Mars basketball duo make USA Today team
ADAMS TWP — Lauren Wasylson was scrolling through Twitter earlier this week when a post caught her eye.
The USA Today 2017-18 All-USA Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Team.
The 6-foot Mars senior forward, still reveling weeks after the Planets won a PIAA 5A championship, decided to click on the link “to see who made it.”
Wasylson was in for a surprise.
As she scanned the 10 names on the all-state team, she was shocked by one particular entry.
“I scrolled down and said, 'Hey, that's my name!'”
Wasylson isn't even the only player from Mars to earn national recognition by USA Today.
Mars 6-4 senior guard Robby Carmody was a first-team selection on the USA Today 2017-18 All-USA Pennsylvania Boys Basketball Team.
Quite a season for Planets' basketball.
“It's been a special year at Mars, no doubt,” Carmody said. “It's crazy how much both our teams have accomplished this year.”
Of all the awards Carmody has received — such as Gatorade Pennsylvania Boys Player of the Year and his third Butler Eagle Boys Player of the Year — Carmody said getting recognized nationally meant something even more to him.
Carmody averaged 31.1 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals per game as a senior for Mars.
He finished his career with a Butler County record 2,390 points.
“It's definitely special, obviously,” Carmody said. “It's between everyone in the entire state and for them to recognize me as one of the top five players in the state is a true blessing.”
Carmody was ranked the 81st best college prospect in the nation by ESPN and is heading to Notre Dame.
Carmody's selection to the USA Today Pennsylvania team wasn't all that surprising.
Wasylson, though, was admittedly shocked to see her name on the second team.
“It's a huge honor,” Wasylson said. “There's only 10 players in the state of Pennsylvania on the team and I'm grateful to get that recognition. Not a lot of people get that.”
And not a lot of people get to end their high school career with a victory.
But Wasylson did after Mars beat Archbishop Wood, 36-33, March 28 for the first state title in school history.
“People ask me all the time if it has sunk in yet,” Wasylson said. “I'm slowly coming down from it. It's been a few weeks, but coming to school the first couple of days after we won it and having people coming up and congratulating us, it was awesome for our school and the Mars community.”
Even Wasylson had to admit that when the season started in November with practice in preparation for the season, no one had an inkling that a state title was in their future.
“Pretty much no,” Wasylson said, laughing. “We had a lot of young players coming up and we were honestly just focused on doing things step-by-step. Winning the section first — we shared it — and then winning the WPIAL.”
Mars didn't even win its own district title, losing to Oakland Catholic in the final.
But Wasylson said that loss may have been the best thing that could have happened to her and the Planets.
“We didn't want to have that feeling again,” Wasylson said. “A lot of people called us underdogs throughout the state playoffs and I think that motivated us and lit a fire under us.”Wasylson was emotional after the state title win.“I knew it was my last game,” said Wasylson, who finished her senior season with 17.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. She also hit 59 3-pointers. “It was an amazing feeling. I can't even describe it. It was so emotional.”Added to the emotion was the fact that Wasylson fouled out of the state title game with six minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter.“It was terrible,” she said, laughing. “I had to come out of my last game with that much time left in a state title game and I couldn't do anything. I kept my head up and motivated the team as much as I could by cheering.”Wasylson, who will play in college at Xavier, has already focused on the next phase of her career.She's trying to add weight to her gangly frame for the rigors of Big East basketball.“I'm in the gym every day,” Wasylson said. “I'm trying to put on as much muscle as I can to bulk up and working on my skills. I don't want to come out slow.”
