For the past two days, Schenley girls' basketball coach Debbie Lewis preached to her players the importance of slowing down Mt. Lebanon, and trying to invoke the Blue Devils into a half-court style of play.

But once the clock started, Mt. Lebanon decided it would much rather turn the contest into its own personal track meet.

Running from the opening tip, Mt. Lebanon used superior depth and a lethal transition game to sprint past Schenley, 74-42, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal last night at Chartiers Valley. The Blue Devils (27-3) advanced to Tuesday's western final against West Lawn Wilson (29-3), a 58-37 winner against Methacton.

Against Schenley, the Blue Devils never allowed the Spartans to get into a rhythm and used an 18-3 run at the beginning of the contest to jump start what would eventual become their highest scoring output of the season.

"We thought if we had an advantage it would be our inside play, so we needed to slow the game down and work the ball inside," Lewis said "And we didn't. We got caught up in a track meet, and that hurt us."

Also hurting Schenley (24-5) was getting caught up in a "numbers game." Eleven Mt. Lebanon players scored, including four who reached double figures, led by Megan Quirk's 12 points.

"We're a team that likes to transition and play real aggressive defense, so having that depth helps out a lot because we don't get tired and we can sub in and not miss a beat," said Mt. Lebanon's Jackie Babe, who finished with 11 points.

About the only bright spot for Schenley was the play of junior standout Markel Walker, who scored a game-high 21 points, despite playing with an injured left hand.

Mt. Lebanon will be making its first PIAA semifinal appearance since 2000.

• Bishop McCort 59, Greensburg Central Catholic 40: Trailing by just two at the half, the Centurions (19-9) were outscored 28-11 the rest of the way in a loss to District 6 runner-up Bishop McCort (29-2) at Saint Vincent College. Erica Keto (13), Megan DePremio (13) and Lauren DePalma (12) combined to score all but two points for the Centurions, who made only 13 of 53 field-goal attempts.