POTTSVILLE - It wasn't one thing Line Mountain did wrong in its 78-44 PIAA Class A quarterfinal loss to Steelton-Highspire - that would be too simple, too inaccurate.
Instead, it was a confluence of reasons, big and small, that led up to the Eagles' trip to Martz Hall resulting in a whopping loss and expulsion from the state tournament.
There was Steel-High sophomore Malia Tate-DeFreitas scoring 23 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and making sure her presence was felt in every other statistical category with three blocks, half a dozen steals and a slew of assists.
Add in Line Mountain shooting an abysmal 16 percent (6-for-36) from the floor in the first half.
And to top it off, yes, Steel-High had a distinct height advantage, outrebounding the Eagles by more than a factor of two, 50-22.
"Hey, they're pretty good," Line Mountain head coach Mike Reed said to open his post-game comments.
"They have the quickness, and they have the height. We didn't play real well, but it would have
taken a heck of a lot more than we could put out there to beat them today."
Steel-High opened innocently enough, taking a 4-2 lead, but with Line Mountain missing shots and turning the ball over, the score rocketed to 19-2 with just under three minutes left in the first.
Kasey Long was the only Eagles' player who could find the bottom of the net in the first quarter, scoring seven of her team-high 13 points in the quarter.
"We couldn't buy a bucket early on," Reed said. "It started to look like districts to start. Then we started to try to get more aggressive with it, and they got up and erased some of them completely."
Contrast that to Steel-High, which had six different girls make at least one field goal over the same span.
By the time the second quarter started, the Eagles trailed by 16 points, and that soon grew to 22 after a couple Tate-DeFreitas layups.
The sophomore continued to impress with quickness and court vision that at times belied her age.
"She's not super fast, but she's real quick and she sees everybody," Reed said. "She could be making a move this way, and she's already picked somebody up in the opposite corner on a diagonal that she's going to let the ball fly to.
"If she was just someone who made the passes, that would be one thing, or just someone who could put the ball in the hoop, but she's both."
Line Mountain at times played to Steel-High's level, forcing turnovers and getting to the free-throw line, but every time the Eagles put together a four-point spurt, the Rollers were quick to counter.
"I think we wore them down a little bit, but it was up and down the floor, so we were getting tired to," Reed said. "And we usually don't tire out."
Steel-High moves on to play Delaware County Christian, a 42-37 winner over Tri-Valley, at a site and time to be determined.
Line Mountain, which has already had its annual post-season banquet, ends its season with a 21-8 record, runner-up in both the Tri-Valley League and District 4.
"They were here, in the elite eight, playing in Martz Hall, I told them, 'enjoy it,'" Reed said. "If it was meant to be, then it's meant to be. At least today (Steel-High) was the better team.
"As far as I'm concerned we're tied for fifth in the state because they don't break the tie and three other teams are going to lose today."
For Eagles' seniors Paige Swineford, Kelsey Lagerman and Maggie Fessler, it was their last game.
Lagerman and Swineford scored eight each, while Fessler had her hands full going against Steel-High's Cinnamon Brown, who scored 14 points, mostly on putbacks.
"It's tough to see the seniors go," Reed said. "When they were freshmen, we threw Paige into the fire as the starting point guard. Four years later, look where we're at, and we kind of planned it that way. We had an idea of where we wanted to go and where we would be, but I don't think people ever thought we would get this far.
"I give all the credit to the girls for getting here."
Game Summary
PIAA Class A Quarterfinals
LINE MOUNTAIN (44) - Long 6 0-3 14, Bethge 0 3-4 3, Swineford 1 6-8 8, London 0 0-0 0, M. Lagerman 2 0-0 5, K. Lagerman 4 0-2 8, Whitcomb 1 1-2 3, Lahr 1 0-0 3, Fessler 0 0-0 0, Menko 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 10-19 44.
STEELTON-HIGHSPIRE (78) - Tate-DeFreitas 9 5-7 23, Blanding 0 0-0 0, Hess-Moore 3 0-0 6, Harris-Slade 0 0-0 0, Donald 3 0-0 6, Viera 1 0-2 2, Lozada 0 0-0 0, Hill 5 1-2 11, Brown 7 0-0 14, Sanchez 1 0-0 2, Barley 0 0-0 0, Beadea 1 0-0 2, Hill 1 0-1 2, Anderson 3 0-0 6. Totals 34 8-14 78.
Line Mtn. 9 9 12 14 - 44
Steel-Hi 25 13 24 16 - 78
3-point FGs: Long 2, M. Lagerman, Lahr, Hess-Moore 2.