ADAMS TWP — For one half, the North Catholic girls basketball team couldn't find its rhythm.

But the Trojans found it in the third quarter, leaving Mars as the runner-up in its own holiday tournament.

North Catholic outscored the Planets 36-20 in the final 16 minutes of play in a 48-30 win Thursday night.

Mars' boys won the tournament championship by destroying Sto-Rox, 78-53.

Mars and North Catholic both struggled to find the basket early on, as the Trojans held an 8-2 lead after the first quarter.

North Catholic entered the game averaging 63.5 points in its previous six games.

"They like to shoot a lot of jump shots," Mars coach Tony Howard said. "And I think we did a good job of getting to their shooters in the first half. We played hard defensively."

But the Planets were unable to take advantage of North Catholic's poor first half and trailed 12-10 at intermission.

"We talked at halftime to the girls," said North Catholic coach Bill Larkin. "The intensity level just wasn't there. We needed to pick it up."

For the first half of the third quarter, both offenses continued to struggle, with North Catholic leading 23-18 with 2:30 left in the period.

But the Trojans went on an 8-2 run in that span, led by Lauren Savalchak, who scored 11 points in the period and 19 in the game.

Ashley Bellovich drained a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining in the period for a 31-20 edge.

North Catholic (9-2), which is riding a seven-game winning streak, spent the fourth period protecting a double-digit lead.

Most of the Planets' possessions ended with only one shot.

"I thought we worked the ball well, and we got some good shots, but North Catholic is so big and strong and they did a nice job of boxing our girls out," said Howard.

Savalchak was chosen as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Lily Grenci, who led the Planets (5-6) with 10 points, was tapped for the All-Tournament Team with teammate Ellen Kenitz and North Catholic's Amy Longo, who contributed 11 points to the win.

Boys Basketball Mars 78, Sto-Rox 53

The Planets wasted no time getting ahead of the visiting Vikings.

Vinny Smith and Steve Cress, who combined for 46 points in Wednesday's win over Northgate, each scored eight points in the first quarter as Mars led 22-5 after one period and 46-17 at halftime.

"We saw (the Vikings') semifinal game Wednesday against South Park (a 77-65 win), and we knew that they are very athletic," said Mars coach Rob Carmody.

But Mars' inside game was too much for Sto-Rox.

Cress ended with 28 points, one shy of his season high, while Smith scored 12 points, all in the first half.

Ben Szilogy added 12 points for the Planets (7-5).

Cress was chosen the tournament MVP.

Smith, along with Sto-Rox's Andrew Carswell and Derrick Miles, made the All-Tournament Team.

BoysSTO-ROX 53Paul Jones 3 3-5 9, Brandon Austin 2 0-0 6, Lamar Washington 3 0-0 8, Andrew Carswell 3 1-4 7, Derrick Miles 4 1-2 11, Josh Buckley 2 1-1 5, Ray Black 2 1-1 5, Nico DiMichele 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 20 7-13 53.

MARS 78Ben Szilogy 4 2-2 12, Steve Cress 12 4-8 28, Vinny Smith 6 0-2 12, Chris Herold 2 0-0 5, Dave Petruska 3 0-0 8, Dante DeTillio 2 3-4 7, Christian Locher 1 0-0 3, Justin Stadelmyer 1 0-0 3, Brody Evanson 0 0-1 0, Alec Mahon 0 0-0 0, Brandon Stadelmyer 0 0-0 0, Luke Gruber 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 31 9-17 78.

Sto-Rox 5 12 18 18—53Mars 22 24 12 20—783-point goals: Sto-Rox 6 (Austin 2, Washington 2, Miles 2); Mars 7 (Szilogy 2, Petruska 2, Herold, Locher, J. Stadelmyer).

Wednesday: Pine-Richland at Mars

GirlsNORTH CATHOLIC 48Callie White 0 1-2 1, Amy Longo 4 3-6 11, Erika Cottie 2 0-0 5, Ashley Bellovich 2 4-4 9, Lauren Savalchak 7 5-6 19, Caitlin Jorden 1 1-2 3, Kelsey DiSanti 0 0-0 0, Erin DiSanti 0 0-0 0, Ivy Bestic 0 0-0 0, Jodi Cullen 0 0-0 0, Kendall Hoffmann 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 14-20 48.

MARS 30Lily Grenci 5 0-0 10, Elaine Hasek 2 0-0 4, Ellen Kenitz 2 0-0 4, Alexa Lee 1 0-0 2, Ally Demetriadis 2 0-0 5, Maureen Cress 1 0-0 3, Kelsey Pelles 0 2-2 2, Tori Gressang 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Ashley Lynch 0 0-0 0, Kehle Pelles 0 0-0 0, Rachel Pinkerton 0 0-0 0, Katie Demetriadis 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 13 2-2 30.

North Catholic 8 4 19 17—48Mars 2 8 10 10—303-point goals: North Catholic 2 (Cottie, Bellovich); Mars 2 (A. Demetriadis, Cress).

Wednesday: Pine-Richland at Mars