ADAMS TWP — Having watched Mars open an 11-point lead late in the first half, Knoch coach Rob Greenleaf knew a couple of baskets before halftime could make a difference.

Those four points would kick-start a 24-6 run as the Knights grabbed a 44-40 Section 1-AAA girls basketball victory Monday.

"That's everyone's game: When you're down double digits to get it to single digits," Greenleaf said. "We gave up 27 in the first half and on a 54-point pace. It's about stopping them and we did a better job in the second half."

"Some of our shots would not go down, but we rushed a lot," said Mars coach Tony Howard. "We didn't run our offensive plays and started to press a little bit. That's what happens when things don't go in."

With Knoch trailing 27-20 at the break, Haley Hutterer and Taylor Tresatti opened the third quarter with 3-pointers.

When Emily Protzman sank two free throws with 5:18 left in the frame to cap the 12-0 run, the Knights enjoyed their first lead of the game at 28-27.

Mars' Alexa Lee sank a 3-pointer to retake the lead, but it proved to be the last for the Planets (7-6, 4-2).

A free throw by Protzman, a putback by Taylor Zonts and a basket by Hannah Novotny gave Knoch (4-7, 2-3) a three-point lead with 3:11 left in the third quarter.

The Planets later cut the deficit to one point, but Hutterer drained another trey, and Novotny and Hutterer added consecutive baskets to close a 6-1 spurt that gave the Knights a seven-point lead with 5:39 left in the game.

Knoch held a 43-37 lead with 27.2 seconds left before a 3-pointer by Ashley Lynch with 20 seconds left made it a one-possession game.

Zonts, however, sank one of two free throws with 10.5 seconds left that sealed the win.

"We understand our style is up and down the floor and there will be runs," Howard said. "We were resilient and came back at the start of the second half.

"Again, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I needed to do a better job to calm them down more and get them ready for what's ahead," Howard added.

Hasek and Pelles scored 12 and 10 points in the first half, respectively, but combined for only three in the last two quarters

The Section 1-AAA win was the second straight for the Knights, who face Franklin Regional Saturday to close out the first half of section play.

"I thought going into the season this section, from top to bottom, was tough," said Greenleaf. "Anyone could beat anyone on any given night. This win puts us right back in the hunt."

Notes: Hasek finished with 15 points, and Pelles and Lee added 10. Knoch received 10 apiece from Novotny and Hutterer and eight each from Protzman and Zonts. ... At one point, Mars scored just eight points during a 15:25 span.

KNOCH 44Emily Protzman 2 4-5 8, Hannah Novotny 4 2-2 10, Haley Hutterer 3 2-4 10, Samantha Logan 0 0-0 0, Taylor Zonts 3 2-4 8, Kate Miller 0 2-2 2, Taylor Tresatti 1 0-0 3, Julia Klinefelder 1 1-2 3.

Totals: 14 13-19 44.

MARS 40Ashley Lynch 1 1-2 4, Meghan Kelly 0 0-0 0, Elaine Hasek 6 3-4 15, Kelsey Pelles 4 2-2 10, Alexa Lee 4 1-2 10, Lizz Tumminello 0 0-0 0, Carly Clark 0 0-0 0, Corinne Gressang 0 1-2 1.

Totals: 15 8-12 40.

Knoch 9 11 13 11—44Mars 17 10 4 9—403-point goals: Knoch 3 (Hutterer 2, Tresatti); Mars 1 (Lee).

Today: Apollo-Ridge at Knoch

Thursday: Kittanning at Mars