Blue Devils hold off L-S to reach District 3 fifth-place game

By Ed Gotwals on 3/1/22

GREENCASTLE — Greencastle-Antrim had a good first half to take a lead against Lampeter-Strasburg, then played well enough in the second half to maintain its advantage.

Haley Noblit

The result was a 45-38 victory over the Pioneers in a District 3 Class 5A girls basketball consolation semifinal game Tuesday night at G-A. The win pushes the Blue Devils (19-4) into a Friday night home game against Twin Valley (16-9) for fifth place in the district. Twin Valley edged West York 41-39 on Tuesday.

“We felt disappointed over the weekend (after losing in the quarterfinals last Friday), but tonight we looked a little looser, like the pressure was off some,” Greencastle coach Mike Rhine said. “We said we wanted to give our fans two more good performances in home games, and then go onto states and see what we can do.”

The Blue Devils started strong, outscoring Lampeter-Strasburg (15-10) in the first quarter, 14-5, and then increasing that lead to 12 points (27-15) by halftime. G-A was 5-for-13 from behind the arc in the opening half.

“Haley (Noblit) and Rylee (Henson) got us started,” Rhine said, “and Mia (Libby) played a good all-around game, especially directing the defense. Haley got a few baskets on run-outs and some good outside looks, and she and Mia did a nice job of seeing their defense — when they switched to man-to-man we attacked them inside.”

Noblit finished with 17 points, 7 assists and 4 steals. Libby scored 11 and added 9 rebounds and 3 steals, Henson added 8 points and Lauren Pool had 6 rebounds and blocked 4 shots.

“We looked like we were close to knocking them out several times, but they hung in there,” Rhine said.

The Pioneers outscored Greencastle 15-9 in the third to get within six points, but the Blue Devils scored two quick baskets to open the fourth and stretch the lead again.

“We played well; I was happy with the result,” Rhine said. “The only bad thing is that Henson got hurt in a collision under the basket in the second half, and we don’t know what her status will be for Friday.”