The Seneca girls basketball team got off to a slow start in Saturday’s championship of the Falcon-Irish Thanksgiving Tournament against Peoria Manual, trailing by as many as 14 points in the opening quarter.

The host Fighting Irish hung tough, cutting the disadvantage to five with just under six minutes remaining, but eventually dropped a 40-28 decision to the Rams.

“This week was all about seeing the girls playing hard and in all the right spots in the things we want to do. We are doing both of those things,” Seneca coach Josh Myers said. “I like what I saw and like how we battled in these first four games this week. We’re on the right track.

“About midway through the fourth quarter, we cut it to five, but then had two missed layups in between a defensive stop. If we convert on those two chances, we put a little pressure on them and grab the momentum.

“It just didn’t work out for us tonight.”

Seneca (3-1) - which shot a chilly 7-of-41 [17%] from the field and committed 25 turnovers - was led by all-tournament selections Graysen Provance (14 points, six rebounds) and Tessa Krull (six points, 12 rebounds). Elsa Douglas had four points and three rebounds, Brynlee Hunt grabbed five rebounds, and Kylee Rowley recorded three steals.

Manual (4-0) - which shot 17-of-59 [29%] and held a 47-39 [21-14 offensive] rebound advantage - was led by Breyasia Grayson (15 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks) and Nyanna Payton (10 points, nine rebounds). Grayson and Ma’Kya Maxwell (four points, four rebounds) were named to the all-tournament team.

“We’ve gotten better defensively with every game this week,” Manual coach Holly Nelson said. “We’ve struggled a little with understanding our rotations, but today I thought we did a good job with that. We have a deep bench, so the message is work hard on the defensive end, and if you get tired we have someone who can come in and give you a break and not really miss a beat.

“We came out strong right from the start, but we knew Seneca was going to keep fighting, and they did. We were able to make plays throughout the game when we needed to.

“That was a very scrappy team we were able to beat today. They just kept coming after us.”

Manual used a 12-0 burst - six points from Payton and 3-pointers by Grayson and Aniah Douglas - to push out to a 16-2 lead in the first quarter, while a trio of Grayson hoops helped the Rams hold a 24-16 margin at halftime.

The teams played even in the third, but a free throw by Rowley and triple by Provance with 5 minutes, 48 seconds remaining cut the Rams lead to 33-28.

From there, a layup by Payton and old fashion three-point play by Grayson helped close out the Rams’ victory.

“To beat a team like Peoria Manual, who puts a lot of pressure on the ball and has good post players and guards, you have to make shots, and some tough shots as well,” Myers said. “We missed a bunch of open shots and just turned over the ball too much.”

Seneca is back in action Tuesday when it hosts St. Bede in a Tri-County Conference opener.