BELLWOOD — It was one of the most frustrating nights for the Bellwood-Antis girls basketball team at the most inopportune time.

The Lady Blue Devils got behind the 8-ball with a 10-point deficit after the first quarter, and although they nearly climbed out of it late, No. 5 United was ultimately too much to handle as they knocked off No. 4 Bellwood, 46-37, in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals on Wednesday evening.

Bellwood trimmed the United lead to three points in the fourth quarter after being down by as much as 15 points in the first half.

“The fact that we didn’t put the ball in the basket, and we didn’t play our best — it’s frustrating,” Bellwood-Antis interim coach Jim Swaney said. “I don’t want to dwell on that. I want to congratulate United.

“I need to apologize to this group of kids because I couldn’t get them over that hump. I wish I could have, but I didn’t.”

United (15-8) moves on to play top-seeded Penns Manor on Monday night. Penns Manor had a bye in the quarterfinal round.

“It means a lot to the program and the girls,” United coach Collin Moore said. “This felt like one of the statement wins that I’ve been calling for all year.”

The Lady Lions were notably successful on the defensive end as they held Bellwood 6-2 center Lilly Gerwert to 12 points.

“We put a lot of pressure on our forward Mya Lichtenfels, and she did a great job tonight,” Moore said. “We were just trying to be physical with (Gerwert) as much as possible. We had a good gameplan to kind of speed them up. I give all the credit to the girls. She’s a great player. You have to give her the respect she deserves.”

At the 7:06 mark of the second quarter, United went up 21-6 after a Lichtenfels basket, which was her only points of the night. United didn’t score at all the rest of the quarter, but Bellwood only got six more points until halftime to go to the locker room down 21-12.

After cutting it to seven points by the end of the third quarter, a Maya Plummer layin and a pair of Isabella Sloey free throws cut the Lady Lion lead to three with 6:48 to play.

Later in the period, United’s Emma Burda knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 36-28 with 4:58 left that put a dent in Bellwood’s hopes.

Bellwood never got it any closer. Gerwert and Marissa Cacciotti played in their final games in a Bellwood-Antis uniform.

“(Gerwert) is going to go down as one of the greatest players in the program’s history, and Marissa had a very good high school career,” Swaney said. “I’m sure neither one of them wanted to play the game they wanted to tonight. I can’t say enough about both of them.”

Swaney confirmed after the game that he will go back into retirement once again after taking over midseason for Kyley Longo-McGarvey.

“I love this game. I love the preparation. I love practices and teaching them. I love the games themselves,” Swaney said. “What I don’t love is getting everything organized for the summer, summer leagues, fall open gyms, spring open gyms. I know I don’t have the energy to do that anymore.

“The things our girls had to go through this year are what high school kids shouldn’t have to go through. But they’ve done it with a lot of class and showed a tremendous amount of respect for the game. I’m as proud of them right now as I’ve been with any group of kids.”

Monday’s semifinal game for United will be at Penns Manor with a 7 p.m. tip.

UNITED (46): Worthington 3 4-8 12, Henning 3 0-0 7, Fiochetta 1 0-0 3, McGinnis 5 8-12 19, Lichtenfels 1 0-0 2, Burda 1 0-0 3. Totals — 14 12-20 46.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (37): Cacciotti 0 0-0 0, Plummer 2 0-0 4, Sloey 4 2-3 10, Sweigert 4 1-3 9, L. Gerwert 5 2-3 12, Hammond 1 0-0 2, A. Gerwert 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 5-9 37.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

United 16 5 8 17 — 46

Bellwood-Antis 6 6 10 15 — 37

3-point goals: United 6 (Worthington 2, Henning, Fiochetta, McGinnis, Burda); Bellwood-Antis 0.

Records: United (15-8); Bellwood-Antis (13-10).

Officials: Brad Martz, Ron Williams, Pam Grimminger