It was one of those tale-of-two-halves kinds of a game.

And unfortunately for Manheim Central, the Barons didn't win the half that counted most.

Freshman guard Casey Gallaher scored 17 points, senior guard Teddi Burkett added 12 points — including 8-for-8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter — and District 6 champ Forest Hills rallied past Manheim Central 48-42 in a PIAA Triple-A first-round girls' basketball playoff game Saturday at Central Cambria High School.

The Barons, back in the state playoffs for the first time since 2003, finished their season 17-12 overall after winning the L-L League Section Three championship and finishing sixth in the District 3 playoffs.

That leaves one L-L League girls' team still standing: District 3 runner-up Lancaster Mennonite, which will take on District 4 champ Loyalsock in a second-round Double-A game Tuesday.

The Barons were sent packing after making a cross-state trek to Ebensburg, which is west of Altoona.

"In the end, this was a winnable game, and it was a game that really could have gone either way," Central coach Jason Coletti said. "So that's frustrating. But I think we'll look back in a couple of weeks and realize that we did some really, really good things this season."

The Barons did some really good things in the first half against Forest Hills, which was making its first appearance in the PIAA playoffs.

Central forced eight first-quarter turnovers and led 11-7 after eight minutes. And when sophomore point guard Morgan Mummau splashed a 3-pointer on the Barons' first trip of the second quarter, Central was up 14-7.

"We knew they were very, very aggressive and that they like to attack the ball," Forest Hills coach Carol Cecere said. "But we have good guards who are usually very composed. I thought Manheim Central did a nice job rattling our guards early on."

Then came the momentum-changer.

Up by 7, Central was whistled for an intentional foul across from Forest Hills' bench when a Rangers player ended up in the second row during a mad scramble. Forest Hills made one free throw and got the ball back, and eventually tied the game at 20-all just before the break.

"The momentum really changed," Cecere said. "We got some confidence and we got aggressive, especially on the offensive end."

"They tied it up at the half and you could tell they had all the momentum," Coletti added. "And then they did what we wanted to do early in the third quarter. They came out and jumped out to a 4-5 point lead and really turned up the 2-3 zone, which we struggle with."

Forest Hills' swarming 2-3 zone forced 11 second-half turnovers — three in the third quarter, when Gallaher scored six of her game-high 17 points on three transition buckets.

Central's leading scorer, Carly Leitzel, struggled finding open looks against the zone, and she had just two field goals — one a layup. Leitzel, one of four Barons seniors playing in their final game, did go 6-for-6 at the foul line and score 10 points for Central, which couldn't overcome 20 turnovers.

Sophomore Renee Wiegand paced Central with 15 points, while senior Rachelle Wiegand had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Barons, who out-rebounded Forest Hills 41-34.

But the Rangers, who survived 25 turnovers and improved to 19-6 overall, used a 12-8 third-quarter run to grab a 32-28 lead, and then iced the game at the foul line in the fourth quarter

Burkett, a 1,000-point scorer, made all eight of her attempts down the stretch, Gallaher hit three and Becky Bard, who scored nine points, made a pair.

Forest Hills will take on District 3 runner-up West York — a 42-38 winner over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday — in a second-round game Wednesday.