11 points), that's what we expect out of them,” said Muchnock, “but we had a bunch of players contribute to the scoring. It has to be more than just two players.”

Koken led all scorers with 19 points and McKenna Gross added 14 for SV (11-11).

This marks the fifth straight season that the Raiders have qualified for the playoffs and lost in the first round. But this group of players has left an impression with Lombardo.

“This was probably the most fun I've had coaching basketball,” he said. “The girls were like sponges. You like to have coachable kids and this group was very coachable.”

The Raiders will graduate two seniors in Cheyenne Andres and Karlie Martin.

“We have a strong core group coming back,” added Lombardo. “This experience will be invaluable to them.”

SENECA VALLEY 40

Gretchen Koken 4 7-10 19, Madelyn Karchut 0 2-2 2, McKenna Gross 5 4-6 14, Karlie Martin 0 1-2 1, Kaitlyn Wolfe 0 1-2 1, Jaden Davinsizer 1 0-0 3, Hannah Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 15-22 40.

HEMPFIELD 64

Sarah Golden 4 0-0 8, Olivia Persin 1 0-0 2, Sarah Liberatore 5 0-0 11, Riley Sullebarger 3 0-0 6, Jessica Persin 4 0-0 11, Kayla Barientos-Collins 3 0-0 6, Allison Podkul 8 2-2 18. Mackenzie Whatule 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 2-2 64.

Seneca Valley 8 14 12 6 — 40

Hempfield13 21 16 14 — 64

3-point goals: Seneca Valley 5 (Koken 4, Davinsizer); Hempfield 4 (J. Persin 3, Liberatore).