In a nice early season girls basketball matchup the Red Raiders defensive pressure proved to be the difference turning Hoosic Valley over throughout, paving the way for the 54-40 victory Wednesday night in Mechanicville.

With a good crowd on hand the two squads treated the fans to a fast paced first period. Raider guard Sammy Pasinella got things started, drilling a three from the top for half of her six points in the quarter.

Early in the period Hoosic Valley’s Jessica Espey bottomed a pair of jumpers , her second giving the Indians a 7-3 advantage four minutes in.

Over the next three minutes Mechanicville went on a 14-2 run led by Charli Goverski who scored nine points in the spurt including a triple with 1:00 left giving the Raiders a 17-9 lead.

But the Valley scored the final four points of the frame on buckets by Renee Serafin and Lauren Paul trimming Mechanicville’s cushion to 17-13.

Defense was the theme in the second quarter with the two squads scoring just nine points combined and the Raiders took a 22-17 lead into intermission.

Hoosic Valley scored four quick points to start the third on an Alex Rifenburg putback and a driving deuce by Sam Lanoue only to be answered by a Jada Brown bucket and an Amy DiSiena score for Mechanicville.

Midway through the period the Raiders used a 7-0 run on a DiSiena putback and five straight points from Goverski to extend the lead to 36-25 with 3:36 left in the period.

Six points from Serafin to close the quarter kept the Valley within reach, trailing 40-31 heading to the final eight minutes.

The Raiders looked to end things with a 6-0 spurt to start the quarter.  A Kelsey Harrington bucket followed by a Brown jumper and a Pasinella lay-up forced the Valley to take a timeout down 46-31 with 6:26 remaining.

But the Indians own a championship pedigree for a reason, putting together a run of their own over the next three minutes, and when Serafin converted a pair of free throws at the 3:31 mark the Mechanicville lead was trimmed to 48-40.

But in this game of runs the Raiders owned the last one outscoring Hoosic Valley 7-0 the rest of the way, posting the well earned “W”, their second in as many outings.

Serafin and Rifenburg with 12 points each led the Indians who go to 3-1 on the year and will be in action Friday night when the play host to the Witches of Greenwich.

Goverski with 19 points and Pasinella with 12 paced the Raiders who will visit Stillwater next Wednesday night for a run with the Warriors.