WEXFORD — Before the mercy clock began to roll early in the fourth quarter, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic was showing no mercy inside.

Sam Breen had 29 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists — and did not play in the fourth quarter — while Dani Short had 21 points and nine rebounds. Both forwards dominated in the Trojanettes’ runaway 72-36 win over Cornell in the WPIAL Class A girls basketball semifinals Wednesday night at North Allegheny High School.

Breen is a 6-foot-1 junior, Short a 6-0 freshman.

“We had to take advantage of our size tonight and we did that,” CW North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann said. “We moved the ball well in this game, excellent team passing.”

Breen agreed.

“Our guards did a good job of finding us,” Breen said.

Over and over and over again.

Twenty-six of the Trojanettes’ 31 field goals were either lay-ups or off offensive rebounds. CW North Catholic had a 41-26 edge in rebounding for the night and blocked numerous shots.

Cornell (18-6) trailed 23-16 before the Trojanettes ended the first half with a 16-0 run in the final six minutes. The Raiders never got back into the game as CW North Catholic (23-2) used a 30-4 run to build a 72-27 lead with 4:09 left in the game.

The 72 points marked the most allowed in a game by Cornell all season.

“Their size was a big part of this,” Cornell coach Shawn Urbano said. “Our game plan was to get our share of rebounds, kick it out to the guards and run on them.

“Problem was, we weren’t getting any rebounds. That put a big kink in our plan.”

The Trojanettes rolled to their 12th consecutive win and set up a rematch with Vincentian (20-4) — a 91-50 winner over Quigley Catholic Wednesday — for the WPIAL Class A title at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Petersen Events Center. The teams split their two regular season meetings.

Vincentian rolled to a 74-35 victory over the Trojanettes in last year’s title game.

“We’re a different team from last year ... but they are still very good,” Rottmann said.

Kylie Huffman contributed 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals to Wednesday’s win. Abby Goetz had six assists and Cornell had 22 turnovers through three quarters.

“We were a bit overwhelmed tonight,” Urbano said. “We’re young (three sophomore starters) and this is the farthest Cornell has ever gone. We showed a lot of nerves out there.”

The Trojanettes did the same — early.

“We were the higher seed and we’re supposed to win,” Rottmann said. “But kids are kids and there’s unspoken pressure that goes along with that. Our girls knew everything that was at stake tonight. We had seven turnovers by the middle of the second quarter and they weren’t pressing us.

“Once we settled down and settled in, I thought we played well. We are a big team. That’s stating the obvious. We should have controlled play inside and we did.”

Short said the win occurred “from everybody doing her job, playing hard and playing together.

“These are the playoffs. They’re anybody’s game. You have to show up and play hard and we did that.”

Breen said rebounding was the key to the victory.

“We had to dominate on the boards to keep them from doing what they wanted to do,” she said. “When they were able to get out quick, we got back quickly in transition and stopped them from running.”

Deaja Quick scored 15 points, had three steals and three assists for Cornell, but sank only four of 22 shots from the floor.

CORNELL 36

Nysia Miles 2-8 1-2 7, Janasia Tigner 0-0 0-0 0, Jaelah Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Myka Smith 1-2 2-2 4, Cy’moni Harrison 0-2 0-0 0, Dominique Richards 0-5 2-2 2, Patience Gipson 2-3 2-4 6, Deaka Quick 4-22 6-6 16. Totals: 10-43 13-16 36.

CW NORTH CATHOLIC 72

Ashley Robbins 1-3 0-0 2, Bella Scioscia 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Bucklew 1-2 0-0 2, Abby Goetz 3-7 0-0 6, Kylie Huffman 5-10 0-0 12, Lauren Gaertner 0-0 0-0 0, Lillia Smyers 0-1 0-0 0, Dani Short 9-17 3-5 21, Elyssa Paras 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Breen 12-26 4-4 29, Lizzy Goetz 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Gregor 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 31-70 7-10 72.

Cornell 12 4 11 9 — 36

CW North Cath.17 22 24 9 — 72

3-point goals: Miles 2, Quick; Huffman 2, Breen

Saturday: WPIAL Class A Championship-CW North Catholic vs. Vincentian, 11 a.m., Petersen Events Center