GREENCASTLE — Now, it matters.

The quest for a state berth begins tonight for the Greencastle-Antrim girls’ basketball team, as the Blue Devils host East Pennsboro in the first round of the District 3-AAA playoffs.Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Behind a record of 20-3, G-A enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed, thus earning a home game against the 13th-seeded Panthers (14-8).

Considering the circumstances, the Blue Devils are certainly viewed as the favorites. Not to mention a 56-43 G-A victory when the two squads met during the regular season in Enola.Still, this isn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

“They’re a very solid team,” Blue Devil head coach Mike Rhine said. “They’re battle tested and have a great coach that I have a lot of respect for. When you look at their schedule, they’ve beaten everyone that we’ve beaten. Now they get another shot at us, so we need to be ready to go.

”Undoubtedly, much of the Panthers focus will be on trying to stop sophomore sensation Jenay Faulkner, who leads the Blue Devils averaging 17.4 points per game. In the teams’ earlier meeting, Faulkner netted a game-high 21 points, marking one of seven times she’s scored 20 or more points this season.

Hannah Crist (11.3 PPG) also had a strong showing with 15 points back on Jan. 3 while Katie Gelsinger (8.9 PPG) served as a third Blue Devil to reach double figures, finishing with 11.

Without question, G-A’s ‘big three’ will be front and center immediately following tonight’s tip.

“Defensively, they try to make you shoot jump shots,” Rhine said. “They’re going to let you catch and shoot it, but they try to prevent any kind of inside penetration. It’s going to be critical for us to knock down those open shots when we get them.

”An additional concern is a week-long layoff from action, as the Blue Devils last faced live competition in the Mid-Penn semifinals against Palmyra eight days ago.“We’ve been working on all of our special situations, basically the ‘what-if’ scenarios,” Rhine explained. “We’ve watched four or five of East Penn’s games and we feel like, at this point, we’re pretty much ready for anything.

Once the game starts though, I guess we’ll find out.”On the offensive end, the Panthers lean heavily on the play of their guards, with Danielle Kreiger serving as the headliner averaging 11 points per game. Complementing Kreiger are the likes of Taylor Fries and Amber Grob, who Rhine expects to shoulder the responsibility of shadowing Faulkner.

“We’re bigger than they are, so we have an advantage there,” Rhine said. “We also have the confidence knowing we’ve beaten them before, but you have to be careful not being over-confident. We’re also excited to be at home, but it’s a playoff game. The bottom line is we have to come out and execute. If we play to our potential, I like our chances.”

The winner of tonight’s contest will face either Lancaster Catholic or Lampeter-Strasburg in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. A victory also guarantees at least three more games, as seven of tonight’s eight first-round winners will ultimately advance to the PIAA tournament.