SCRANTON — The Greencastle-Antrim girls’ basketball team defeated Scranton Prep, 43-42, in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA tournament in a game held at Scranton High School on Saturday night.

The game was played 1.1 miles from the campus of Scranton Prep, giving the Classics as close to a home game as a team can get for a state tournament.

But after falling behind 11-3 after the first quarter and 24-9 at halftime (in which the Blue Devils were 0-12 from the 3-point arc), G-A’s perimeter shooting suddenly got going.

Trailing 24-10 early in the third quarter, the Blue Devils capitalized on three straight Scranton Prep turnovers and converted all three possessions into 3-point field goals to draw to within 26-19 with 5:38 left to play in the period.

Hannah Crist made the first and third trifecta, while Jenay Faulkner connected on the second of three three-pointers.

It was 28-19 after Scranton Prep’s Holly Daveski made a pair of free throws, and after a G-A turnover, Calista Kline scored to make it 30-19.

G-A’s Meghan Hirneisen made her team’s fourth three-pointer of the quarter, but Kathleen Rose and Julia Sirotnak each made layups to extend the lead back to double digits at 34-22.

G-A missed a three-point attempt on its next possession but got the ball back and Faulkner drained a trey to bring the deficit back to under 10 points at 34-25.

Jillian Paulus made two free throws to make it 36-25. Both teams traded possessions without being able to score until Faulkner stole the ball and then arched a shot from three to make it 36-28 after the third quarter.

G-A, which finished 9 for 28 from the three-point arc, continued to build its momentum in the fourth quarter as Faulkner followed up two missed Blue Devil shots with a three-pointer and all of a sudden it was a five-point game, 36-31.

Two possessions later, G-A’s Faulkner once again hit from the land of three to cut the deficit to 36-34 and prompted a Scranton Prep time out with 5:08 left to play in the game.

Crist scored a layup off a Morgan Wagaman steal to give the Blue Devils a 38-36 lead. Faulkner pulled down a defensive rebound at the other end, and following a Scranton Prep foul, Crist made a three-pointer to give G-A a 41-36 lead with 2:33 remaining.

It was the Blue Devils’ ninth three-point field goal of the game.

Tiffany Powell made a layup and Kline made one of two foul shots to draw the Classics to within 41-39 with 1:26 left in the game.

G-A missed a three-pointer but Madison Sweitzer got the rebound and was fouled. She missed both free throws, but Scranton Prep turned the ball over with 57 seconds left. Crist was fouled at the other end but missed the attempt.

The Classics called time out, and moments later, Cline sank a three-pointer to give Scranton Prep a 42-41 lead.

Then, with 8.9 seconds to go, Crist was fouled and made both of her attempts to give G-A a 43-42 lead.

Faulkner blocked a shot by Alaina Weston with 2.7 seconds left, and after G-A called a time out, the Blue Devils fouled Sirotnak with 0.9 seconds to play. It was G-A’s sixth team foul, and the Classics failed to score to end the game.

G-A will play Gwynedd-Mercy on Wednesday in a second round game with a site and time to be determined.