Mars teams fall hard in tournament losses

By SAM TALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

December 30, 2009 Last Updated: December 30, 2009 02:53 PM High School

Lizz Tumminello of Mars tries to score against North Catholic's Erin DiSanti Tuesday in the Planets' 52-35 loss.

ADAMS TWP — North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann expected to have her hands full against Mars Tuesday.

The Planets gave the Trojans all they could handle, but an 11-0 second-half run paved the way for North Catholic in a 53-43 girls basketball victory in the Mars Christmas Tournament championship game.

In the boys championship final, Hickory used a 15-3 run spanning the second and third quarters en route to a 52-35 victory over Mars.

North Catholic used a 13-3 spurt to open the second quarter to take a 23-16 edge before the Planets chipped away the first time.

A basket by Alexa Lee and a three-point play by Elaine Hasek made it a two-point game.

North Catholic's Tina Ferrari scored with 44.6 seconds left before Carly Clark buried a 3-pointer with three seconds left to pull Mars to within one point.

"I told the girls at halftime that might have been the best basketball in my short time here," said Mars coach Tony Howard. "It was fun to watch."

Kendall Hoffmann of North Catholic (6-2) opened the third quarter with a basket before another trey by Mars, this time by Lee, tied the game at 27 with 6:12 remaining in the period.

Mars, however, wouldn't score again until a 3-pointer by Clark with 5:54 left in the game.

"We got kind of out of character," Howard said. "We forced some shots. We tried to implement some new things in our offense. We had to play man-to-man at full speed. (Monday against Moon) we played zone."

"We knew they always have a good team and their losses have come against some good teams like Hampton (Pine-Richland and North Allegheny)," Rottmann said.

The Planets (3-5) made a final push when, trailing 49-35 with 1:16 remaining, Ashley Lynch scored and consecutive 3-pointers by Clark and Hasek made it a six-point game with 36 seconds remaining.

Rottmann reinserted her starters and Erin DiSanti and Lauren Woloski each sank a pair of free throws to ice the victory.

"The pressure will prepare us for what we'll see this year," Howard said. "I didn't know if we could play this well at this point, but we have. It's unbelievable. I'm real happy with the way we've played."

Notes: Mars finished with seven 3-pointers. ... Lee led the Planets with 14 points and Hasek added 12. The Trojans were paced by Lynzi Mueller's 14 and DiSanti's 12. ... Lynch, Hasek and Hoffman were named to the All-Tournament team. Mueller was the tournament MVP.

Hickory 52, Mars 35Elrico Jones proved to have the hot hand, scoring 10 of the Hornets' 15 points in turning a 12-all contest into a 27-15 lead with 5:48 left in the third quarter.Jones finished with a game-high 20 points while Garrett Trosch added 12 points, and Aaron Banas and Matt Durisko had 10 apiece."(Jones) is a good athlete. We're just trying to get more consistency," said Hickory coach Nick Cannone. "Obviously, when he plays like that, he makes the other guys play better.Mars coach Rob Carmody was pleased with his team's defensive play, but the offense left a little to be desired."They had 19 points at the half and we had 12," Carmody said. "Yes, they're a good team, but 12 points? That's way too low for the kind of shooters we have"A 3-pointer by Mars' Ian Hindley with 3:10 left before halftime knotted the game at 12, but the Hornets (6-2) reasserted themselves by closing out the half with seven consecutive points.Brad Weischedel's 3-pointer to open the second half trimmed the Planets' deficit to four, but a three-point play and a 3-pointer by Jones, followed by a Trosch bucket gave the Hornets a 12-point lead with 5:48 left in the third quarter.Mars (3-3) could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way."We had plenty of opportunities to get the ball in. We missed something like 15 layups," said Carmody. "We were very slow to move the ball and we were lackadaisical on defense."The Planets return to Section 1-AAA play next Tuesday at Deer Lakes.Notes: Hindley led Mars with 14 points while teammate Christian Locher added 11, all in the second half. ... Hindley, Weischedel and Jones made the all-tournament team while Durisko was named MVP.GirlsNORTH CATHOLIC 53Carah Johnson 0 1-2 1, Jodi Mueller 1 1-2 3, Kendall Hoffmann 4 1-5 9, Deann Ryan 0 2-2 2, Sarah Goetz 0 0-0 0, Lynzi Mueller 4 5-7 14, Becky Stark 0 0-0 0, Diana Sieber 0 0-0 0, Erin DiSanti 3 4-4 12, Tina Ferrari 1 2-3 4, Lauren Woloski 0 2-2 2, Emily Matschner 2 2-2 6. Totals: 15 20-29 53.MARS 43Ashley Lynch 2 1-4 6, Carly Clark 3 0-0 9, Meghan Kelly 1 0-0 2, Lizz Tumminello 0 0-0 0, Corinne Gressang 0 0-2 0, Elaine Hasek 3 6-8 12, Kelsey Pelles 0 0-3 0, Alexa Lee 5 2-2 14. Totals: 14 8-19 43.North Catholic 10 15 9 19—53Mars 10 14 3 16—433-point goals: North Catholic 3 (DiSanti 2, L. Mueller); Mars 7 (Clark 3, Lee 2, Lynch, Hasek.Monday: Franklin Regional at MarsBoysHICKORY 52Aaron Banas 3 3-4 9, Nick DiBartolomeo 0 0-0 0, Elrico Jones 7 4-5 20, Garrett Trosch 5 2-2 12, Matt Durisko 4 2-3 10, Alexander Kirsch 0 0-0 0, Matt Votino 0 0-0 0, Vince Mastrian 0 0-0 0, Jared Baugman 0 0-0 0, Justin Lenhart 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 11-14 52.MARS 35Brad Weischedel 1 3-4 6, Christian Locher 3 4-6 11, Mike Lindenbaugh 0 0-0 0, Luke Gruber 1 0-0 2, Ian Hindley 5 2-2 14, Tim Vandall 0 2-2 2, Mitch Buzzard 0 0-0 0, Ibn Hoffman 0 0-0 0, Jake Lee 0 0-0 0, Alex Locher 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 11-14 35.Hickory 7 12 21 12—52Mars 6 6 15 8—353-point goals: Hickory 3 (Jones 2, Banas); Mars 4 (Hindley 2, Weischedel, C. Locher).Tuesday: Mars at Deer Lakes