CRANBERRY TWP — Mars has its own version of the Fab Five.

And the Lady Planets were truly fabulous down the stretch Saturday, outscoring Ambridge 28-10 in the final 10 minutes for a 57-38 WPIAL Class AAA girls basketball quarterfinal win at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.

The win handed Mars (19-5) its 10th successive victory and its first berth in the WPIAL semifinals in 12 years.

“I'm not sure our girls believed in themselves early in this game,” Mars coach Dana Petruska said. “They need to have faith in themselves and in this system.

“As the game went on, I could feel their confidence growing.”

It showed on the scoreboard.

Ambridge (20-4), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday, built a lead to 22-15 as Chloe Rabold drained a trey with 4:22 left in the first half. The Bridgers were on an 11-2 run at that point.

Mars scored the final seven points of the half to draw even at halftime. Lauren Wasylson sank four free throws during that surge.

“We hit our free throws all day,” Wasylson said. “I don't think we win this game without them.”

The Planets were 14 of 19 at the foul line Saturday.

Mars put together a run of its own in the second half to seize control. Trailing 26-22 with 6:55 left in the third quarter, the Planets scored 16 of the game's next 18 points to take a 38-28 lead seconds into the final quarter.

The Bridgers pulled within 40-34 with 4:30 left, but Mars used a 13-0 run to put the game away from there. The Planets pulled away late despite never using a player off the bench all day.

“Those are my five and I'm going with them,” Petruska said. “We got in a little foul trouble, but those girls played very smart with those fouls.

“Two months ago, the (eventual foul outcome) would have been different. But they've matured.”

Freshman Tai Johnson led the Planets with 18 points. Wasylson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Nicole McCloud 10 points, eight boards and three assists.

Bri Buzard had eight points, four steals and three assists, Elise Sheehy five points and 10 rebounds. McCloud and Sheehy played much of the fourth quarter with four fouls each.

“We're trained to play hard and with full intensity,” Johnson said. “We're in shape for it. We just have to play smart.”

Wasylson said basketball is like “a running game for us and we know how to win that battle.

“Elise managing to stay on the floor was key for us late. We don't have many bigs and we needed her out there.”

Ambridge had nine of its 18 turnovers in the fourth quarter as Mars closed out the win with a burst of energy on the defensive end.

“Adrenaline just takes over,” Wasylson said.

Mars held a 42-39 rebounding edge and the Bridgers shot just 23 percent from the field, sinking 13-of-56 shots.

“We knew they'd be bigger than us and that rebounding might be a problem,” Ambridge coach Nikki Santiago said. “But we also knew we could drive to the basket and we would get open shots.

“Bottom line is, we didn't hit those shots. We had opportunities to put the ball in the basket and didn't do it.”

Abbey Antolic led Ambridge with 12 points and nine rebounds. Sydney Rabold scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three steals.

But Ambridge's top three scoring threats were a combined 11-of-43 from the field.

“Just a miserable shooting day,” Santiago said.

But a glorious day for the Planets.

“I'm proud of the way our girls fought. They showed a lot of resilience,” Petruska said.

MARS 57

Bri Buzard 3-7 1-2 8, Lauren Wasylson 5-15 6-8 16, Nicole McCloud 3-9 4-4 10, Tai Johnson 7-15 2-3 18, Elise Sheehy 2-6 1-2 5. Totals: 20-52 14-19 57.

AMBRIDGE 38

Sarah Fischer 2-16 1-2 5, Abbey Antolic 2-7 8-10 12, Megan Guthrie 0-3 1-2 1, Sydney Rabold 6-15 0-0 12, Cierra Flannigan 0-0 0-0 0, Chloe Rabold 3-12 0-2 8, Dasha Jackson 0-3 0-0 0 . Totals: 13-56 10-15 38.

Mars 13 9 14 21 — 57

Ambridge14 8 16 10 — 38

3-point goals: Buzard, Johnson 2; C.Rabold 2

Wednesday: WPIAL Class AAA semifinal-Mars vs. Trinity, 8 p.m., West Allegheny