The Crusaders' comeback wasn't enough to get by Red Springs, the 48-43 victor in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2-A girls basketball regional semifinal on Thursday.

On Saturday at Greenville Rose, Red Springs will play Graham, which defeated Kill Devil Hills First Flight 56-51.

The Crusaders (23-8) gave up 14 turnovers in the first half and their leading scoring threat, 5-foot-8 senior Melissa Shafer, was held to four points in the half.

"They limited what we wanted to do," Cardinal Gibbons coach Jessica Lowe said. "They tried to take Melissa out by putting [5-7 Corletha Bartley] on her."

The Red Devils scored several points off of steals, which helped Red Springs to an early lead.

Bartley read a long Gibbons pass back to the top of the key, intercepted it and sprinted to the hoop to put Red Springs up 14-8 with 1:54 in the first quarter.

With 12 seconds left in the period, Bartley hit a 3-pointer to give the Red Devils a 18-10 lead.

"Their pressure was continuous," Lowe said. "... You never got an uncontested rebound. There was never an uncontested pass. We gave it up a little bit too much."

The Crusaders climbed back by taking care of the ball, grabbing defensive rebounds and hitting their first shots in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

"We feed off of our offense," Lowe said. "Our defense is much better when we're scoring."

It was Chloe Stapleton who tied the score with a 3-pointer with late in the third quarter. Then Shafer gave the Crusaders a 34-31 the lead with a 3-pointer of her own. She scored seven of her 18 points in the third quarter.

"We were gambling too much," Red Springs coach Eva Patterson-Heath said.

Lowe said all the emphasis on stopping Shafer allowed her teammates to get open and score, which then opened up Shafer.

"We found a way to get her involved with some ball screens, things going to the basket," Lowe said.

That helped Gibbons lead 39-33 early in the final quarter.

"It was their size," Patterson-Heath said of Gibbons' improved defensive rebounding. "They occupy a lot of space in the lane."

Red Springs came back in the final four minutes. Gibbons reverted to giving up turnovers, and, off another steal, Camri Leach hit a 3-pointer to give her team the lead with 3:35 left.

The game came down to the final minute, with Gibbons down 42-41 and forced to foul. And even though Red Springs went just 6-of-15 on free throws in the final minute, Gibbons couldn't come up with a defensive rebound until it was too late.