Not bad for what started out as a rebuilding season.

The Seton-LaSalle girls' varsity basketball team finished with a 14-12 overall record in 2007-08 -- after opening up at 1-4 and 4-8.

The Lady Rebels, who were 9-3 in the second half of the season including 6-1 down the home stretch, advanced to the WPIAL playoffs as the third-place team in Section 3AA.

Seton compiled an 8-4 record in section competition to trail only Bishop Canevin and South Park in the final standings.

"We exceeded my expectations. We made the playoffs and we won a playoff game," said Seton's first-year head coach, Bryan Bennett. "That was one of our major goals, to make the playoffs."

The Lady Rebels defeated Quaker Valley, 54-47, in a WPIAL Class AA preliminary round game, then lost, 46-28 to Washington in the first round.

"I think maybe we could have done better against Washington, but we got into foul trouble," said Bennett.

One of the biggest victories of the season -- a 51-50 win over South Park in early January -- propelled the Lady Rebels to their strong second-half showing.

The local squad, which had lost to the Lady Eagles by a 57-31 score earlier in the season, rallied from an 18-5 first-quarter deficit.

South Park won seven of its next eight games then went on to claim the WPIAL Class AA championship.

The Lady Eagles ended up with a 22-9 overall record in 2007-08.

"We beat South Park at our place. There were a lot of big games we won this year," said Bennett. "We had the goal that every team has -- we wanted to stay undefeated at home.

"At the end of the year we were very tough to play on our home court. Towards the end (of the season), we were competitive with any team that we played."

The Seton girls edged Bishop Can-evin, 44-41, after losing to the same team, 62-34, earlier in the season.

The outlook for next year should be extremely bright, as all but two players among the top eight on the team will return in 2008-09.

There was only one senior -- Sam-antha Sanner, a 5-foot-7 forward -- in Seton's starting lineup this season.

She was joined in the frontcourt by Nicole Gielarowski, a 5-7 sophomore, and Jordan Dwyer, a 5-8 freshman.

The starters in the backcourt consisted of Alexa DelGreco, a 5-3 freshman guard, and 5-4 sophomore Molly Tuite and 5-3 freshman Lindsay Rich-ardson, who rotated between the other guard position.

Seton's leading reserves included freshmen Katie Gattuso, a 6-1 center, and Emily Marecic, a 5-7 forward, and Brittany Greer, a 5-6 senior guard.

"Especially for the freshmen, it's a much faster pace at the varsity level, and the girls are more mature," said Bennett. "It took a while to get used to that (faster pace).

"With the talent we have returning, there's a lot of excitement for the girls and for myself. The girls are eager to get back at it. I think we can do some nice things next year."