WIESBADEN, Germany – The rematch is on.

The Black Forest Academy Falcons, the tournament’s defending champion and top seed, will face the second-seeded Bitburg Barons for the DODDS-Europe Division II girls basketball championship Saturday. The anticipated meeting will come just a week after the two teams played to a doubleheader stalemate to end the regular season and at the end of a four-day tournament in which neither was significantly challenged.

That’s likely to change on Saturday as the teams settle their burgeoning rivalry. But in Friday's semifinal games, the Barons and Falcons were the class of the division.

Bitburg 46, AFNORTH 25: The Barons quickly dashed the hopes of the upstart Lions with an early barrage that turned into a full-game blowout.

Though they’re not satisfied yet, the Barons’ win completed the goal coach Chris Howard set entering the tournament – “to be playing on Saturday.”

“That was what was important to us. We had to stay focused and calm,” Howard said. “When we started the tournament the girls were really nervous.

“Right now they’ve settled down and they’re playing with each other as a team.”

The Barons were dominant across the board, Point guard Alexa Landenberger orchestrated an efficient offense and built the early lead with four first-half three-pointers. Wing Victoria Porras piled up 10 rebounds and 10 steals. Forward Saoirse Matthews added eight points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

That early outburst wasn’t in the plans for Landenberger, but she also didn’t turn down the open looks made possible by the Barons’ overall offensive prowess.

“It wasn’t a game plan. I just found myself open,” said Landenberger, who finished with a game-high 14 points. “I wouldn’t be able to make those without my teammates making good passes.”

Fourth-seeded AFNORTH, meanwhile, fell a victory short of reenacting last year’s title-game appearance against BFA. But it wasn’t for lack of effort.

“The one thing I love about coaching these girls is that they never, ever quit,” AFNORTH coach D.C. McDonald said. “I’m just so proud of them.”

Eliska Volencova had seven points and Grace Phillips added five points and five rebounds for AFNORTH.

The Barons have been ruthlessly good all tournament. They won their four pool-play games by a combined score of 174-42, never scoring less than 40 or allowing more than 20.

BFA 26, Hohenfels 19: The Falcons topped the Tigers in a game that might have at first seemed like a friendly competition rather than the penultimate game of the 2015 season. Before the game, the girls gathered for a quick pow-wow, the play was unmarred by usual ugly scrums and when the final whistle sounded, both teams sat together, joking and laughing.

“These two teams are really friends,” BFA assistant coach Cindy Kennedy explained. “They have a real close connection.”

That was clearly evident before and after the game, but in between buzzers it was all business. And BFA handled theirs better.

Emily Campbell scored 11 and was in the mix in every aspect of the defense, nabbing 10 rebounds and three steals. Her sister, Cailynn, added to the Falcons’ score with a pair of long-distance baskets and Eseli Emasealu came through with five points.

Emasealu was also the main cog in the clockwork precise defense coach Cevin Sweeney ran. The senior put in a well-rounded effort of the day, adding six rebounds and three blocked shots.

A lot of teams talk “team concept” but BFA put on an absolute clinic on what that terms means.

“We’re that kind of team,” Emasealu said. “Our team just has so much unity. Everybody puts in effort. We win or lose as a team every game.”

broome.gregory@stripes.com; darnell.michael@stripes.com

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