NEW CASTLE — The Seneca Valley girls basketball team had the section heavyweight on the ropes.

But the knockout punch never came.

The Raiders led undefeated New Castle 33-15 early in the third quarter Monday.

That's when the Red Hurricanes unleashed a 20-4 run to close the period, sparked by a full-court press defense that forced Seneca Valley into turnovers on six straight possessions.

New Castle (13-0, 6-0) outscored SV 14-8 in the final period to stay perfect with a 49-45 victory in a crucial Section 3-AAAA clash.

"We're down by 18 there in the third quarter and I'm thinking to myself, 'What do we do now?'" said New Castle coach Luann Grybowski. "We had to turn it up a notch and go full-court (press) on them. I figured it was our only chance."

Even with the Red Hurricanes' run to close the third quarter, SV held a slim 43-42 edge with 1:20 left in the game.

New Castle junior forward Jaleesa Sams came up with a steal, followed by a conventional three-point play to put her team up 45-43 with 1:01 left. It was a lead the Hurricanes would not give up, as SV committed two more turnovers in the final minute to seal its fate.

"It's tremendously frustrating," said Raiders coach Todd Schoeffel. "We got caught up in their tempo and began to try and force things.

"And it's nothing we haven't seen before," Schoeffel said of the Hurricanes' press. "The only difference is New Castle can do everything a bit faster."

New Castle struggled on offense most of the night — it scored five points in the first quarter and had just 12 at intermission — but Sams came to the rescue.

The junior forward, who had just six points at halftime, scored 18 in the second half to end the night with a game-high 24.

Sams scored her 1,000th career point on a two-point bucket with 6:05 left in the game, giving the Hurricanes their first lead of the night at 38-37.

"The kid has heart, I'll tell you that," said Grybowski. "In the second half, it seemed that she was everywhere on the floor."

Seneca Valley held the momentum for the entire first half, after which it led 23-12.

New Castle shot just 5-of-22 from the field in the first two quarters and committed 10 turnovers.

"Seneca Valley lulled us to sleep with their half-court game," said Grybowski. "It's real methodical and they run it well."

"We did a lot of things well in the first half," said Schoeffel. "And we were still confident heading into the fourth quarter because we knew we were capable of playing well defensively. But we gave Sams some open space, and that's when she hurts you."

Tina Mangola led the Raiders (10-4, 4-2) with 12 points.

SENECA VALLEY 45

Kelsey Spencer 3 4-4 11, Chelsey Pavlick 2 0-0 4, Tina Mangola 3 4-6 12, Amanda Johnson 3 3-5 9, Ashley Turici 4 1-2 9, Ryan Ingrassia 0 0-0 0, Jackie Mangola 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 12-17 45.

NEW CASTLE 49

Ryenn Micaletti 2 2-4 6, Nikki Karatinos 3 0-0 6, Logan Hartman 1 0-0 2, Shirl Jones 1 0-2 2, Jaleesa Sams 10 4-7 24, Kara Joseph 3 2-2 9, Julianna Guido 0 0-0 0, Abby Allen 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 8-15 49.

3-point goals:

T. Mangola 2, Spencer; Joseph.

JV:

New Castle 35-24

Thursday:

Pine-Richland @ Seneca Valley

Friday:

New Castle @ Butler