ENOLA — Size had a lot to do with the final score of a Mid Penn Conference girls basketball semifinal Tuesday evening at East Pennsboro H.S.

Commonwealth Division champion Altoona used its height advantage to build an early lead and the Mountain Lions knocked off the Colonial Division’s Greencastle-Antrim, 46-36.

Shaina Overcash

“They were taller than us and also older, especially in the post,” Blue Devil coach Mike Rhine said. “Out young posts were playing against seniors and they were able to get way too many offensive rebounds, especially early.”

The Mountain Lions (15-8) led only 10-8 after one quarter, but bumped that lead to 25-15 by halftime.

“We missed a lot of shots early that we usually make,” Rhine said.

Greencastle fell further behind early in the third quarter, but got it back to a 32-26 deficit at one point.

Rhine said, “They are a good team. But for us, this was just icing on the cake getting to play a game like this with the intensity and physicality. It was a treat to get to play in this, but our goal is to be focused on playing on all cylinders next Friday.”

Mia Libby led Greencastle in scoring with 18 points and Haley Noblit added 12. Libby and Rylee Henson each had 5 rebounds and Shaina Overcash grabbed 6, while Noblit added 4 assists..

The Blue Devils (20-2) will be the No. 1 seed in District 3 Class 5A when the brackets are released Thursday. As the No. 1 seed, they get a bye in the first round and will have a home game on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.

Altoona will face unbeaten Cedar Cliff in the Mid Penn final on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Cumberland Valley H.S.

Altoona 46, Greencastle 36
Greencastle             8      7    11    10    —    36
Altoona                  10    15    12      9    —    46