NEW TRIPOLI - Pine Grove expended a lot of energy building a double-digit lead in an energetic first quarter Tuesday in its District 11 Class AA semifinal against Salisbury.
Defensively, the Falcons demanded the 19-time district champions use even more juice.
That draining effort eventually took its toll on a much younger and smaller Cardinal squad.
Salisbury shut down Pine Grove in the fourth quarter, settling in offensively as the Cardinal shots started to come up short late in the game. The late drought allowed the second-seeded Falcons to pull away for a 60-49 victory over No. 3 Pine Grove at Northwestern Lehigh.
Salisbury (17-7) earns a state playoff berth and advances to the final against Minersville, a 49-31 winner over Notre Dame-Green Pond, at 6 p.m. Friday at Martz Hall.
The loss ends the season for Pine Grove (14-9) and the career of four-year starter and All-State guard Becky Evans, who finished as the Cardinals' seventh all-time leading scorer with 1,520 points.
Evans certainly went out with a tremendous effort, scoring a game-high 32 points.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it wasn't enough against an experienced and long Salisbury club that features 6-foot-3 junior Meagan Eripret, a recent Lehigh commit, in the post.
Eripret finished with 25 points and 17 rebounds as Salisbury erased an early 12-point deficit to eventually tie the game at 20 in the second quarter.
That comeback overcame a hot start by Pine Grove during which the Cards knocked down a pair of triples and forced eight Falcon turnovers in the first eight minutes to build a 16-6 lead.
"The first quarter was huge," Pine Grove coach Chris George said. "We hit some big shots. We turned them over. But they kept fighting. Give them credit.
"They made a few adjustments, got the ball inside, kept going inside as much as we tried to do some things. We were trying to double (Eripret), even triple her, and when you do that you're going to give some stuff up."
Led by Eripret, Salisbury chipped away and protected the ball much more effectively.
Still, Pine Grove led 28-24 at intermission.
"I thought the difference in the game was, early on, we were able to turn them over and get them out of their stuff. As the game went on, I thought they did a good job of adjusting," George said. "We didn't get them to turn it over. We knew going in if we turned it into a half-court game, we were going to have a hard time with their big girl."
Kelly Gonoude provided the Falcons with a boost, knocking down three triples on the way to 11 points to aid Eripret from the perimeter. Then Lindsay Bauer started getting to the bucket to take some of the pressure off Eripret in the post by drawing help-side defense.
"We fought. We fought as long as we could," George said. "That size ... that size is going to wear you down.
"We tried to focus in pregame on this wasn't going to be Becky versus Meagan. ... If you watched the game, I thought their supporting cast really stepped up. Hit a couple big shots. Grabbed a couple big rebounds."
Pine Grove tied it at 42 on an Evans 3-pointer to end the third quarter, then took its final lead at 44-42 with 5:49 left in the game.
From that point, Pine Grove went scoreless for 3 minutes, 29 seconds. The Cardinals went without a field goal for 5 minutes, 25 seconds as the Falcons built a 58-46 edge with 1:06 left to put it away.
The loss ends Evans' stint on the Pine Grove roster, leaving her as one of the Cardinals' all-time greats.
This season, Evans, who will attend Mansfield University, helped lead a Pine Grove squad that lost four starters within one loss of a return trip to the Schuylkill League playoffs and back to districts.
"I used to coach boys' hoops and football, too. She's the greatest competitor I've ever been around," George said. "They obviously don't measure heart of a basketball player by inches. I think people saw the best player this league has seen in a long, long time - regardless of position - play her last high school game tonight.
"Mansfield is very lucky. Nobody has dominated games the way she has for four years in this league on both ends of the floor. She will be missed not just by us, but by the rest of the fans in this area."