There’s a whole lot of gift giving going on these days.

After all, tis the season to be jolly.

Right now, if the Tamaqua girls basketball team could receive one of those gifts it would be to cut down on its turnovers.

That area was more than a sore point Friday evening against visiting Pine Grove in both team’s Division 1 Schuylkill League opener. It was the Raiders’ Achilles’ heel, and it showed in dropping a 56-27 decision.

“We almost had as many turnovers as we had baskets, and that’s pretty tough to do,” said Tamaqua head coach Erika Davis, as her team fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Actually, the Raiders nearly had as many turnovers (24) as they had points, finishing the evening with just 11 baskets.

There was a glimmer of brightness, but the clouds kept moving in as the game moved onward.

Tamaqua fell behind early, 9-3, as the Cardinals (3-1; 1-0) received six points from junior Kailen Felty. The Raiders’ hardworking sophomore Lorelei Plasha answered with four points and senior McKenna Meckes also got into the scoring act.

However, Tamaqua still faced a 13-9 deficit after the first quarter, which only grew when the Cardinals’ Mikaili Donmoyer - who led all scorers with 18 points - buried a threeball to open the second frame.

The Raiders did come to life, reeling off eight of the next 10 points to close the gap to 18-17. Plasha had six points in the rally and teammate Trenyce Wingler added a pair of free throws to cut the margin to a point.

But then things started to cave in. Pine Grove quickly seized the moment by going on a 10-point run for a 28-17 halftime lead. Sophomore Marissa Stewart was the main force, scoring six of her 17 points in the rally.

“We were able to make some shots, and we’ve been (stressing) attack the basket,” Cardinal mentor Kyler Burke said. “They were giving us some inside shots, so we had to work on their zone and attack it, which we did in that second and third quarter.”

The Cardinals never left the pedal off the gas, flooring it and pushing the lead to 41-25 after three quarters. The winners were sparked by Donmoyer, as she poured in six of her team’s 13 points in the frame.

“She’s so good, so athletic, a very impressive player,” said Davis about the Pine Grove guard. “I really like the way Lorelei (Plasha) played tonight. She’s a sophomore and now has three consecutive very good games for us.”

SHOOTING FROM THE HIP … Pine Grove went 23-of-55 from the floor and were even off the glass with Tamaqua, with both sides having 33 rebounds.

GETTING THERE … Plasha led her team with nine points, with senior teammate Meckes adding seven.

DOUBLE DIP … Tamaqua fell in the JV game by a 17-15 score.

PINE GROVE

Wolff 1-1-4-3, Koons 1-0-0-3, Donmoyer 6-2-2-18, Felty 3-0-0-6, Butler 0-0-0-0, Zimmerman 1-0-0-2, Haines-Schneck 0-1-2-1, Stewart 8-0-0-17, Becher 0-0-0-0, Dorson 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 23-4-8-56.

TAMAQUA

Robb, K. 0-0-0-0, Jones, A. 0-0-0-0, Streisel 0-0-0-0, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Fannock 0-0-0-0, Plasha, S. 0-0-0-0, Jones 1-1-2-3, Meckes 3-0-0-7, Robb, G. 0-0-0-0, Wingler 2-2-2-6, Hope 0-0-2-0, Plasha, L. 4-1-2-9, Scott 0-0-0-0, Werner 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 11-4-8-27.

Pine Grove 13 15 13 15 - 56

Tamaqua 9 8 8 2 - 27

Three-pointers: Pine Grove - Donmoyer 4, Koons 1, Stewart 1; Tamaqua - Meckes 1.