AMBRIDGE — Mars played a tremendous shutdown defense against South Fayette on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, that did not include the first six minutes and that would prove to be a hole from which the Planets' girls basketball team could not climb out.

The Lions, who scored the game's first eight points in the first four minutes alone, opened up a 14-4 lead with two minutes left in the frame and went on to post a 35-28 WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff win at Ambridge High School.

In those first four minutes, the Planets committed five turnovers and spent the rest of the evening trying to chip away at the deficit.

“I think when you play a team like that, you could see we were a little nervous,” Mars coach Tony Howard said. “We dug a bit of a hole against them and tried to fight back. It seemed worse than it was, but it only got up to 12, 14 points.”

The Lions (16-7) would build their biggest lead at 20-6 with 2:31 left before halftime — with nine of those points coming from Erika Ford.

“We wanted to see how they would handle our pressure defense,” Lions coach Matt Bacco said. “We like to press and pick our moments and do a half-court trap. I thought they were a little nervous on the offensive end.”

From there, Mars slowly worked itself back into the game.

A pair of free throws by Ali Goetz closed out the scoring at halftime, then, early in the third quarter, Teresa Dallatore's steal and layup made it 20-10.

Kristen Hardt answered with a 3-pointer to bump the lead back to 13 points.

Consecutive baskets by Jessica Bunner and a free throw by Dallatore pulled the Planets (11-12) to within eight points, 23-15, with 2:36 left in the frame.

Rachel Closky added a layup for South Fayette before Dallatore drained a 3-pointer with three seconds left to make it a seven-point contest.

Ford started the fourth quarter with a basket, but the Planets scored six of the next eight points — a 3-pointer by Randi Francis to start the spurt and it was capped by a lay-in by Bunner to make it 29-24 with 4:58 to play.

Mars, however, could pull no closer as Lauren Crites dropped in two free throws and Caitlin McLuckie added a 3-pointer on the ensuing possessions for a 10-point lead with 4:02 to play.

“We didn't give up,” Bacco said. “(Mars) had a big run on defense and we really struggled on the offensive end.”

“When I look back on the game later, I'll see some things I could have done to help the kids on the floor,” Howard said. “At times we had a couple of freshman girls on a couple of their senior girls who have experience.

“When I see the film, I'll see what we could have done to get some more offensive plays,” Howard added.

The Planets did limit Ford to a game-high 11 points, which provided some small consolation.

“She's their leading scorer and averaging 18 points a game,” Howard said. “We wanted to keep the game in the 40s and we kept them in the 30s.”

Mars received nine points from Bunner off the bench and eight from Dallatore.

Both teams had two freshmen starters (Mars' Goetz and Sarah Getsy; the Lions' Jordan Kilgus and Mindy Wells). When Bunner and Lauren Crites entered, both squads had three freshmen apiece on the floor.

“I think our younger players will take the experience from the game,” Howard said. “They'll see we competed in the second half. We were worried they might have been too fast, but we played at varsity speed.

“This hurts tonight, but they'll look back tomorrow and realize in the second half what they did. That's something they can take into next year.”

MARS 28Sarah Getsy 1 1-2 4, Teresa Dallatore 3 1-2 8, Ali Goetz 0 2-2 2, Alyssa Mathews 0 0-0 0, Randi Francis 2 0-2 5, Jessica Bunner 4 1-2 9, Brinsley Maughan-Evanson 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 10 5-10 28.

SOUTH FAYETTE 35Kristen Hardt 3 0-0 8, Caitlin McLuckie 1 1-3 4, Jordan Kilgus 2 0-0 4, Erika Ford 5 1-04 11, Mindy Wells 0 0-0 0, Rachel Closky 2 0-2 4, Lauren Crites 1 2-2 4.

Totals: 14 4-11 35.

Mars 4 4 10 10—28South Fayette 14 6 5 10—353-point goals: Mars 3 (Getsy, Dallatore, Francis); South Fayette 3 (Hardt 2, McLuckie)