JACKSON TWP - Seneca Valley's first quarter troubles became North Allegheny's second-half nightmare.
The Raiders scored just five points and lost their starting point guard to an injury in the first eight minutes of play.
But NA couldn't protect a 29-22 halftime lead, scoring just 11 points in the second half as the Seneca Valley girls basketball team prevailed 46-40 on its home floor Monday.
At the center of NA's collapse was its free throw shooting, as the Tigers sank just three of 13 in the second half. Seneca Valley made good on 12 of 15 attempts from the line in the final two quarters.
"It's something we've struggled with all year," NA coach Will Saunders. "We had been getting a little better with it, but we certainly didn't get the job done tonight."
Seneca Valley held a slim 39-38 advantage with four minutes left. From that point on, the Tigers managed just one more field goal and missed all five of their free throws.
"Their free throw shooting definitely hurt them late," said Raiders coach Todd Schoeffel. "And, on our side, we were able to rebound the misses. We knew where (Rachel) Divosevic was and were able to adjust to a few back door cuts they attempted."
Divosevic led the Tigers with 11 points, but didn't make a shot from the field in the final period.
Chelsey Pavlick scored 12 points off the bench to lead Seneca Valley while junior forward Ashley Turici added 11.
Before they could win the game, however, the Raiders (10-9, 6-5) had to survive the Tigers' initial rush.
North Allegheny came out in a full-court press on defense, forcing Seneca Valley into 11 turnovers in the first period.
"We knew it was coming," said Schoeffel of the Tigers' scheme. "But the only time we got to practice in the last four days was at 2:30 (Monday afternoon).
"It was just a matter of seeing it and then adjusting to it."
To make matters worse, senior point guard Val Johnson left the game late in the first quarter with an injured right thumb and didn't return.
Despite his team's suffocating defense, Saunders had only an 11-5 lead after one period to show for it.
"We didn't want them to play a half-court game," Saunders said. "That's why we pressed. And we did some good things early on, but we just didn't capitalize on those opportunities."
The Tigers did build their lead to 12 points early in the second period, but their seven-point lead at the break proved to be a house of cards, waiting to fall.
Seneca Valley opened the third period with a 7-0 run and NA scored only four points in the quarter.
"We thought about going back to our press," said Saunders. "But by the second half, we had a few girls in foul trouble and decided to stay in a zone to keep from getting hand-check fouls."
Leading 41-38 with 2:25 left in the game, the Raiders played keep away for 1 minute and 16 seconds before Pavlick was fouled and made both free throws.
"We were able to take a big chunk of time off that clock without our best ball-handler (Val Johnson)," said Schoeffel. "That was really big for us."
The loss drops NA (12-9, 6-5) into a third-place tie with Seneca Valley in Section 3-AAAA.
NORTH ALLEGHENY 40
Stephanie Wolf 3 3-5 9, Rachel Divosevic 3 5-6 11, Cara Davies 1 0-0 3, Nicole Dudas 1 0-0 3, Kristen Beatty 3 1-6 7, Rebecca Mapel 3 1-3 7, Kate Winland 0 0-2 0, Laura Casey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 10-22 40.
SENECA VALLEY 46
Tina Mangola 3 1-4 8, Kelsey Spencer 2 1-2 5, Chelsey Pavlick 3 6-6 12, Laura Ness 0 1-2 1, Amanda Johnson 2 5-6 9, Ashley Turici 2 7-8 11, Ryan Ingrassia 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 21-28 46.
3-point goals:
Davies, Dudas; Mangola.
JV:
NA 59-52 (NA-Maria Nolan 14; SV-Courtney Grootegoed 15).
Friday:
Seneca Valley @ Butler
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