ADAMS TWP — Take the ball inside against Mars’ defense, and one discovers something rather quickly.

The Planets have a no-shot zone in there.

Mars blocked nearly 20 shots Monday night in posting a 41-17 non-section girls basketball victory over neighboring rival Knoch.

“It looked like they were gonna set some kind of record there, they were blocking so many,” Knoch coach Shane McGraw said.

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Mya Moore and Cecilia Christy, a pair of 6-foot senior forwards, usually handle the defensive end inside for the Planets. Both swatted away their share of shots Monday.

But they had plenty of help.

“Everybody was joining the party tonight,” Mars coach Zach Stitt said of the blocked shots.

Senior guard Alexis Cashdollar led Mars with 14 points and enjoyed taking part in the defensive effort, as well. Besides blocking a couple of shots, she tallied five steals, four rebounds and three assists.

“Mya and Ceci get the blocks for us all the time,” Cashdollar said. “It was fun being able to join in on that. We were all getting into it.”

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When freshman Karmella Vigliotti canned a 3-pointer with six minutes left in the first half, Mars (2-2) had a 19-2 lead. Her layup with two minutes left in the game gave the Planets their biggest lead at 41-15.

Christy contributed nine points, three rebounds and two steals to the Mars cause.

Cashdollar produced her numbers in limited minutes as Stitt substituted players in often. He took all of his front-line players off the floor midway through the fourth quarter.

“Cash contributes to this team in so many ways,” Stitt said. “She led us in pretty much every statistical category last season — points, rebounds, steals, assists. We count on her to do a lot.”

Cashdollar and Christy are the only two starters back from the Planet team that reached the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals and the PIAA tournament last year.

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“Our goal is to get back there again,” Cashdollar said of the WPIAL semifinals. “I’m definitely trying to be more of a leader this year. I want to bring energy to the floor and to my teammates.”

Neah Ewing led Knoch (0-6) with eight points, five rebounds and three steals. The Knights sank just six of 40 shots from the floor as Mars’ guards came out and contested Knoch’s 3-point shooters.

“It was hard for us to get much going offensively,” McGraw said.

The Knights did enjoy a 34-17 rebounding edge. Aubrey Spencer, Jada Burgard and Jocelyn Szebalskie had five rebounds each.

“I’m happy to see that,” McGraw said of the rebounding edge. “The girls are out there working hard, playing tough. Now we need to get ready for our section opener against Burrell next week.”

“Knoch’s M.O. is playing hard, scrappy defense,” Stitt said. “We talked about that before the game. I thought they may come out here and out-hustle us on the boards, and they did. That’s something we have to work on.”

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KNOCH 17

Jada Burgard 0-4 0-0 0, Savanna Hawk 1-3 0-0 2, Liv Foster 0-7 0-0 0, Neah Ewing 3-15 0-0 8, Aubrey Spencer 0-1 0-0 0, Sadie McGraw 1-6 0-0 3, Olivia Hawk 1-1 2-4 4, Jocelyn Szebalskie 0-2 0-0 0, Navee Ewing 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 6-40 2-4 17.

MARS 41

London Ayers 0-1 0-0 0, Vivian Black 1-1 0-0 2, Alexis Cashdollar 6-13 1-2 14, Alayna Day 1-3 0-0 3, Emma Bloom 1-2 0-0 2, Mya Moore 3-3 0-0 6, Hayden Vavala 0-1 0-0 0, Karmella Vigliotti 2-3 0-0 5, Cecelia Christy 3-4 3-5 9. Totals: 17-31 4-7 41.

Knoch 2 5 3 6 — 17

Mars 14 9 11 7 — 41

3-point goals: Knoch 3 (Ne.Ewing 2, McGraw), Mars 3 (Cashdollar, Day, Vigliotti)

Thursday: Mars at South Fayette

Monday: Burrell at Knoch