Greencastle falls to mighty Trinity in Mid-Penn semifinals

By Noah Shatzer

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Facing a tough matchup against the towering Trinity Shamrocks in the Mid-Penn Conference girls basketball semifinals, the goal for the Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils and coach Mike Rhine was to come out of the game with a positive feeling

Despite falling 58-35 to the Capital Division champion Shamrocks (20-2), who won the PIAA District 3 Class 3A title last season, Rhine said that his Blue Devils (14-6), the Colonial champs, achieved their goal.

“We wanted to leave feeling good about something,” he said. “That was our game plan. Come in, do the things we can control, let the chips fall where they may, and feel good about something as we leave. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Greencastle opened the game aggressively, finding gaps in Trinity’s defense for easy baskets. But the Shamrocks began sneaking away from the Blue Devils, ending the first quarter with a 19-10 lead.

Trinity continued to extend its margin in the second quarter, going into the half with a 30-14 lead over Greencastle.

However, the Blue Devils refused to go away, clawing their way back into the game in the early minutes of the third quarter. A trio of 3-pointers, combined with some tough interior defense, helped bring Greencastle to within eight points of the Shamrocks.

Trinity responded with a run of its own to close the third, extending its lead back to 46-22 and holding a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

“I thought we played hard,” Rhine said. “Our deficiencies on offense showed up a little bit, but that’s who we are. We played tough defense, we fought for loose balls, and for the most part, controlled what we could control. And that’s all you can ask for when you play a bigger, stronger and more experienced team.”

Madison Sweitzer led Greencastle with 10 points while Sayge Wilhide and McKenna Rakaczwewski tallied seven points apiece.

Not all is lost for the Blue Devils, as they are slated to face the third-seeded Gettysburg Warriors (18-4) at Gettysburg in the first round of the District 3 tournament on Monday.

“Next week will be tough in a different fashion,” Rhine said. “Gettysburg has a really nice team and mix of players. The good part is we’ve got four or five days to practice. Try and give them something they maybe haven’t seen, try to keep it to the fourth quarter where it’s close and see what happens.”