ADAMS TWP — Sara Montgomery choked back tears.

The senior forward on the Knoch girls basketball team had never beaten Mars. Neither had Knights coach Curt Vasas in 11 tries heading into the season's final matchup with the Planets.

Knoch was 0-21 against the Planets since Mars returned to Class AAA in 1998-99.

That made the 50-42 win over Mars all the sweeter for Knoch Thursday night.

"It's just incredible," Montgomery said, her eyes red and watery, her teammates screaming loudly in the locker room behind her. "We have worked so hard. To beat them on their floor on their senior night just feels so good."

Montgomery played all 32 minutes, the final six with four fouls. The 6-foot forward has played much of the season with a bum right shoulder that requires offseason surgery.

"I just kept saying to myself, 'I am finishing this game, I am finishing this game,'" Montgomery said.

She did, playing smart on defense while scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Montgomery also made life miserable for Mars senior Lily Grenci — well, Montgomery and her other four teammates, that is.

Knoch's Lasso-a-Lily strategy worked. When Grenci got the ball inside, four — and sometimes five — Knights converged upon her.

Grenci, who is averaging 24 points and was coming off back-to-back 30-point efforts, was like a navy blue magnet.

"That's not new to us. That's everyone's game plan against us," said Mars coach Tony Howard. "You have to give them credit. They executed very well."

Knoch (13-7, 7-5) dared Mars to shoot from the outside and the Planets did, with poor results.

"I don't know how else you beat them," Vasas said. "Lily is a great player. I don't think there was a time she was alone and very few times she was guarded by just one person. We took our chances."

Grenci still finished with 23 points and nine rebounds, but Mars (17-4, 10-2) failed to make the Knights pay for their extreme strategy.

The Planets were 4-of-25 from 3-point range. In the first, second and fourth quarters, Mars was 1-of-20 from beyond the arc.

"We just didn't take advantage of the opportunities," Howard said.

Knoch jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first quarter, allowing the Knights to stay committed to their game plan.

Mars was able to chip away at the lead, cutting it to five at halftime and took a brief lead midway through the third quarter.

But Knoch wrested the advantage back with a 7-1 run and never trailed again.

Mars made one last push, aided by a technical foul on Montgomery when she slammed the basketball to the court after fouling Grenci.

Grenci made all four free throws to close the Knights' lead to 40-38 early in the fourth quarter.

"I just told my teammates, 'My bad,'" Montgomery said. "I didn't mean any harm by it."

Montgomery, though, helped to turn the tide back in Knoch's favor.

Two possessions and two baskets by Montgomery later, the lead was back to six.

"We went through some adversity," Vasas said. "After the technical, we could have folded."

Laura Gray made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Gray finished with 17 points and Haley Hutterer added 12 points on four 3-pointers for Knoch, which not only ended a long losing skid to Mars, but kept the Planets from a share of the section title.

Hampton's win over Highlands Thursday night gave the Talbots the section crown.

Mars finished second and Knoch third.

"The girls are disappointed," Howard said. "I'm disappointed. But we'll be able to deal with it. We'll move on to the next challenge we have."

KNOCH 50Hannah Novotny 2-5 0-0 4, Haley Hutterer 4-9 0-0 12, Gina Robb 2-5 1-8 5, Sara Montgomery 6-7 0-0 12, Laura Gray 3-13 9-12 17, Lindsay MacArthur 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-39 10-20 50

MARS 42Ally Demetriadis 1-8 0-0 3, Ashley Lynch 2-7 0-0 6, Lily Grenci 7-16 9-10 23, Elaine Hasek 0-3 0-0 0, Kehle Pelles 2-5 0-2 4, Maureen Cress 0-1 0-0 0, Alexa Lee 2-10 1-2 6, Carly Clark 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 14-52 10-14 42

Knoch 13 8 19 10—50Mars 5 11 18 8—423-point goals: Hutterer 4, Gray 2; Demetriadis, Lynch 2, Lee

Today: Freeport at Knoch

Monday: Mount Lebanon atMars