East Union looked the part of a No. 3 seed Wednesday when the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls basketball playoffs tipped off, soundly defeating No. 14 Lathrop, 64-32.

Sophomore point guard Nylah Dyson made an impact in many ways, finishing with 17 points, three rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block. Donnese Payne added eight points, 18 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Ten different Lancers contributed to the scoring, and they limited Lathrop (17-12) to single digits in three quarters.

“Our defense was really good, and we passed well,” Dyson said. “Everybody got involved, so that was really good. I try to get my teammates involved. Everybody works hard, so it’s good to reward them.”

Out of 25 field goals made for East Union (24-5), 16 were assisted. The Valley Oak League co-champion also dominated on the boards, 42-24.

Alexa Zuniga contributed 10 points and four rebounds, while Mariela Navarro chimed in with nine points and five boards.

The two Manteca Unified rivals previously met in the Tracy Breakfast Lions Tournament title round two months ago, with East Union prevailing, 55-41.

The Lancers were off and running in the playoff opener, scoring the first eight points en route to a commanding 17-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. East Union coach Jim Agostini was proud to see his team lock in from the outset.

“You never know with these lower seeds,” he said. “We respect Lathrop, and Dwayne (Davis) has a done a good job there all these years. They played us pretty tough in the Tracy Tournament finals, so we were expecting a good game. They have (perimeter shooters) who can get hot and you have to honor that, and 5 (Shakara Porter) can get loose.”

Porter, a scrappy sophomore forward, paced the Spartans with 11 points, 13 rebounds and two steals.

Marianna Delgado also scored 11 points, and fellow senior Tatiana Lowery had seven.

With just four seniors graduating, Coach Davis expects his returners to be more battle tested next season.

“Nothing is like live experience,” Davis said. “I played them a lot this year, but we still have a long way to go. There are nine kids coming back next year, and we brought up three of the underclassmen today and let them play, so it’s going to make up the core of what we’re trying to do for next year.

“We had a winning season; we made the playoffs and that’s our goal is to stay relevant and stay focused. The new ones have to learn the Lathrop Spartan way and how hard it is not just to stay on top, but to compete, especially with the teams in this area. We got some talent to work with, so we’ll put it together for next year.”

East Union welcomes 11th-seeded Will C. Wood of Vacaville for a quarterfinal Friday. The Wildcats (18-11) stunned No. 6 Pioneer (25-4) in Woodland, 55-44.