The youthful Neshannock High girls basketball team scored a signature victory last night.

The Lady Lancers made just enough plays down the stretch to secure a 49-46 WPIAL Section 2-AA home victory over Riverside.

Neshannock (4-4 section, 8-10 overall) has 11 players on its roster, nine of whom are freshmen. The Lady Panthers (8-2, 14-4) are ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class AA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and No. 7 in the state in Class AA by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

“I didn’t see nerves at all; they were focused,” Lady Lancers coach Luann Grybowski said of her team. “They followed the game plan to a T.

“It was an all-around team effort. It was really a nice win. It really shows the kids they can play with the best teams in the section.”

Neshannock led by nine points with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Grybowski called a timeout and instructed her team to spread the floor. But the Lady Panthers recorded a pair of steals and turned them into easy buckets, cutting the deficit to five.

The Lady Lancers made just one field goal in the final quarter — a 3-pointer by freshman Tayler Grybowski — while going 6 of 15 at the foul line in the period. Grybowski, the coach’s daughter, put Neshannock up 48-46 with 54 seconds left when she split a pair of free throws.

Alexandra Fischer split a pair of freebies with 0.5 seconds to go to close the scoring.

“This is something to build on,” Luann Grybowski said. “They know when they play well. We had a couple of breakdowns, but not nearly as many as we’ve had.”

The Lady Lancers are in fifth place in the section. New Brighton (5-5, 9-7) holds the fourth and final playoff spot including a season sweep of Neshannock.

“Those losses to New Brighton hurt,” Grybowski said. “We don’t go to the playoffs if we tie (New Brighton).

“We have four section games left. We just have to take care of what we can do. We only have control of who we’re playing and that’s all we can control right now.”

Madison McHale netted a game-high 23 points for the Lady Lancers, 11 of her points came in the third quarter. She fouled out with 2:20 remaining.

“We held our ground without Madison out there,” Grybowski said.

Marissa DeMatteo chipped in with 11 markers and four assists for Neshannock. Fischer pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds to go with her six points and Tayler Grybowski snared eight boards with her four markers. Erin Warvell added seven rebounds.

Alex Deep paced Riverside with 21 points.

Both teams struggled at the foul line. The Lady Lancers were 15 of 24 and Riverside was 15 of 25.

Neshannock was 14 of 42 from the field, compared to 15 of 57 for the Lady Panthers. The Lady Lancers committed a season-low 10 turnovers.