BETHEL PARK — Seneca Valley was working on a turnaround, then turned the ball over.

The latter did the Raiders in Wednesday night as Bethel Park rolled to a 48-30 Class AAAA non-section girls basketball victory.

Seneca Valley (7-2) played without head coach Rob Lombardo — who is dealing with a death in the family — for the second consecutive game. Assistant coach Dorothea Epps ran the team in his absence.

“They’re ranked for a reason,” Epps said of Bethel Park. “They turned us over and good teams capitalize on those turnovers. They play excellent defense.

“We had too many unforced errors that way tonight. Bethel gets their hands on a lot of balls, they get a lot of deflections ... We have to work on guarding against that.”

The Raiders had 23 turnovers, including eight in the third quarter after cutting a 10-point first-quarter deficit to three by halftime. By comparison, Bethel Park’s starters had just nine turnovers all night, two in the second half.

Seneca Valley outscored Bethel 12-5 in the second period after managing just four shots from the field in the first eight minutes.

“We played well in spurts tonight,” Black Hawks coach Jonna Burke said. “We executed our defense well in the first quarter and didn’t let them get inside.

“I thought we got too lax in the second quarter. We lost our edge and they got back in it.”

Paige Montrose and Lexus Lambert combined to score 10 of the Raiders’ 12 points in the second quarter.

The Black Hawks (7-1) began to pull away midway through the third quarter. They closed the period on a 10-2 ruin to open up a 33-22 lead with eight minutes to go.

Then the fourth quarter was all about Black Hawk junior forward Justine Mascaro. She scored Bethel’s first 13 points of the period, enabling the Black Hawks to open up a 46-26 advantage with 1:48 to play. Burke pulled her starters at that point.

Mascaro scored 21 points in the game, but had trouble posting up against 6-foot-2 Raider forward Erin Danik.

“We could handle her (Mascaro) on the blocks, but when that girl comes at you 100 miles an hour, she’s hard to defend,” Epps said.

Burke said Mascaro’s athleticism “enables us to set screens and allow her to drive to the basket. Not a lot of girls her size can do that.”

No other Bethel Park player scored in double digits, but Shannon Conely had seven steals and five assists, Christine Kovalchick four steals.

Danik had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Raiders, who held a 24-15 advantage on the boards. Montrose had 12 points, four boards, four steals and three assists.

“It was just hard for us to get anything going offensively against that team,” Epps said.

Seneca Valley returns to action in the Slippery Rock holiday tournament Tuesday. Epps said Lombardo will be back on the bench with the team for that event.

SENECA VALLEY 30

Michaela Lamont 0-2 0-0 0, Carolyn Palaski 0-1 0-0 0, Brooke Lyczek 0-6 1-3 1, Kelsey Cruttenden 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Montrose 4-8 2-3 12, Lexus Lambert 2-4 0-0 4, Erin Danik 5-11 2-3 12, Toni Augustine 0-0 0-0 0, McKenna Gross 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 11-33 6-13 30.

BETHEL PARK 48

Kamryn Lach 0-1 0-0 0, Cailey Klink 0-2 0-0 0, Maria Cerro 4-7 0-0 8, Nicole Page 0-0 0-0 0, Megan horgan 0-0 0-0 0, Rebecca Rodriguez 1-2 2-2 4, Shannon Conely 3-9 2-2 9, Christine Kovalchick 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Spence 2-2 2-2 6, Justine Mascaro 8-11 5-7 21. Totals: 18-34 11-13 48.

Seneca Valley 4 12 6 8 — 30

Bethel Park14 5 14 15 — 48

3-point goals: Montrose 2; Conely

JV: Bethel Park, 34-17

Tuesday: Seneca Valley at Slippery Rock Tournament