There are many things about the Mars girls basketball team that concern Adrienne Orris.

Height. Experience. And perhaps a little chip on the Planets' shoulders.

"They're tall and lanky," said the first-year Slippery Rock coach. "They are very well balanced and the greatest thing about them is they only have three losses. That speaks for itself."

Mars (24-3) will take onSlippery Rock (18-9) in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs at Slippery Rock University's Morrow Field House at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

It's a rare state playoff matchup between two Butler County teams.

The teams have crossed paths before. Slippery Rock participated in the Mars Christmas Tournament, but the two teams didn't meet. The Rockets fell to Seneca Valley, which went on to beat Mars in the championship game.

That was the Planets' last loss of the season until Montour beat them 62-42 in the WPIAL quarterfinals.

Mars beat Peabody, 72-37, Tuesday night in a play-in game to earn the right to face Slippery Rock.

"We didn't get to see too much (Tuesday night)," said Orris, who brought her whole team to NorthHills to see the game — Mars' first action in 11 days. "I probably would have preferred to play them with two weeks off."

Mars gives SlipperyRock some matchup problems. Then again, the Rockets have the ultimate matchup problem in Jence Rhoads.

"You have to try to do what every coach says you have to try to do," said Mars coach Dave Sylvester. "You've got to contain Jence."

That's been easier said than done.

Rhoads, a senior point guard who is bound for Vanderbilt University next season, is averaging 26.8 points in the Rockets' 10-game winning streak. She has scored 88 points in the three playoff wins that gave SlipperyRock the District 10 title.

"Excitement.Relief. Joy," Rhoads said of what she was feeling after winning the district title. "I've been waiting for this for at least four years."

Rhoads has thrown a team that features freshmen and sophomores playing prominent roles onto her shoulders and carried them this far into the playoffs.

Mars prefers to dole out the points piecemeal. And this group of Planets is playoff tested.

And maybe a little testy after bowing out of the WPIAL playoffs so soon.

"I think we expected to do a little better in the WPIAL," Sylvester said. "I think it was a little disappointing for our girls. They were visibly upset about it. They really took it kind of hard."

But that loss has helped Mars' resolve and refocused the Planets after they landed in the state playoffs because of Montour's run to the WPIAL final.

Sylvester said the Planets took five days off after the WPIAL playoff loss and came back to the gym with a renewed sense of purpose.

"I think our focus this year changed," Sylvester said. "Getting back in is a lot different this year than it was last year."

Lily Grenci leads the Planets at 14.6 points per game, followed by Haley Geyer (10.8) and Maggie Bulman (9.6). All three are 5-foot-10 or taller.

SlipperyRock's tallest player who plays significant minutes is 6-foot senior Emma Walter, who has limited experience. The rest of SlipperyRock's starters are undersized compared with Mars'.

"We're going to have to have guards guarding posts and posts guarding guards," Orris said. "They don't have one superstar, and sometimes it's easier playing against a team with a superstar."