JACKSON TWP — North Allegheny got back into the game.

But the Tigers never got the lead.

Seneca Valley built a 15-2 lead in the first quarter and a 41-30 lead in the third period before hanging on for a 55-50 victory in a Section 3-AAAA showdown Monday night at Seneca Valley High.

The Raiders' final 10 points came at the free throw line — two of those courtesy of senior forward Ashley Turici with 18 seconds left in the game that gave her team a two-possession lead at 54-50.

Turici had missed seven of her previous eight attempts from the foul line.

"It's funny because we work on a free throw shooting drill in practice called 52-52," said Raiders coach Todd Schoeffel. "If a player misses a free throw, the other team gets two points.

"And when Ashley stepped to the line, I looked up at the scoreboard and we were up 52-50."

As a team, the Raiders shot 56 percent from the charity stripe (22-of-39), but that was still 10 more points than the Tigers managed from the line (12).

"Shooting that many free throws, that's a lot of momentum," said North Allegheny coach Will Saunders. "It settled (Seneca Valley) down."

Trailing 43-33 early in the fourth quarter, the Tigers received two 3-pointers from Sarah Haas and Marissa Pasteraro 37 seconds apart to make it 43-39.

With her team clinging to a 43-41 advantage, SV's Kelsey Spencer completed a conventional three-point play for a 46-41 lead with 3:21 remaining.

Schoeffel was pleased with his team's performance with the game on the line.

"I thought we played pretty decent down the stretch," he said. "Some of that might have been luck, but I'll take it."

Schoeffel also liked what he saw in the opening minutes of the game.

The Raiders ambushed NA, building their 15-2 lead after only five minutes of play.

"That was the best stretch we've had to begin a game this year," said Schoeffel. "I was impressed with how we executed. But then we got away from it, and I think that had a lot to do with (NA) pressing us."

The Tigers' pressure defense helped them get back into the game, as they trailed just 16-14 heading into the second period.

"I'm proud of the effort the girls showed tonight," said Saunders. "But, as a coach, I'm thinking we should have pressed right from the start."

Spencer led the Raiders (10-2, 4-0) with 15 points, while Chelsey Pavlick added 14 and Turici managed 13.

Rachel Divosevic scored 15 points to pace North Allegheny (6-5, 0-3), including 11 in the first half.

It's the second straight year that the Raiders have began the season by winning their first four section games.

"Winning this section game at home was very important," said Schoeffel. "If you win all of your section home games, that's seven wins right there. And last year, eight wins was good enough to make the playoffs."

NORTH ALLEGHENY 50

Rachel Divosevic 6 2-2 15, Jackie Lang 0 2-2 2, Kristen Beatty 0 3-4 3, Maria Nolan 3 2-2 9, Amanda Dice 2 0-0 6, Lisa Gleason 0 3-6 3, Marissa Pasteraro 1 0-0 3, Sarah Haas 4 0-0 9, Dawn Murphy 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 12-16 50.

SENECA VALLEY 55

Kelsey Spencer 3 9-13 15, Chelsey Pavlick 5 4-8 14, Tina Mangola 2 0-0 5, Amanda Johnson 2 4-6 8, Ashley Turici 4 5-12 13, Ryan Ingrassia 0 0-0 0, Jackie Mangola 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 22-39 55.

3-point goals:

Dice 2, Nolan, Pasteraro, Haas, Divosevic; T. Mangola.

JV:

North Allegheny 33-31

Thursday:

Seneca Valley at Butler