WAYNESBORO — After a first quarter in which nothing seemed to fall, James Buchanan outscored Greencastle-Antrim 16-5 and pulled to within one point late in the second quarter.

Lauren Pool

But the Blue Devils scored the last five points on the quarter, then steadily pulled away from the Rockets in the second half to earn a 55-36 girls basketball victory in the opening game of the Franklin County Tip-Off Tournament at Waynesboro on Friday afternoon.

G-A will play Waynesboro in the championship game on Saturday around 4:30 p.m. JB will face Chambersburg at 3 p.m. Saturday for third place.

James Buchanan made only one of 17 shots in the first period, with the Greencastle defense preventing many good looks. That allowed the Blue Devils to build a 14-2 lead after one.

But in the second quarter, Kaleigh Hartman and MacKenzie Stoner scored inside buckets and later Macy Mummert and Carly Sollenberger hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get JB back in play. But, after a timeout, G-A’s Lauren Pool scored on a layup on a called play to bump the lead to 21-18, and then the Rockets made a mistake when they fouled Haley Noblit, who was trying a desperation shot from over half court as the clock ticked its final second of the half.

Noblit drained all three free throws to make the score 24-18 and James Buchanan never got close again.

Another layup off a called play by Pool and a fast break layup by Noblit opened the third quarter and two free throws by Mia Libby made it 30-20. The Rockets never got any closer.

As the fouls piled up for both teams, a big discrepancy at the foul line made it tough for JB to make up the deficit. While Greencastle sank 13 of 21 free throws in the second half (19-for-28 overall), the Rockets connected on only 1 of 7 foul shots, and 3 of 12 for the game.

Pool led the Blue Devils with 19 points, Noblit scored 18 and Libby put up 11. For James Buchanan, Hartman and Sollenberger each posted 10 points.

Greencastle-Antrim 55, James Buchanan 37
GREENCASTLE
Haley Noblit 5 8-11 18, Mia Libby 2 6-9 11, Rylee Henson 1 0-0 3, Lauren Pool 6 4-6 19, Shaina Overcash 1 0-0 3, Aubrey Smith 0 0-0 0, Ainsley Swindell 0 1-2 1, Meadow Gambacurta 0 0-0 0, Kiersten Britner 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 19-28 55.
JAMES BUCHANAN
Grace Egli 0 0-4 0, Carly Sollenberger 4 1-2 10, MacKenzie Stoner 1 2-2 4, Campbelle Dayley 3 0-0 6, Kaleigh Hartman 5 0-2 10, Ashley Alfree 0 0-0 0, Isabelle Hoffeditz 1 0-1 3, Macy Mummert 1 0-0 3, Sophia Stoner 0 0-1 0. Totals 15 3-12 36.
Greencastle                14    10    18   13    —    55
James Buchanan         2    16     9      9    —    36
3-point shots — GA 4 (Libby, Henson, Pool, Overcash); JB 3 (Sollenberger, Hoffeditz, Mummert).