JACKSON TWP - Seneca Valley was just 2 minutes and 17 seconds away from grabbing a WPIAL playoff berth in Thursday's game against Pine-Richland.

Then, the experienced Rams took over.

Seneca Valley built a 42-34 lead before Pine-Richland closed out regulation on a 10-2 run to force overtime.

After a scoreless first overtime, the Rams used an 8-2 spurt that helped the squad to come away with a 53-51 victory, ending the Raiders' post-season chances.

With Shaler's victory over Fox Chapel, the Titans grabbed the fourth and final playoff berth out of Section 3-AAAA.

The Raiders (11-11, 7-7) had a chance to win with 4.9 seconds left in regulation, but Ashley Turici overthrew a deep pass on an inbounds play and the Rams (16-5, 10-4) got the ball back under their own basket.

The Raiders defense knocked a pair of inbounds passes away to send the game into overtime.

"If you ask high school kids for that kind of effort, you'd be happy to take it," said Seneca Valley coach Todd Schoeffel. "It's unfortunate someone had to lose."

In the second overtime, Tina Mangola sank a free throw to give Seneca Valley a 45-44 lead, but Tricia Adamczyk's 3-pointer with 3:25 left in the frame gave the Rams their first lead of the game.

Turici's layup with 1:45 left evened the score, but Annie Zopf made 3-of-6 free throws, followed by a basket by Ashley Boys, gave the Rams a 52-47 lead with 45 seconds left.

Boys missed two free throws 12 seconds later but Seneca Valley's Val Johnson, who played sparingly due to an injured thumb, missed two free throws with 24.1 left.

A Tina Mangola put-back off a missed 3-point attempt with 15.7 seconds left pulled the Raiders to within three points.

Kelly Swingwine had a chance to increase the Rams' lead but missed two free throws of her own.

The Rams got the rebound, but Chelsey Pavlick stole the ball and nearly went the length of the floor for a layup with four seconds left to make it a 52-51 game.

The Raiders were forced to foul Zopf and with 0.7 seconds left, she sank the first free throw, but purposely missed the second by hitting the rim. The ball came back to her, killing the Raiders' chance to rebound and try a miracle shot.

"I told them we're still learning how to win," said Schoeffel. "I apologized to our two seniors (Johnson and Laura Ness) because they lost their last section game."

"Definitely, our intensity stepped up in the second half," said Rams coach Sherri McConnell. "We forced some turnovers, which led to some quick baskets."

Things looked good for the Raiders when a pair of baskets by Amanda Johnson allowed them to open up a 39-32 advantage with 4:42 left in regulation.

Two free throws by the Rams' Stephanie Lasinski were followed up by a Mangola trey to give the Raiders a 42-34 lead with 2:17 left.

But baskets by Kylie Miller, Zopf and Liza Mergenthaler within a 40-second span pulled the Rams to 42-40 with 1:24 left.

Pavlick scored with 1:03 left, but another score by Miller and a free throw from Zopf made it a one-point Raiders' lead.

Mangola missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 12.9 seconds left. Zopf was fouled with 4.9 seconds left and made just one free throw to tie the game.

In the first overtime, Zopf and Turici each missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to account for the only good scoring opportunities.

Zopf, who led all scorers with 20 points, missed 10 of her 18 free-throw attempts.

"She's a very good free-throw shooter," said McConnell. "If you want someone on the line, it's her. She's won a lot of games for us there. She knows she can hit it.

"She never came off the floor the entire game," McConnell added.

Notes:

Pavlick led the Raiders with 16 and Turici added 13. Miller, who fouled out with 12.9 seconds left in regulation, added 12 points for the Rams. … The 53 points marked the second game this season the Raiders allowed more than 50 points. … The Raiders held the Rams to just 11 first-half points.

PINE-RICHLAND 53

Ashley Boys 2 0-2 4, Kelly Slingwine 2 3-6 7, Kylie Miller 6 0-0 12, Liza Mergenthaler 2 0-0 5, Annie Zopf 5 8-18 20, Stephanie Lasinski 0 2-2 2, Tricia Adamczyk 1 0-0 3, Amanda Reed 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 13-28 53.

SENECA VALLEY 51

Kelsey Spencer 3 0-0 7, Chelsey Pavlick 8 0-0 16, Tina Mangola 3 1-3 9, Amanda Johnson 3 0-0 6, Ashley Turici 5 3-8 13, Laura Ness 0 0-0 0, Val Johnson 0 0-2 0, Courtney Grootegoed 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 4-13 51.

3-point goals:

Zopf 2, Mergenthaler, Adamczyk; Mangola 2, Spencer

JV:

Pine-Richland, 52-42

Saturday:

Seneca Valley at Hempfield