Raiders on a roll
SHALER TWP — Shaler's hopes of posting its first Section 3-AAAA boys basketball win of the season melted from the heat provided by several hot hands from Seneca Valley.
The Raiders featured three players who scored at least 14 points, led by Zach Snyder's total of 20, as Seneca Valley overwhelmed the host Titans 69-54 Monday night.
Dakota Topf contributed 17 points and T.J. Holl 14 for Seneca (7-1, 3-0), which led 29-8 midway through the second quarter.
“We figured we'd be facing a lot of zone, so we wanted to go up-tempo and score a lot of points,” said Raiders' coach Victor Giannotta. “A fast start was key against this team. Shaler (1-6, 0-3) is improving. They are going to beat somebody and we were hoping it wasn't going to be us.”
Seneca Valley had to settle for a split as Shaler's girls won the first game of the doubleheader 46-35.
Holl set the pace for the Raiders' boys, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to help Seneca build a 19-6 edge. The Titans turned the ball over six times in the opening period, which only added fuel to Seneca's fire.
“We created a lot of turnovers in the first half and when that happens, it's easy to distribute the ball,” Holl said of the team's balanced scoring. “At that point, it's just a question of who is getting the ball, who is taking the shots.”
The third quarter belonged to Snyder, who dropped 10 points in the period while Topf scored at least three points in all four quarters.
Seneca's double-digit trio is all seniors, as is point guard Chad Izenas. That's a lot of experience the Raiders send to the floor at the start of every game.
“We expect a lot out of that group and they all play well together,” said Giannotta.
The Titans managed a 23-point fourth period, much of which was played with Seneca's bench players in the game.
Robbie Reinheimer led Shaler with 12 points.
The teams will meet again Jan. 27 at Seneca Valley.
Andi Lydon was just another player in the first half, but Shaler's senior forward stepped into the spotlight when the second half began.Lydon scored all 19 of her points after the break, including 13 in the third quarter, which is when the Titans took control of the game.They had committed 13 turnovers combined and shot just 26 percent (6-of-23) from the field in the first two periods and trailed Seneca 17-16 entering the third quarter.Lydon then spearheaded a 14-3 run that gave Shaler a 34-25 lead with eight minutes to play.“She's a second-half player,” Titans' coach Neal Martin said. “When she gets down on herself, we just leave her alone because she seems to work out of it. What you saw tonight, we've seen it about 20 times.”Lydon's output over the final two quarters was better than what Seneca managed as a team (18 points).“She's one of the best players in the section and she showed it in the second half,” said Raiders' coach Rob Lombardo, who believes his team was consistently in position to put its stamp on this game.“We had 17 or 18 looks in the paint,” he said. “When you're getting shots in the paint, what more can you ask for?”The Raiders, however, shot just 25 percent (12-of-48) from the field and only 7-of-18 from the free throw line.“We looked at the schedule and knew that we had Shaler, Pine-Richland, North Allegheny and Butler coming up,” said Lombardo. “Those are all games against good teams in the section and they are all going to be wars.”<B>Girls</B>SENECA VALLEY 35Michaela Lamont 2 0-0 5, Shaley Bream 1 0-0 2, Meghan Hess 3 0-2 9, Lexus Lambert 2 0-0 4, Melissa Carter 3 1-6 7, Erin Danik 1 6-8 8, Brooke Lyczek 0 0-2 0, Sarah Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 7-18 35.SHALER 46Liz Kline 2 5-8 9, Gia Thorpe 3 0-1 6, Rylee Donovan 2 0-2 5, Andi Lydon 6 6-7 19, Alliya Duritza 2 0-8 5, Maggie Soeder 1 0-0 2, Megan Lydon 0 0-0 0, Olivia Long 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 11-26 46.Seneca Valley 11 6 8 10 — 35Shaler9 7 18 12 — 463-point goals: Seneca Valley 4 (Hess 3, Lamont); Shaler 3 (Donovan, A. Lydon, Duritza).<B>Boys</B>SENECA VALLEY 69Zach Snyder 7 6-9 20, Jack Cook 3 0-0 7, T.J. Holl 6 1-1 14, Dakota Topf 7 1-1 17, Chad Izenas 1 2-2 4, Matt Dramble 1 0-0 2, Chris Hart 1 0-0 2, Payton Skalos 0 2-2 2, Justin Koken 0 1-2 1, Andy Smathers 0 0-0 0, Cody Boozel 0 0-0 0, Nate Trzeciak 0 0-0 0, Josh Balog 0 0-0 0, Evan Schillero 0 0-0 0, Pat Uher 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 13-17 69.SHALER 54Rob Reinheimer 5 2-4 12, Brendan Deasy 4 1-2 11, Tanner Reinheimer 3 3-4 9, Brennan Keillor 3 2-5 8, Anthony Venezia 3 0-0 8, Nate Grande 3 0-0 6, Nick Fugh 0 0-0 0, Devin O'Neil 0 0-0 0, E.J. Posa 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 8-15 54.Seneca Valley 19 16 19 15 — 69Shaler6 9 16 23 — 543-point goals: Seneca Valley 4 (Topf 2, Holl, Cook); Shaler 4 (Deasy 2, Venezia 2).
