Mt. Lebanon girls give good showing vs. one of country's top teams

By Mike White | Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009, 3:45 p.m.

The Mt. Lebanon girls' basketball team played one of the top teams in the country this afternoon, and the Blue Devils put up a good fight before falling to St. Mary's, Calif., 61-52.

The game was part of the T-Mobile Invitational in Alabama. St. Mary's is ranked among the top five teams in the country in a few different polls and has players going to Duke and California.

Watching the game on TV, Mt. Lebanon did many good things against St. Marys. Mt. Lebanon didn't look out of place at all against this team. St. Mary's pressed full-court pretty much the entire game. The funny thing was Mt. Lebanon did an excellent job at breaking the press. The problem was what Mt. Lebanon did after breaking the press.

Mt. Lebanon made many poor decisions after breaking the press. According to the TV stats crew, Mt. Lebanon had 38 turnovers. That's not a misprint. THIRTY EIGHT.

But Mt. Lebanon shouldn't be too down. The Blue Devils showed themselves well. They trailed by only two at one point in the third quarter and sliced the margin to five with only two minutes left. I don't see anyone in Western Pennsylvania beating them.