Thursday, March 31, 2011

Trib: Mt. Lebanon High School inspection fees create impasse

Mt. Lebanon commissioners are weighing whether to waive more than a half-million dollars in inspection fees for the high school renovation project, but could not reach a consensus this week.

Calculated by the size of the construction project -- capped at $113.27 million -- the municipality would charge the school district $587,000 in fees for the services of its two building inspectors, who would regularly visit the construction site to check everything except the plumbing and electrical systems.

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P-G: Department gets grant for fire truck

The Mt. Lebanon Fire Department received a $585,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Association to put toward a new $900,000 fire truck. The truck, a Smeal Fire Apparatus 105-foot rear mount ladder truck, has a 500-gallon water tank with a 1,500-gallon per minute pump. It will replace two trucks: a retired 1982 Grumman Pumper and a 1992 Sutphen Tower Ladder, which will be sold.

The new truck should arrive in December. It is expected to respond to 450 calls a year and last 15 years.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Trib: Lawsuit against Mt. Lebanon retirement community settled

Silence could turn out to be golden, or at least fruitful, for the people who have tried for two years to get deposits back from a Mt. Lebanon retirement community's former owners.

In an unusual move, U.S. District Judge David Cercone on March 17 sealed the class-settlement proceedings in three federal cases the residents and estates of dead residents brought against the former developers and board members of Covenant at South Hills. Cercone declined comment.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011

P-G: Chester tops Mt. Lebanon in overtime, 72-60

Underdog Mt. Lebanon had extended Chester into overtime. Then Mt. Lebanon blinked.

All of a sudden, Chester sprinted up the stairway to seven.

Mt. Lebanon put up a valiant effort against the consensus No. 1 team in the state, but Chester's minute-and-a-half spurt in overtime turned a close game into a double-digit lead and Chester went on to a 72-60 victory in the PIAA Class AAAA title game Saturday night at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011

P-G: Mt. Lebanon earns three-peat, beats Archbishop Carroll, 47-46

Third time is just as charming.

The Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team won its third consecutive PIAA Class AAAA championships with a 47-46 victory Friday night against Archbishop Carroll at Bryce Jordan Center, becoming the seventh girls team to win three titles in a row.

"They get better as they go," Mt. Lebanon senior Madison Cable said. "I love every single one of them, don't get me wrong, but this one's just different."

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Friday, March 25, 2011

P-G: Kestler, Cable trying to lead Mt. Lebanon to third title in a row

The PIAA history book is open. Pages are blank, possibly the spot for the Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team.

Madison Cable and Anna Kestler could be co-authors of this chapter.

Mt. Lebanon plays in the PIAA Class AAAA championship game tonight at Penn State against Archbishop Carroll of Philadelphia. With a win, Mt. Lebanon will become only the second girls team in WPIAL history to win three PIAA titles in a row. North Catholic won three in Class AAA from 1993-95. No WPIAL boys team has won three in a row.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

P-G: Mt. Lebanon senior attains goal -- a state title in 500 freestyle

Four years ago Mt. Lebanon's John Nappi qualified for the PIAA championships as a freshman, finishing ninth in the 500-yard freestyle.

Sometime shortly after that, he decided that competing for a gold medal in that event was what he wanted to spend the next three years doing.

Nappi set his goals on a state title but he knew he was likely going to have to wait until his senior year.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon district officials seek good turnout for groundbreaking

Next month will be a busy one for the Mt. Lebanon School District as it opens bids, awards a contract and hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for the high school renovation project.

At Monday's school board meeting, board President Josephine Posti announced the groundbreaking would take place at the high school at 3:30 p.m. April 28 -- right after school lets out, so students and staff from around the district can participate, she said.

"We really are hoping to get a nice turnout from the community," she said. "Whether you have kids in the schools or not, we've all invested a lot in this project."

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon prevails in overtime

Mt. Lebanon's Tyler Roth made just one field goal and scored only seven points, but that production was invaluable.

"Someone had to make a play, and I just ended up with the ball," said Roth, who made a tying 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to force overtime Wednesday night during Mt. Lebanon's 52-48 victory over Penn Wood in the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals.

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P-G: Hungrier than ever, Mt. Lebanon girls a win away from third state title in a row

The Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team is headed back to the PIAA championship game.

That comes as no surprise -- it will be the fourth consecutive year the Blue Devils will be playing for a state title.

The surprise is that this time Mt. Lebanon heads to Penn State as the WPIAL runner-up.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon moves closer to ultimate goal

Mt. Lebanon girls basketball coach Dori Oldaker looks at her team's journey through the season as a business trip.

"We talk about this being like a job," Oldaker said. "And we like to have a little bit of fun on the job."

Now, after a 62-35 victory over Lower Merion in the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals Tuesday at Chambersburg High School, Mt. Lebanon (24-6) has accrued enough frequent-flyer miles for a trip to Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center. That would be for at 6 p.m. Friday title game against Archbishop Carroll. And the Blue Devils would like nothing better than to earn the ultimate reward — a third consecutive state championship.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hail in March

Nickel-sized hailstone from a brief March shower
At about 4:30 this afternoon, my home and garden were pelted with hail during a brief but intense shower. It doesn’t look like anything was damaged, but some of the stones were nickel sized (see photo).

Anybody else get hit with hail?

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lebo's Loss, Peters Township's Gain

The Peters Township Board of Education Monday night voted to extend the contract of school superintendent Nina Zetty, and hire a new high school principal to replace Dr. Thomas Hajzus. Frank Brettschneider has been acting principal.

Lori Pavlik, who is currently an assistant principal at Mt. Lebanon High School was approved as the new principal by an 8-0-1 vote, with Dr. Mark Buzzatto casting the abstaining vote. Pavlik will receive a salary of $105,000. Her official starting date has yet to be determined.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon sets date for high school groundbreaking

The Mt. Lebanon School District plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony at the end of April for its $113.2 million high school renovation project.

School board president Josephine Posti made the announcement at a board meeting Monday night.

She invited the community to join in the "music, fanfare and hard hats" at 3:30 p.m. April 28 on the lawn in front of the pool building on the high school campus.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon man, 76, gets 3-6 years for child molestation

A Mt. Lebanon man pleaded guilty to molesting three girls over several years and was sentenced to three to six years in jail.

Carlo Petronio, 76, of Gypsy Lane, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and indecent exposure. In addition to the jail time he received 14 years probation.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon guard big leader

At 5 feet 5, Mt. Lebanon senior guard Anna Kestler never towers over anybody on the basketball court.

But she is a big leader for the Blue Devils.

Kestler, the starting point guard, will lead Mt. Lebanon (23-6) in a PIAA Class AAAA semifinal against Lower Merion (26-5) at 7 p.m. today in Chambersburg.

"She's a great floor general," Blue Devils coach Dori Oldaker said.

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Letter: Have We Been Hijacked?

The following letter to the editor was submitted by Robert Gardener:

Dear Neighbors,

Election time is here again. Included on your ballot this year will be five openings for new School Board members and 3 openings for Commissioners.

Early this year I reached out to residents who I believed would make strong candidates. Far too often potential candidates said they were interested, but they were not willing to risk the ridicule that came with public office. They were not willing to have their spouses, their coworkers, and their children hear their intelligence, ability, and (worst of all) their integrity being questioned with the vehemence we have seen over the past year. They were willing to work hard and undergo public scrutiny, but they were not willing to have their character assaulted.

The reaction of these potential candidates leads me to these questions: Are the best possible candidates heeding the call to public service, or is the field stunted by the super-charged rhetoric that we’ve now come to expect? Are the few residents that often drive this rhetoric making Mt Lebanon a better place to live? Or are they hijacking the discussion and in doing so, suppressing the wider view the community could be offered if the field of candidates was broader? I believe the latter.

A fresh example of this hijacking came to light this week. Elaine Gillen, candidate for Commissioner in Ward 3, has served her potential General Election opponent, Kristen Linfante, with legal papers challenging the authenticity of the signatures on Ms Linfante’s nominating petition…including a challenge to the signatures of Ms Linfante’s CAMPAIGN MANAGER and her HUSBAND. Obviously, this is a calculated attempt by one candidate to distract another candidate. It is a cynical attempt to keep a candidate from having the time and resources (Ms Linfante will have to pay a lawyer to represent her in court against this frivolous charge) to reach out to voters…to reach out to us. (Full disclosure: I am a supporter of Kristen Linfante).

This is by no means a call to limit Free Speech. It is, instead, a call to Speak Up. A call for the community to reject the nay-saying negativity of a few residents with the same vehemence with which they have foisted it upon us. Go to a meeting. Write to a blog. Write a letter. Demand that our candidates offer positions on issues so that we know what they stand for, not just what they are against. Most importantly…VOTE.

Sincerely

Rob Gardner

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Monday, March 21, 2011

Trib: Mt. Lebanon man remains in Japan to assist with recovery

As thousands of people waited to flee Japan in the aftermath of earthquakes and a tsunami that created a nuclear nightmare, Matt Ketchum planned to stay to help.

"I've lived here since November 2009, and in that time I've developed many relations and attachments," Ketchum, 24, of Mt. Lebanon, wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune-Review on Sunday. "What kind of person would I be if in fair weather I'd readily participate in the give and take of friendship, but in the midst of the storm just pack up and leave?"

It's a 'Burgh thing, he said.

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Trib: Mt. Lebanon ends Butler's run

Butler’s Matt Clement dug into his big league background to explain this quarterfinal loss.

“You tip your hat to a guy when he hits a good pitch,” Clement said Saturday after Mt. Lebanon’s 51-42 victory over Butler in the PIAA Class AAAA basketball playoffs.

The major league pitcher-turned-coach would’ve tipped his hat toward Mt. Lebanon’s Luke Hagy and Evan Eaton, whose shots ended a playoff run that helped rejuvenated Butler (17-11). Eaton led with 17 points, and Hagy added two key 3-pointers that gave the Blue Devils an early lead they never lost.

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Trib: Mt. Lebo exacts revenge on Shaler for WPIAL final loss

Mt. Lebanon's Anna Kestler knew her Blue Devils had left something at Palumbo Center a couple weeks ago, and they've wanted it back ever since.

They found it Friday night.

"We were coming back to get what we thought was ours," Kestler said after yesterday's lopsided 65-39 victory over Shaler in the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals at North Allegheny. It was Shaler that won the WPIAL title 13 days earlier, keeping Mt. Lebanon from winning a third straight league title.

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Trib: Teachers must 'do our part,' union chief says

The president of the state's largest teachers union asked its members on Wednesday to "seriously consider" Gov. Tom Corbett's call for them to accept a one-year pay freeze.

James Testerman of the Pennsylvania State Education Association said he sent a letter to local affiliates asking them to discuss a pay freeze and other cost-saving measures with their school boards.

Mt. Lebanon Education Association President Drew Haberberger said teachers there agreed to financial concessions, including increasing their health care contribution, in a contract ratified in August. He wouldn't specifically address a pay freeze, but said teachers are committed to negotiating in good faith.

"We've always been willing to work with our district and we'll continue to do so," he said. "That's pretty much how we would approach things."

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

P-G: Westmoreland museum uses Mt. Lebanon teacher's book on American art to involve children

When the staff of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art searched for a children's book on American art to sell in the gift shop, there was none available. So the little museum that could decided to create its own.

The result is "Imagine American Art," a delightful, entertaining and child-friendly publication that combines storytelling with hands-on art projects in each of three sections -- portrait, landscape and still life. It's designed for ages 6 to 12.

Author Katie Barnard Switzer, who teaches art in the Mt. Lebanon School District, will be at the museum on Main Street, in Greensburg, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of "Imagine American Art," which will be sold at 20 percent discount off its $17.95 retail price.

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P-G: Mt. Lebanon center teaches more than performing arts

For three decades, the Center for Theater Arts in Mt. Lebanon has offered classes in singing, dancing, theater and acting. At the same time it has worked to instill its thousands of students with confidence, self-awareness and an understanding of teamwork.

When it began in 1981, it was the first program of its kind in the area, and the mission of the nonprofit center remains the same for its 30th anniversary -- to offer young people a chance to receive quality performing arts instruction and "a chance to shine," said Billy Hartung, a center alumnus with Broadway credits who is executive director.

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Friday, March 18, 2011

P-G: No fantasy: Game maker wants $825,000 from Mt. Lebanon man

The creators of an online fantasy world went to federal court today to demand $825,000, plus fees, from a Mt. Lebanon man who has eked out a living selling game-playing aids.

Philip James Holland, 23, was late for court, dressed in sweats, and legally outgunned today by Boston attorneys sent by New York-based Evony LLC and Regan Mercantile LLC. Those two firms created Evony, an online empire-building game that's free to play but that makes revenue selling short-cuts toward developing towns and armies.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

P-G: Mt. Lebanon School District holds line on taxes

The first draft of the Mt. Lebanon School District base budget for 2011-12 includes no millage increase.

The estimated $78.3 million budget maintains instructional programs, superintendent Timothy Steinhauer said at the school board meeting Monday night. Although the budget proposed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett last week meant a reduction of more than $1 million for Mt. Lebanon, Mr. Steinhauer said the district had planned for a reduction in state revenue and found savings through refinancing of 2004 bonds and further cost efficiencies through recently negotiated contracts, including the teachers contract.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

P-G: Mt. Lebanon lawyers chosen to be federal magistrate judges

Attorneys Maureen P. Kelly and Cynthia Reed Eddy have been picked to become federal magistrate judges, U.S. District Chief Judge Gary L. Lancaster announced.

Ms. Kelly, 49, of Mt. Lebanon, is a partner at the Downtown firm Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir, specializing in employment litigation, with more than 20 years of experience practicing in federal court. She will fill a vacancy created by the death of Chief Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay in October.

Ms. Eddy, 52, of Mt. Lebanon, is a partner at Johnson & Eddy, Downtown, and a former federal prosecutor. She has been picked to replace Magistrate Judge Cathy Bissoon, pending Judge Bissoon's confirmation by the U.S. Senate to a district court judge post.

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P-G: Commissioner feels the call to serve community

Daniel L. Miller still hears the words of his late immigrant grandmother, Grace Miller, echoing in his ears, "It is a great country -- and you've got to contribute."

More importantly, he still heeds them.

It is one of the reasons he sought election as a Mt. Lebanon commissioner, and one of the reasons he said he will not seek a second term as Fifth Ward representative when his four-year term ends Dec. 31.

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Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Trib: Teen convicted in hammer attack could be released next month

An Allegheny County judge said today that she planned to release a Mt. Lebanon teenager convicted of attacking his ex-girlfriend next month.

Common Pleas Judge Kim Clark said she should would likely release Robertino DeAngelis, 19, to electronic home monitoring after his next scheduled hearing on April 14 pending a psychiatric evaluation.

He has spent the past 17 months at the Youth Detention Center in New Castle with permission to attend college and spend time at home.

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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Resident questions whether high-school plans meet zoning code

In a widely circulated letter dated February 26, 2011, Mt. Lebanon resident and regular Blog-Lebo commenter Bill Matthews wrote to Mt. Lebanon Municipal Manager Steve Feller about the high-school project. Let me summarize the letter and explain what I think it means.

In the letter, Mr. Matthews argues – with much supporting evidence – that the municipal government failed to apply the standard required by law when it determined whether variances were needed for the high school’s north and southeast parking lots. So, what’s the big deal?

The big deal, Mr. Matthews argues, is that if the municipality decides to issue a building permit for a project that does not comply with zoning code and does not have the variances to account for its nonconformity, the decision can be challenged. Mr. Matthews explains:
Absent a variance for any unresolved nonconformities, should the Municipality issue a building permit, I believe, consistent with the counsel I received from DCED, such a decision may be appealed to the Zoning Hearing Board and subsequently to Common Pleas Court, etc.
The question Mr. Matthews raises is whether the municipality has the authority to apply, at its discretion or through its error, anything but the full standard required by law.

In the past, the answer would have been somewhat open ended. One can imagine an important project being held to a standard slightly more flexible than usual. But now the municipality will have a hard time letting anything, especially the high-school project, squeak through, should the question of compliance with zoning code come before it again.

That’s because – irony time – when the school district received an unfavorable zoning determination about other aspects of the high-school plans, it appealed the determination to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, where it not only lost the appeal but allowed the court to establish a precedent. That precedent, among other things, rejects the school district’s argument that less nonconformity with zoning code equals compliance. This same argument, as it turns out, seems to be what the municipality used in determining that the planned changes to the parking lots complied with zoning code.

So, if we set aside the “less noncomformity equals compliance” standard and apply the court’s standard to the high-school plans instead, are the parking lots in compliance? No, argues Mr. Matthews, pointing to a letter dated December 2, 2009, in which the school district’s lawyers at Tucker Arensberg appear to admit to the municipality that the parking lots will indeed be nonconforming, although less so than previously:
While [the north parking lot] will still be non-conforming, in that it will have a 12-foot setback instead of the required 35-foot setback, it will be a significant improvement over what is existing.... The proposed layout [of the southeast parking lot] does not meet the space requirements as noted in Diagram 11, just like the existing parking lot... After completion of the project, the southeast parking lot will be more conforming and not be substantially reconfigured.
Adding it all up, this seems to be the story: The school district’s lawyers argued that a standard of “less nonconformity equals compliance” should prevail, and the municipality bought that argument, at least when determining that the parking lots were compliant. But, later, in the school district’s separate zoning appeal, the court rejected that standard. So, now, here we are, with the municipality seeming to have approved plans based on a standard of zoning compliance that, if challenged at the zoning hearing board or in court, is not likely to stand. The question is: Will there be a challenge?

Things, I suspect, are about to get complicated.

Copies of Mr. Matthews’s letter and supporting materials are available online:

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Sunday, March 06, 2011

Will the school board choose secrecy or better coordination with the municipality?

Over on his blog, Commissioner Dan Miller sheds some light on the proposed joint steering meetings between the municipality and the school board. It’s a topic we’ve discussed before on Blog-Lebo (19 comments; 5 comments), but it’s worth revisiting because, now that the commissioners have reconsidered the legality of closed meetings, it looks like there will be no meetings unless they are open. From Dan Miller’s blog posting:
Upon hearing the Solicitor’s opinion in executive session, the Commission decided unanimously to rescind our offer to participate in private joint steering meetings and instead extended an offer for public meetings to begin asap. Four Commissioners were present at that time of this unanimous decision. (Emphasis in original.)
What’s interesting is that this reversal creates what economists call a “natural experiment”: it’s when Nature changes some variable, normally beyond our control, in a way that allows us to measure something that ordinarily we could not.

In this case, that something we ordinarily could not measure is the school district’s preference for secrecy. (I use “secrecy” here not to be dramatic but to be precise: the content of the joint steering meetings, as originally proposed by the school district, was not merely to be closed to the public but also unrecorded and therefore never subject to public review.) Now, thanks to the counteroffer from the commission, we can learn whether the school board values secrecy more than better coordination with the municipality.

That’s because, now that closed meetings are off the table, the school board can’t have both secrecy and better coordination: it must choose between the two. If it chooses to go ahead with the open meetings, we’ll know it was willing to give up secrecy for better coordination with the municipality. But, if it chooses not to go ahead, we’ll know that secrecy was more important.

(My argument assumes that secrecy is not somehow essential to better coordination with the municipality. If you believe otherwise, that without secrecy the joint steering meetings cannot bear fruit, then I can understand why you might reject open meetings. But, if any elected representative believes this, I want to hear them say it in public, especially since what they do say in public is that they believe in openness and transparency.)

Pretty soon, the school board is going to have to decide whether to accept the commission’s offer of open meetings. When they do, we will learn something important about the school board’s values.

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Saturday, March 05, 2011

P-G: Shaler girls upset Mt. Lebanon, 41-35

The Shaler High School girls basketball team pulled off a big upset tonight, defeating Mt. Lebanon, 41-35, to win the WPIAL Class AAAA championship at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center.

Mt. Lebanon was the two-time defending champion and had a 64-1 record against WPIAL teams the past three seasons. For Shaler, it is the first championship since 1980.

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Thursday, March 03, 2011

P-G: Chartiers Valley beats Mt. Lebanon

In the locker room after the game, Steve Burda asked Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell, "We won?"

Burda was confused after getting a probable concussion with two minutes left in Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA semifinal. But even those who weren't dazed might have been surprised.

Chartiers Valley knocked off defending WPIAL champion Mt. Lebanon, 54-48, at Baldwin. It wasn't so surprising that the Colts won. After all, the team has a 20-5 record.

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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Trib: Defending champ Mt. Lebanon eliminates Oakland Catholic

Mt. Lebanon had problems making two-point baskets in Tuesday's WPIAL Class AAAA girls semifinal at West Allegheny.

The Blue Devils were 0 for 11 in the first quarter and didn't make their first two-pointer until Anna Kestler converted a layup with 6:35 left in the first half.

It didn't matter, though, because Mt. Lebanon more than made up for the short-range misses with 3-pointers.

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