By Ed Gotwals

 

COLONIAL PARK >> Greencastle-Antrim had a wildly successful girls basketball season come to an end Tuesday night — one win shy of advancing to the PIAA Tournament — when the Blue Devils faced an almost impenetrable Palmyra defense.

 

G-A made huge leaps this year, but it got a glimpse of the level it must attain if it wants to go even further next year.

 

The Cougars' defense caused 32 turnovers, forced the Blue Devils into 9-for-40 shooting and was the deciding factor in a 45-26 District 3 Class AAA consolation victory at CD East.

 

Palmyra (21-4) will play Berks Catholic (19-6) for fifth place on Thursday, while Greencastle finishes with a 22-3 record — the best in program history.

 

"We beat a really good Greencastle team," Palmyra coach Ron Berman said. "We just took them out of their sets and we made them shoot while moving."

 

Blue Devil coach Mike Rhine said, "Clearly, if we want to win against teams like this, we need to get better. We're not strong enough yet on the ball. And they do things on defense we want to be able to do."

 

Palmyra's 19 steals proved that.

 

The Cougars played tight man-to-man defense with plenty of help when needed, were quick enough to make straight steals, got their hands in the passing lanes to deflect balls and were physical without fouling.

 

That added up to a nightmare for the Greencastle offense.

 

Rhine said, "They are just so solid on defense. The game plan was to dribble drive and create kickouts, and we thought we could back door them. But when those didn't work, we didn't keep after it. We just reverted to what we usually do and that's not good enough against them."

 

Actually, Greencastle started the game well. It hit three of its first five shots and led 8-5 less than three minutes into the first quarter. But that turned out to be nearly a third of the team's total for the game. The Devils did not score again for nearly eight minutes, until Chloe Hoover dropped in a 3-pointer with 4:38 left before halftime.

 

A pair of foul shots by Jenay Faulkner brought G-A to within 18-13, but the Cougars ran off the half's final seven points to lead 25-13 at the break.

 

"That end of the second was devastating to us," Rhine said. "It's one thing to be trailing by 12, but it's quite another to be down 12 and you've only scored 13 to that point."

 

Palmyra's Maria Tukis was overwhelming on defense against Greencastle point guard Hannah Crist. Tukis had five steals, forced several more turnovers and limited Crist to 0-for-9 shooting after she had popped in a 3-pointer on her first attempt.

 

"I usually take the other team's point guard," Tukis said. "Our coaches do a great job of scouting teams and we had a six-page scouting report on Greencastle. Coach always says you can win regular season games with your offense, but defense wins games in the playoffs."

 

Rhine said, "They put their best defender on Hannah, which was smart. That girl has long arms and she's always on you."

 

Berman said, "Maria is a great defender and she also gave us some points tonight (12). She's as good of a ball defender as I've coached."

 

Kristen Smoluk, who led the Cougars with 13 points, mostly guarded Faulkner and held her to 3-for-15 shooting. Faulkner did lead G-A with 11 points.

 

Any thoughts Greencastle had of making a comeback were dashed in the third quarter. Palmyra scored only nine points in the period, but it was nightmare for the Blue Devils.

 

In the first 3:20 of the period, G-A did not score, got off only three shots and made nine turnovers. Its only points of the quarter came on a Faulkner three with 2:26 left and by that time, Palmyra led 32-16.

 

And ... Palmyra was playing without its best player, Carly Richardson, who is suffering from an ankle injury. The Cougars fell to West Perry in the quarterfinals on Saturday, with Richardson in a very limited role.

 

Tukis said, "We did not want that to be Carly's last game."

 

"I was as proud of the girls tonight as I was at any point in the season," Berman said, "and almost as proud of them as I was when we won districts last year. The kids did not want the season to end."

 

For Greencastle, falling just short of states may be extra motivation for next year. The Devils lose only one player, Hoover, to graduation.

 

"We got a lot of experience in the playoffs," Rhine said. "The teams we played at the end of the season showed us where we need to get to."