SLIPPERY ROCK — It's never too early in the season to show a little resolve.

In a game in which both teams wrestled momentum away from the other several times, Mars' girls basketball team overcame a three-point deficit with eight seconds left in regulation, then won the Slippery Rock Tournament with a 63-57 overtime victory over the host Rockets Saturday evening.

“It was back-and-forth,” said Mars coach Dana Petruska. “It was exciting!

“Amber (Osborn, Slippery Rock coach) gets the most out of her players. They are so focused.”

The Rockets grabbed a 57-56 lead thanks to Gianna Bedel's only basket of the game with 1:21 left in overtime. But Mars' Alek Johnson then drained a trey — her third of the game — to take the lead for good.

The Planets then turned to their defense, stealing an inbound pass and Kaitlyn Pelaia later blocked a 3-point attempt. Mars iced the game from the free throw line, where it was 8-of-8 in the extra period, including six makes from Johnson.

“Near the end of the game, Slippery Rock was pushing us (with tempo),” said senior Bella Pelaia, who was named the tournament's MVP after scoring 20 points. “We had to work hard to get this win. Most of us had four fouls and they (Rockets) were in the double-bonus. We had to stay in front of them on defense.”

Though rebounding was balanced between both teams for the game, Mars possessed the most crucial boards late in the contest.

“We stress getting inside and boxing out,” said Osborn, “but in the moment, sometimes players think they can just out-jump the opponent, but Mars is a much taller team than we are. Those late rebounds killed us.”

The Rockets held a 50-47 lead late in regulation, but Johnson cut that deficit to just one point with two free throws. Mars' Olivia Donnelly then stole the inbound pass and put up a shot that missed from the left wing.

Her teammate, Ava Black, rebounded and was fouled. She missed the first attempt, but sank the next one, tying the game with 2.5 seconds remaining.

The teams took turns controlling play in the first half. The Rockets (1-1) jumped out to a 20-10 lead before taking an 8-point edge into the second quarter.

“We gave up so many layups,” said Petruska. “We were trying to implement a press, but we have a lot of young players this year.”

Behind Bella Pelaia's nine points, the Planets (2-0) stormed back in the second. Her trey late in the first half gave Mars a 32-29 cushion at the break.

Making the all-tournament team were Slippery Rock's Anna Kadlubek, who scored a game-high 22 points, and Johnson, who contributed 17 to Mars' effort.

Both teams came away from the game feeling good about themselves moving forward.

“We have some new players in the lineup, but they're filling the roles,” said Bella Pelaia. “Alek and Ava, they're doing the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet.”

“It's a learning process, what to do in certain situations,” Osborn said. “We could've tucked our tails tonight, but we didn't.”

MARS 63

Ava Black 7 3-5 17, Kaitlyn Pelaia 2 2-2 6, Alek Johnson 3 8-8 17, Carly Kern 0 1-2 1, Bella Pelaia 6 7-8 20, Kylee Fredericks 0 2-4 2, Madeleine Horvath 0 0-0 0, Olivia Donnelly 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 23-29 63.

SLIPPERY ROCK 57

Anna Kadlubek 8 6-8 22, Kelly Benson 3 2-2 10, Hallie Raabe 3 4-4 10, Ella McDermott 1 1-2 4, Bronwyn McCoy 3 3-7 9, Gianna Bedel 1 0-0 2, Katie Book 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 16-23 57.

Mars 12 20 6 12 13 — 63

Slippery Rock 20 9 11 10 7 — 57

3-point goals: Mars 4 (Johnson 3, B. Pelaia); Slippery Rock 3 (Benson 2, McDermott).

Monday: Mars at Pine-Richland

Tuesday: Slippery Rock at Obama Academy