JACKSON TWP — Rob Lombardo saw a lot of good things out of the Seneca Valley girls basketball team's first game of the season Friday night.

Most importantly, he saw a win.

The Raiders shot 21-of-37 from the field (56.7 percent) and SV's man-to-man defense helped force 20 turnovers in a 53-38 victory over Deer Lakes in the first round of the Seneca Valley Tip-Off Tournament.

The Raiders are scheduled to face Hampton, a 38-35 overtime winner over Riverside, in Saturday's championship game.

SV entered the fourth period ahead 40-32. In a span of less than a minute, the edge increased to 46-32.

SV forward Alex Karika began the run with a 2-point basket, followed by a Deer Lakes turnover that led to Mary Kate Fullerton's field goal.

Another Deer Lakes miscue allowed Karlei Fronzaglio to make it a 14-point cushion with a pull-up jumper with 4:36 left in the game.

“I was very happy with how that sequence played out,” said Lombardo. “We did a great job in our halfcourt man-to-man defense.

“And in the last few minutes, we ran what we needed to run to get fouled and get to the free-throw line.”

For Lancers coach Dana Petruska, too many miscues weren't the only reason for the loss.

“Seneca Valley is big and strong,” she said. “Our lack of a bench hurt us. We just don't have any depth.”

The Raiders received at least one field goal from six different players in the opening quarter, taking a 20-7 lead after 8 minutes of play.

“I was happy with how we came out of the gate,” said Lombardo. “It was nice having 20 points after one quarter. The last couple of years, we sometimes had that many points after three quarters. It was good to see us come out with that kind of confidence tonight.”

The win did not come without error.

The Raiders, a much taller team than Deer Lakes, had just one more rebound than their opponent (21-20).

“With our size, we can't give up as many offensive rebounds as we did tonight,” said Lombardo. “We didn't box out well.”

Still, SV received the bulk of its points from the two players that should lead the team in that category this season — Karika (15) and Amanda Geiger (13).

“That's what we need out of them,” added Lombardo. “If we can get around 30 points from those two and 20 points from the rest of the team, that's what we're looking for.”

The Lancers closed the gap to 31-23 by halftime due in large part to four 3-pointers. For the game, Petruska's team drained six trifectas.

“A lot of it was taking what Seneca was giving us, but we do have several players who can shoot the ball well from the outside,” said Petruska.

“Deer Lakes is a good team,” said Lombardo. “If they can shoot the ball like they did tonight, they'll go somewhere in Class AA.”

DEER LAKES 38Emily Casello 3 0-0 9, Nichole Kearns 2 2-3 7, Danielle Kearns 2 0-1 4, Rebecca Babincak 3 1-2 9, Hope Schreiber 2 0-1 4, Candace Scanga 1 1-2 3, Hannah Rosselle 1 0-0 2, Alexa Vercelli 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 14 4-9 38.

SENECA VALLEY 53Karlei Fronzaglio 1 4-4 6, Alex Karika 7 1-2 15, Julia Vandrak 2 0-1 5, Mary Kate Fullerton 3 0-0 7, Brooke Clifford 1 0-1 2, Amanda Geiger 5 1-1 13, Abby Trzeciak 2 1-1 5, Katie Brown 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Eagle 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 21 7-10 53.

Deer Lakes 7 16 9 6—38Seneca Valley 20 11 9 13—533-point goals: Deer Lakes 6 (Casello 3, Babincak 2, N. Kearns); Seneca Valley 4 (Geiger 2, Vandrak, Fullerton).

Saturday: Riverside vs. Deer Lakes, 4:30 p.m. (Consolation); Hampton vs. Seneca Valley, 7:30 p.m. (Championship)