It took 24 games for someone to slay the dragon known as the Lady Knights basketball team.

Norwin's undefeated march came to an end earlier this week in the final game of the regular season as the Lady Knights dropped a 66-53 decision to Woodland Hills (17-7), the co-champions of Section 2-AAAA.

Norwin, now ranked 10th in the state by the Harrisburg Patriot-News, finished the regular season 23-1 overall and 14-0 in Section 1-AAAA, which earned them a section championship.

The Lady Knights were rewarded for their nearly perfect regular season last night at the WPIAL pairings meeting, as they were given the top seed in the tournament and a matchup against Seneca Valley (10-4), the fourth place team from Section 3-AAAA.

The game will be played Saturday at North Hills, beginning at 3 p.m.

"We don't know too much about them, other than they're a pretty young team," coach Bob Shrader said.

Seneca Valley enters the playoffs with wins in four of its last five games, including triumphs over section North Hills and Shaler Area to reach the postseason.

With a victory, Norwin will take on the winner of Latrobe (14-10) and Oakland Catholic (14-10). It was Oakland Catholic that ousted Norwin from the WPIAL playoffs last season.

"We need to do our thing, just play our game,"Shrader said. "We obviously want to get Lindsey (Loutsenhizer) the ball, play good defense, and that will take you pretty far."

Against Woodland Hills, Norwin trailed by one point at halftime, 30-29. The Lady Knights were down four heading into the fourth quarter, but the Lady Wolverines scored 17 of the final 21 points to seal the 66-53 win.

Woodland Hills got a 30-point performance from Nakia DeBlanc and 23 from Jamie Smith.

Leading the Lady Knights was Loutsenhizer, who scored 27 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Senior Casey Batey added 11, but Norwin was shorthanded as it played without sophomore guard Nicky Costabile, who was out with a knee injury.

"We need Nicky back. I don't know if we'll have her for the first round or not," the coach said.

"We need Nicky for the long run. In the short term, we're still not bad."

Norwin also earned wins over neighborhood rival Penn-Trafford (6-18, 4-10) in the section finale and Mt. Pleasant (17-6) at the Westmoreland County Hoopfest held at Greensburg Central Catholic.

P-T offered a scare in the first half as the Lady Warriors held a 22-19 lead at halftime. Norwin switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone in the second half and held P-T to just four points en route to the 44-26 win.

Loutsenhizer again led the scoring with 18 points, and junior Emily Duncan contributed 14.

For a look at all of the pairings and brackets, visit www.wpial.org.