BUTLER TWP — The importance of the game was obvious.

And Seneca Valley treated it that way.

The Raiders outscored Butler 16-0 in the first quarter on their way to a 59-34 Section 1-6A girls basketball victory Monday night in the Golden Tornado gym. That win gave SV (10-3, 4-3) a two-game lead over the Tornado for the fourth and final playoff spot in the section.

“We talked to the girls about the importance of this game coming up here,” SV coach Todd Schoeffel said. “We want to get some separation between the top four teams and the bottom four in the section.

“Winning this game was critical in doing that.”

The Raiders won for the fifth time in six games. Injury-riddled Butler (6-7, 2-5) lost for the fourth time in five contests.

“We had not been getting off to fast starts.” Schoeffel said. “It seems we're always coming from behind. But we played good defense early and Butler had some key players out.

“The way we were playing and the fact they had some new personnel playing was a good combination for us.”

Butler played without Julia Gibson, Heidi Gross and Hailey Metzger — three of its top eight players — because of injuries.

“That's not an excuse and we won't use it as one,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “You can't fall behind 16-0 in a quarter. That can't happen.

“The difference there is effort. We fell behind 19-0 at North Allegheny. These starts are on everybody and that includes me. First thing I'll do when I get home is look in the mirror. Obviously, I'm not getting these girls ready to play.”

The Tornado missed their first 10 shots and turned the ball over five times before Sarayne Forbes ended the scoreless drought by draining a trey with 6:05 left in the half. That cut the SV lead to 18-3.

When Emilee Altman sank a trey with 51 seconds left in the half, the Raider lead was down to 25-17.

“With that big lead ... We began disregarding our defense,” SV senior guard McKenna Gross said. “We got sloppy and they got back in it.”

But not for long.

Gretchen Koken sank a 3-pointer, then hit two free throws. Gross drove the length of the floor for a buzzer-beating layup and the Raider lead was 32-17 at halftime.

Seneca Valley opened the third quarter with a 14-1 run to open up a 46-18 lead.

“We came out in the third quarter and punched them in the mouth, made sure they had no chance of coming back,” Gross said. “Coach said this was the most important game of our season until the second half of section starts.”

Gross led the Raiders with 16 points, six assists and three steals. Madelyn Karchut scored 11 points, grabbed four rebounds and three steals. Haley Cramer had 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“After we closed to 25-17, they went on a 19-1 run,” Maier lamented. “That's 16-0 and 19-1 ... That's 35-1 before and after our spurt in the middle.

“We turned it over twice in the final minute of the first half. Maybe you give up two points there. We gave up seven and that was pretty much it.”

Jordan Kauffman paced Butler with 16 points, sinking four treys. No other Butler player scored more than four. The Tornado sank 10 of 45 shots from the floor.

“That's not going to get it done,” Maier said.

Both teams have key stretches coming up. Seneca Valley travels to North Hills Friday night for the first of three games in four nights.

“We're in a good position right now and have to keep building off that,” Schoeffel said.

Butler, now two games out of a playoff spot, hosts Fox Chapel Thursday, them takes on Shaler and Pine-Richland.

“Those are three winnable games — or losable games for us,” Maier said. “We need them. We'll know where we stand in a couple of weeks.”

SENECA VALLEY 59

Gretchen Koken 1-2 2-2 5, Haley Cramer 3-5 2-2 10, Madelyn Karchut 5-11 1-1 11, Jess Bickert 0-1 0-0 0, Jaden Davensizer 2-2 1-2 6, McKenna Gross 7-16 2-2 16, Olivia West 3-6 0-0 7, Lexi Peffer 0-0 4-4 4, Kaitlyn Wolfe 0-1 0-1 0, Olivia Neuman 0-0 0-0 0, Anna Sikora 0-1 0-2 0, Sydney Ring 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-45 12-16 59.

BUTLER 34

Sarayne Forbes 1-5 1-2 4, Jordan Kauffman 6-15 0-1 16, Emma Monteleone 0-3 0-0 0, Alison Altman 0-5 3-4 3, Sydney Hanratty 0-4 0-0 0, Makenna Maierr 1-7 2-2 4, Emilee Altman 1-2 0-0 3, Anna Michalek 0-1 0-0 0, Aubree Tack 0-1 2-2 2, Sarah Fiorina 1-1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Friel 0-1 0-0 0, Piper Geibel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 10-45 8-10 34.

Seneca Valley 16 16 19 8 — 59

Butler0 17 9 8 — 34

3-point goals: Koken, Cramer 2, West, Davensizer; Forbes, Kauffman 4, E.Altman

JV: Butler, 43-39 (SV: Jaden Davensizer 17; B: Makenna Maier 14, Sarayne Forbes 11)

Thursday: Fox Chapel at Butler

Friday: Seneca Valley at North Hills