It's nearly impossible to identify one single reason why the Mt. Lebanon girls' basketball team extended its undefeated season on the WPIAL's grandest stage Saturday night.

Take your pick.

Some will point to the dominating defense. Others will say it was the steady, efficient offense. Maybe it was taking the commanding early lead. Or perhaps the huge third-quarter run.

All of the selections, in fact, are correct. And each of them lead to one distinguished designation.

For the first time in school history, the Blue Devils girls are WPIAL champions.

In what was arguably the most one-sided contest of championship weekend, the Blue Devils (26-0) put together a masterful effort, defeating Fox Chapel, 50-24, in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game at Duquesne University's A.J. Palumbo Center.

"Surreal," senior Emily Miller said. "I'm pumped. The Mt. Lebanon girls have never won a championship, and now we have a banner on the wall."

Against a Fox Chapel team (20-5) that's pretty talented in its own right, the Blue Devils formed a wall the Foxes could never break through or scale. One that set its foundation from the get-go, as the Blue Devils raced to a 7-0 lead and kept the Foxes off the scoreboard until the 2:29 mark of the first quarter.

"We needed to get off to a good start and it didn't go as well as we planned," Fox Chapel coach Rich Mull said.

Defensively, the Blue Devils were nearly impenetrable. It was a lockdown that started early and continued until the final buzzer. The Foxes shot a miserable 23 percent from the field, scored only 10 points in the first half and were unable to reach double-digits in any quarter.

The defensive effort was nothing new for the Blue Devils, who allowed an average of 28 points in four playoff games and has surrendered more than 40 points only three times this season.

"Our five starters can mark anyone. And if somebody gets in foul trouble, we have someone else who can take their place and defend just as well as they can," said Miller.

Trailing, 25-10, at halftime, the Foxes knew any comeback attempt would need to include an early third-quarter surge. And they got just that, scoring the first seven points to pull within eight.

Shortly thereafter, with the score 29-19, Mt. Lebanon coach Dori Oldaker called a timeout in which she told her players to keep their composure. The Blue Devils responded by scoring the next 13 points to put the game out of reach.

All but one Mt. Lebanon starter scored during the run, a testament to the Blue Devils' well-rounded offense. Not even a quiet scoring night from junior Jess Babe (four points) could derail the Blue Devils, as they placed a trio of players in double figures, all of whom did their damage at different times.

Junior Lauren Arbogast scored 12 of her game-high 14 points in the first half, including six in a first quarter which Oldaker called her "almost unstoppable." Miller (13 points) tallied six of the team's first eight points in the third quarter and sophomore Madison Cable (11 points) netted six in the fourth quarter.

"We don't focus on just one player scoring for us," Oldaker said. "We need everybody. It's everybody buying into our program."

Asked where this team ranks among the ones she's coached -- a pair of WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA champions at Blackhawk included -- Oldaker withheld any type of specific praise.

"It's too early to try to compare them to other teams," she said. "I love this team just as much as I love all my other teams. But just the chemistry that we have right now, it's unbelievable."

The Blue Devils open the PIAA playoffs at 6 p.m. tomorrow at North Hills with a first-round game against Section 4-AAAA rival Baldwin, who defeated Hollidaysburg, 54-35, Tuesday. They'll do so with a sense of accomplishment few can relate to.

Said Miller: "I'm just so happy and proud of our team. We really deserved this"