JACKSON TWP — Closing the deal in key section games has been a stumbling block for the Seneca Valley girls basketball team the last few years, but the Raiders may finally be turning the corner.

Less than a week after defeating Butler, Seneca carried a four-point lead into the fourth quarter Monday against Pine-Richland. In the final eight minutes, the Raiders made nine of 12 free throws, were the beneficiaries of eight turnovers by the Rams and came away from William Paul Gymnasium with a 47-38 win.

Seneca Valley (6-9, 4-4) now holds sole possession of third place in Section 3-AAAA.

“This was our fourth game in seven days and I was really worried about our legs,” said SV coach Rob Lombardo. “So in practice, we’ve been focused more on the basics like free throw shooting instead of getting physical.”

Free throws played a huge role down the stretch Monday.

With 1:54 left in the game, Raiders’ junior guard Meghan Hess completed a conventional three-point play, increasing her team’s edge to 41-36. Then in the final minute, Abbie Trzeciak stepped to the charity stripe twice and drained a combined four free throws to help ice the game.

“Our goal every night is to make 70 percent of our free throws,” said Lombardo, who watched his players sink 71.4 percent (15 of 21) against the Rams. “We tell the girls that if they can do that, we are going to win a lot of close games. There’s a lot of close games in this section.”

The Rams (10-6, 3-5) committed just six turnovers in the first half, but had 15 miscues in the third and fourth quarters combined.

“Seneca Valley was sitting in a 2-2-1 zone, letting us play catch and we panicked,” said Rams’ coach Cliff Foster. “Everybody was looking around tonight, wondering who was going to make the big play, make the big shot,” he added. “There was a lot of looking around tonight. What we need is someone to step up and make plays.”

SV, which defeated the Rams on the latter’s floor 50-46 in mid-December, took advantage of its height once again.

Two front-court players, Melissa Carter (14 points) and Trzeciak (12), combined to score 26 points. Carter had a game-high 15 rebounds.

“Pine-Richland tried to play us straight up man-to-man in the first game,” said Lombardo. “Tonight, they tried to trap us up high because they knew if we got the ball down low, they couldn’t stop us. Our guards did a great job.”

SV’s victory puts the Raiders in the driver’s seat to make the WPIAL playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

“We don’t want to need help that last week of the season to get in,” said Lombardo. “We’ve beaten North Hills and Butler on the road. They have to come in here to play us.”

PINE-RICHLAND 38

Caitlyn Byerly 3 0-1 6, Amanda Kalin 1 1-2 3, Kaitlyn Jenkins 3 3-4 10, Chelsea Rourke 2 2-4 8, Hannah Fassler 1 0-0 2, Megan Gryzbek 2 4-4 9, Rachel Steliotes 0 0-0 0, Mackenzie Jenkins 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 10-15 38.

SENECA VALLEY 47

Abbie Trzeciak 3 6-6 12, Meghan Hess 1 4-5 6, Shaley Bream 3 0-0 6, Lexus Lambert 2 1-2 5, Melissa Carter 6 2-5 14, Erin Danik 1 2-2 4, Christina Dunning 0 0-1 0, Michaela Lamont 0 0-0 0, Sarah Jones 0 0-0 0, Katie Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 15-21 47.

Pine-Richland 13 6 11 8 — 38

Seneca Valley8 14 12 13 — 47

3-point goals: Pine-Richland 4 (Rourke 2, Gryzbek, K. Jenkins).

JV: Seneca Valley 37-16

Thursday: Seneca Valley at Shaler