ADAMS TWP — Dana Petruska had a simple message for her players.

No matter who you play — good, bad or average — you have to bring the same intensity.

“That's one thing that happens a lot with high school basketball. It happens a lot in college, too,” Petruska said. “Sometimes you feel you only need to show up. We didn't show up until the fourth quarter.”

Mars (12-5, 7-1) turned a tight game into a 54-38 home victory over Highlands Thursday night thanks to a good fourth quarter.

The Planets never trailed, even though Highlands (9-8, 4-5) drew as close as 19-17 after falling behind 13-6 early and by as close as three late in the third quarter.

Each time, Mars was able to extend its lead to double digits against a Golden Rams team that has just eight healthy players on its roster.

Only six played against the Planets a night after Highlands lost a double-overtime game at Southmoreland.

“We're hurting now,” said Highlands coach Ron Lang. “We had a tough one (Wednesday night) playing a double overtime game two hours away. So that drained us a little bit coming back tonight against a very good team.

“We faded away a little bit,” Lang added.

Mars also got into an offensive rhythm over the final eight minutes of the game two days after the Planets beat Quad-A North Hills, a team with only one loss in its section.

“We played in the fourth quarter how we played against North Hills,” Petruska said. “I told them, 'North Hills is in a Quad-A section. They have one section loss and they are in the best Quad-A section, and you beat them.' I told them, 'You have to approach it like there are five girls on the court and who cares what name is across their shirts. We still have to come out and play.'”

Tai Johnson came out to play.

The freshman guard scored 22 points and was a thorn in the side of Highlands on both ends of the floor.

Lauren Wasylson added 16 points and Nicole McCloud and Elise Sheehy each added eight points for the Planets.

Sheehy also had a slew of rebounds for Mars.

“I tell you what, I'm so happy for her,” Petruska said. “With Elise, I remember my first encounter with them as a group, it was a shootout and I said, 'Elise, I'm going to take you off the high post and put your face to the basket.' So, she gets the ball and I say, 'Sweep and go.' Well, she's looking at me. The quarter is over and she comes over and she says, 'Coach, I wasn't allowed to dribble last year. If I dribbled, I got taken out.'

“With me, in my offense, everyone has to dribble the basketball,” Petruska added. “It has taken Elise this long to feel comfortable in that role, but she's really coming along.”

So are the Planets, who have perhaps exceeded expectations this season with a new coach, a new system, and a new impact player in Johnson.

“They've had to learn a whole new system,” Petruska said. “I'm proud of them.”

Now all Petruska has to do is get her team to play at the same level every game, she said.

“I think that's what keeps me coming back year after year,” Petruska said, smiling. “It never gets boring.”

HIGHLANDS 38

Renee Cebula 0-4 1-2 2, Ashlyn Jonczak 3-13 7-9 13, Kayla Beale 1-4 0-0 2, Nicola Boda 4-14 4-4 14, Cailynn Borkowski 0 0-0 0, Nia Thomas 2-11 3-4 7 . Totals: 10-46 16-19 38.

MARS 54

Bri Buzard 0-3 0-0 0, Lauren Wasylson 5-11 5-8 16, Nicole McCloud 3-13 2-2 8, Tai Johnson 8-15 6-10 22, Elise Sheehy 4-6 0-2 8, Hannah Ryan 0-0 0-0 0, Nichole Sommers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 13-22 54.

Highlands 7 10 10 11 — 38

Mars15 11 8 20 — 54

3-point goals: Highlands 2 (Boda 2); Mars 1 (Wasylson)

JV: None

Monday: Mars at Indiana