JACKSON TWP - As the Slippery Rock High girls basketball team discovered Tuesday, there is more than one road to perfection.

In the semifinals of the Seneca Valley Holiday Tournament against Thomas Jefferson, the Rockets committed 17 turnovers and turned in a mediocre defensive performance.

In the end, however, the effort was good enough to defeat the Jaguars 56-51, keeping Slippery Rock perfect at 10-0.

The win sets the stage for a Butler County showdown when the Rockets meet host Seneca Valley in the tournament's title game at 7:30 p.m. today.

Seneca Valley defeated Beaver Falls 49-25 in the other semifinal.

Thomas Jefferson (6-3) scored 20 points in the final eight minutes to make things interesting for the Rockets.

"Our defense was not good tonight," said Rockets coach Gene Rodgers. "It started out OK, but as the game wore on, it just wasn't very good."

Rodgers was pleased that four of his players scored at least eight points, led by Jence Rhoads' 20.

Abby Basta added 13, Robin Craig offered up nine and Emily Skoczlas tallied eight points, all in the second half.

"We've been trying to become more balanced with our other four starters all year," said Rodgers. "A lot of teams throw gimmick defenses at us to stop (Rhoads), and the other girls know they need to step up."

The Rockets led for most of the game, including a 49-38 cushion with 2:20 to play.

Thomas Jefferson's Erica Nath came up with a steal and a basket before Beth Winovich drained two free throws to cut the Rockets' lead to 49-42 with 1:57 remaining.

Rhoads then stepped to the fore, completing a conventional three-point play to halt the Jaguars' run and hitting two free throws with 15 seconds left to seal the victory.

Several Slippery Rock players hit key shots in the second half, including Casey McCaffrey. All six of her points came in the third quarter, helping the Rockets take a 41-31 lead into the final period.

"We started the game in a half-court, man-to-man defense," said Thomas Jefferson coach Rob Pupich. "At halftime, one of my assistants suggested using a triangle defense, the one we used to beat (Chartiers Valley) earlier this season.

"We were able to keep the ball out of (Rhoads') hands for much of the second half," added Pupich. "But they had other players who stepped up."

Ashleigh Hays led the Jaguars with 18 points while Elise D'Alessandro (13) and Nikki Presto (12) also scored in double figures in defeat.

Amanda Johnson scored a season-high 15 points and the Seneca Valley defense held Beaver Falls to just nine points in the second half as the Raiders (6-4) cruised to this lopsided win.Both Johnson and Tina Mangola scored seven points in the first half, as the Raiders led 27-16 at the break.Any chance the Tigers (3-7) had of coming back was lost in the third quarter, during which they scored no points and turned the ball over nine times."We talked about defense at halftime," said Raiders coach Todd Schoeffel. "We played better on that end of the floor, but (Beaver Falls) also took some bad shots in the second half."SLIPPERY ROCK 56Robin Craig 4 0-0 9, Abby Basta 6 0-0 13, Casey McCaffrey 3 0-0 6, Emily Skoczlas 4 0-0 8, Jence Rhoads 6 8-8 20, Ashley Brown 0 0-0 0, Jessica Fry 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 8-8 56.THOMAS JEFFERSON 51Nikki Presto 3 5-6 12, Ashleigh Hays 8 2-2 18, Beth Winovich 0 4-4 4, Elise D'Alessandro 5 2-7 13, Erica Nath 2 0-0 2, Ashley Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 13-19 51.3-point goals:Craig, Basta; Presto, D'Alessandro.BEAVER FALLS 25Lisa Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Alysia Policaro 1 0-0 3, Lindsey Stevenson 0 1-2 1, Shauntae Jackson 1 1-5 3, Marianne Selby 3 1-3 7, Alyssa Miller 3 0-0 6, Lindsey Roman 1 1-1 3. Totals: 10 4-11 25.SENECA VALLEY 49Kelsey Spencer 2 1-2 6, Chelsey Pavlick 4 0-0 8, Laura Ness 2 1-2 5, Tina Mangola 3 1-2 9, Amanda Johnson 7 1-1 15, Ashley Turici 3 0-0 6, Val Johnson 0 0-0 0, Michelle Ulizio 0 0-0 0, Laura Wray 0 0-0 0, Ryan Ingrassia 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 4-7 49.3-point goals:Policaro; Mangola 2, Spencer.Today:Beaver Falls vs. Thomas Jefferson (Consolation game @ 6 p.m.); Slippery Rock vs. Seneca Valley (Championship game @ 7:30 p.m.)