FAIRVIEW — Grove City girls basketball coach T.L. Eller was all smiles as she emerged from the locker room following her team's District 10 Class AAA quarterfinal.

It wasn't because the Eagles pulled off an upset of undefeated Mercyhurst Prep.

Eller was simply happy to see her team execute the game plan against the top-ranked team in the state.

The talented Lakers cruised to a 48-26 win over Grove City on Saturday at Fairview High School.

“We're extremely pleased,” said Eller. “I know it sounds funny to lose 48-26 and be pleased, but that's a very good basketball team.

“It's great experience for a bunch of young kids,” added Eller. “We're losing two seniors that are going to be greatly missed, but we have a lot of young kids.”

Grove City (14-9) slowed down Mercyhurst (23-0) for the first four minutes of the game, trailing just 4-2 midway through the first quarter.

The talented Lakers were just too much.

“They're so fast and they have so much depth and right now we don't have tons of big scorers on the floor,” said Eller. “It's just a matter of being able to score to keep up with them and hopefully that's what some of these younger kids will develop.”

Mercyhurst sprinted out to a 14-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and took a 26-7 advantage into halftime.

“We play a lot of kids, we have a lot of depth,” said Perfetto. “Kids stay healthy and that's key this time of year.”

Hailey Hall led Grove City with 11 points and Jen Ferguson added eight. Corianne Hyduchak pulled down a team-high six rebounds and scored five points.

“We had a game plan in place ... and they executed it,” said Eller of her Eagles. “It's just a matter of learning to make those shots with great (defensive) pressure.

“We're proud of the girls. It's been a very good year for us,” added Eller. “It's kind of sad to see it end but I think it's a great game to build off of for next year.”

Mercyhurst Prep moves on to much-anticipated semifinal Wednesday against Franklin, which is ranked fifth in the state.

“Franklin is good. They're well coached. They're experienced, they have veteran kids,” said Perfetto. “I think it will be a good one Wednesday night.”

GROVE CITY 26Hailey Hall 4-8 2-6 10, Corianne Hyduchak 1-7 3-4 5, Arianna Sprando 0-3 1-2 1, Vanessa Sprando 0-5 0-0 0, Brogan Foster 1-6 0-0 3, Jen Ferguson 1-2 4-5 6, Jordyn Wyllie 0-2 0-0 0, Danyelle Lucido 0-3 0-0 0, Alex Grossi 0-0 0-0 0, Carrie Grace 0-0 0-0 0, Jessee Treiber 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Somora 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Hughes 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals 7-37 10-17 26.

MERCYHURST PREP 48Amanda Berchtold 1-6 2-3 4, Brenna Robbins 4-7 3-4 11, Kayla Wilwohl 3-10 4-5 10, Annie Popoff 1-4 2-2 4, Elysha Chrzanowski 5-6 0-1 10, Erika Woll 0-0 1-2 1, Alissa Robbins 2-7 0-0 6, Madison Steiner 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Stoicovy 0 0-0 0, Sarah Kupniewski 1-1 0-0 0, Chloe Wright 0 0-0 0, Shannon Dailey-1 0 0-0 0, Rachel Shopene 0 0-0 0.

Totals 17-43 12-17 48.

Grove City 4 3 7 12—26Mercyhurst Prep 14 12 10 12—483-point goals: Grove City 2-6 (Hall 1-2, Foster 1-4), Mercyhurst Prep 2-10 (A. Robbins 2-6, Berchtold 0-2, Wilwohl 0-1, B. Robbins 0-1)