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HARRISBURG -- The Altoona girls basketball team was looking to play spoiler on Tuesday night against Mechanicsburg in the semifinals of the Mid-Penn Conference playoffs.
The Lady Wildcats entered the game perfect through 22 games of the regular season.
The Lady Lions took control right from the start and never looked back in cruising to a 58-30 win at Central Dauphin East High School.
"I felt we came ready to play from the jump," Altoona coach Chris Fleegle said. "We executed our game plan very well."
Altoona, which moved to 21-2 on the year, advances to play Middletown for the title Thursday at Milton Hershey High School with the tip scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Blue Raiders, who defeated Trinity in the other semifinal game on Tuesday, will enter the title game at 21-2.
The Lady Lions shot out to a 20-5 edge after one quarter of play before claiming the second stanza, 17-10, for a 37-15 halftime lead.
The visitors put together a 12-5 edge in the third frame before narrowly losing the final quarter by a 10-9 difference.
Melana Eyer drilled five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 17 points on the evening for Altoona. Teammate Lanie Wilt buried three from long range and accounted for 15 points, while Zaelihn Nguyen-Moore finished with 11 points in the win.
The Lions made 11 shots from 3-point range on the night as, in addition to the eight combined by Eyer and Wilt, Samantha Harpster hit two and Brionna Hudson had one.
"We shared the ball on offense -- taking great shots rather than settling for contested shots," Fleegle said.
Maycee Yanoski led Mechanicsburg with 11 points.
ALTOONA (58): Cuspert 0 0-0 0, M. Eyer 6 0-0 17, Nguyen-Moore 3 5-6 11, Hudson 3 0-0 7, Heyward 0 0-0 0, Beck 0 0-0 0, Wilt 5 2-2 15, R. Eyer 0 0-0 0, Beltz 0 0-0 0, Lantzy 1 0-0 2, Harpster 2 0-0 6. Totals - 20 7-8 58.
MECHANICSBURG (30): Yanoski 2 5-6 11, Pratt 1 0-0 2, Lebo 4 0-2 8, Sweet 2 1-2 6, Klinger 1 0-0 3. Totals - 10 6-10 30.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Altoona 20 17 12 9 - 58
Mechanicsburg 5 10 5 10 - 30
3-point goals: Altoona 11 (M. Eyer 5, Wilt 3, Harpster 2, Hudson); Mechanicsburg 4 (Yanoski 2, Sweet, Klinger).
Records Altoona (21-2); Mechanicburg (22-1).