SLIPPERY ROCK — Move over, Tai Johnson.

The Mars senior gladly did — from point guard to shooting guard. And the defending PIAA Class 5A state champion Planets may be all the better for it.

Johnson tallied 28 points — 18 in the first half — and a pair of steals while sophomore point guard Ellie Coffield amassed seven points, seven assists and seven rebounds Friday night in Mars' 74-52 girls basketball victory over Kennedy Catholic.

The contest was the opening game of the Slippery Rock Tournament. The Rockets defeated Keystone 68-48 in the second game. Slippery Rock will host Mars in the championship tilt at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

“I can't say enough for Tai and her willingness to shift over to shooting guard,” Mars coach Dana Petruska said. “As soon as I started coaching Ellie, I could see she was a true point guard.

“She'd rather set up somebody else for a basket than score one herself.”

Coffield did attempt nine shots Friday, a fact not lost on Petruska.

“I've told her she has to look for her shot, look to score,” the coach said. “If she doesn't do that, teams are going to double (our shooters) and I can't put her on the floor if that's the case.”

The Planets had plenty of shooting on this night.

Bella Pelaia, a junior forward, struck for 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals. She sank four treys and Johnson nailed five 3-pointers.

Half of Mars' 16 field goals in the first half were from beyond the stripe.

“That scares me a little bit,” Petruska admitted. “We don't want to get into the habit of shooting from out there too much.

“For a while there, it was one pass and chuck it. I asked if we could work the ball around a little bit and set up a shot.”

Kennedy Catholic reached the final eight in Class 1A last season, but returns only one starter from that squad in junior point guard Malia Magestro. She struck for 39 points, including all seven of her team's treys.

The Eagles trailed by three after the first period, but committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter while being outscored 26-9.

Down 20 entering the fourth period, The Eagles used three consecutive Magestro layups to pull within 14 with 6:17 to play. Johnson calmly buried a trey to end any Kennedy Catholic comeback hopes.

“Malia is our only player back. We're very young this year,” Kennedy coach Justin Magestro said. “I've got four girls on the floor who have never played varsity basketball.

“Our program has a lot of tradition. We want to be the best, so we play the best. That's the only way you're gonna get there.”

Bellah DiNardo added 11 points for Kennedy Catholic, but the rest of the roster scored only two.

“They've got two players and we didn't help out defensively enough on their guard (Magestro),” Petruska said. “She got through to the hoop way too much. Other girls should have stepped into the key and forced her to give the ball to somebody else.

“For our first game, though, overall, this was pretty good.”

KENNEDY CATHOLIC 52

Malia Magestro 12-28 8-8 39, Bellah DiNardo 4-7 3-5 11, Abbie Flanders 0-0 0-0 0, Andrea Suhar 0-2 1-2 1, Leah Lombardi 0-4 0-0 0, Liz Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Dior Cumby 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 16-41 13-17 52.

MARS 74

Ellie Coffield 3-9 1-2 7, Tai Johnson 10-19 3-4 28, Kaitlyn Pelaia 2-7 0-0 6, Bella Pelaia 9-15 0-1 22, Ava Black 0-0 0-0 0, Regan Kramm 3-5 0-0 6, Mara Fuller 0-0 1-2 1, Carly Kern 1-1 2-2 4, Haylee Frederick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-58 7-12 74.

Kennedy Cath. 14 9 12 17 — 52

Mars17 26 12 19 — 74

3-point goals: Magestro 7; Johnson 5, K.Pelaia 2, B.Pelaia 4

Saturday: Mars at Slippery Rock, 5:30 p.m.