No stopping Grenci
WEXFORD — At least Ambridge girls basketball coach Nikki Santiago can rest easy knowing her team did everything it could to stop Mars forward Lily Grenci.
It just didn't work.
The senior scored a game-high 30 points, including 22 in the second half, as the Planets prevailed 54-45 in a WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff at North Allegheny Tuesday.
She also had 13 rebounds.
"We used a box-and-one on her the whole night," said Santiago. "We had several players guard her during the course of the game, but some of them are inexperienced and weren't sure what to do in that type of defense.
"But (Grenci) showed us why she is a Division I athlete," she added.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Mars boys fell to Chartiers Valley 75-49.
The Planets girls will face the winner of tonight's contest between Knoch and West Mifflin at a time, date and site to be determined.
Grenci's three-point play gave Mars a 31-25 lead with 48 seconds left in the third quarter, but she picked up her fourth personal foul early in the fourth.
Mars coach Tony Howard left his top scorer in the game and it paid off. Grenci did not foul out and scored 10 points in the final period, including a bucket with 2:19 remaining that increased the Planets' lead to 45-41.
Elaine Hasek followed with a pair of field goals and Mars' advantage was bumped to 49-41 with 1:17 to play.
Mars had experienced turnover problems earlier in the game, but the Planets made the most of their possessions in the final minutes.
"We protected the ball well late in the game," said Howard. "You can't give away possessions in big games."
The first half of the game was a roller coaster.
Mars opened the action with a 10-2 run before watching the Bridgers score 17 of the final 22 points tallied in the first half, as the latter held a 19-15 lead at the break.
"We knew that if we just played our game, it would be within our reach in the end," said Grenci. "Coach is always talking about not getting too high or too low."
The Planets (18-5) got 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks out of senior Kehle Pelles.
Ambridge (15-9) was led by Erin Smith and Precious McCracken, who tallied 10 points each.
"Our girls deserve a lot of credit," said Howard. "We had over a week off since our last game and I wasn't sure how they would respond."
Boys Basketball Chartiers Valley 75, Mars 49The game was played at Mars' pace for two and a half quarters.The final 12 minutes were a different story.The Planets were tied with WPIAL Class AAA No. 1 seed Chartiers Valley 34-all with 3:30 remaining in the third period of their quarterfinal playoff.The Colts (23-0) managed a 41-15 run the rest of the way to stay unbeaten and keep their hopes of a district title alive."We like to run and I think Mars did a good job of taking us out of our game in the first half," said Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell. "But once we get going, it's tough to keep up with us."The Colts drained 14 3-pointers in the game, seven in each half. But the Planets held CV to 29 points in the first two quarters before giving up 46 in the second half.The difference was turnovers, with Mars committing 14 in the final 16 minutes of play."If they could just shoot 3-pointers, we could defend that," said Mars coach Rob Carmody of the Colts. "But what kills you is when they turn steals into layups or kick it out for a wide open 3."Mars (16-8) received a boost when sophomore guard Christian Locher drained a 3-pointer of his own just before halftime, cutting the Planets' deficit to 29-26.Locher added another trifecta early in the third period, and when Vinny Smith hit a basket with 5:13 left in the quarter, Mars led 31-29.But CV's determination to play its style of basketball turned the tide.Still, it was a memorable season for Mars."I can't do anything but be proud of our guys," said Carmody. "We went up against a very difficult opponent and gave it our best shot."Smith scored 20 points for the Planets, who received 18 points from Locher and 10 from Dante DeTillio.The Colts were led by T.J. McConnell's 23 points.<B>GirlsMARS 54Ally Demetriadis 0 2-2 2, Ashley Lynch 0 1-2 1, Lily Grenci 11 8-11 30, Elaine Hasek 2 0-0 4, Kehle Pelles 4 3-4 11, Alexa Lee 2 0-2 6, Maureen Cress 0 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 19 14-21 54.<B>AMBRIDGE 45Lexi Fontana 3 0-0 7, Precious McCracken 4 0-0 10, Samantha Santiago 3 0-0 8, Kayla Haslett 2 0-2 4, Erin Smith 4 2-2 10, Amber Borkowski 3 0-0 6, Courtney Parisi 0 0-2 0, Rachel Dieter 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 19 2-6 45.<B>Mars 10 5 18 21—54Ambridge 9 10 9 17—453-point goals:</B> Mars 2 (Lee 2); Ambridge 5 (McCracken 2, Santiago 2, Fontana).<B>Next:</B> Mars vs. West Mifflin-Knoch winner, WPIAL Class AAA Quarterfinals, TBA<B>BoysMARS 49Christian Locher 7 0-0 18, Chris Herold 0 1-2 1, Dante DeTillio 4 2-3 10, Vinny Smith 9 0-0 20, Luke Gruber 0 0-1 0, Brad Weischedel 0 0-0 0, Alec Mahon 0 0-0 0, Tim Vandall 0 0-0 0, Ian Hindley 0 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 20 3-6 49.<B>CHARTIERS VALLEY 75Matt Noszka 7 1-2 20, T.J. McConnell 8 4-4 23, Eli Maravich 5 0-2 13, Teagan Lindsey 4 0-0 9, Wayne Capers 2 0-0 5, Steve Burda 2 0-0 5, Ryan Landy 0 0-1 0, Kory Witmer 0 0-0 0, Anthony Cerosimo 0 0-0 0, Jeff Wodnicki 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 28 5-9 75.<B>Mars 13 13 11 12—49Chartiers Valley 15 14 23 23—753-point goals:</B> Mars 6 (Locher 4, Smith 2); Chartiers Valley 14 (Noszka 5, McConnell 3, Maravich 3, Lindsey, Capers, Burda).
