Among friends
This is the second in a series of articles profiling the 2014 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame ADAMS TWP — When it came to high school basketball postseason play, there was no margin for error years ago.The 1976-77 Mars girls didn’t need any.The Lady Planets finished 27-1 that season, losing only to Carbondale, 62-42, in the PIAA Class AA championship game. They won the Section 15 and WPIAL titles along the way.“Back then, you had to win your section to even get to the playoffs and once you lost a game, you were done,” Mars assistant coach Marcia Semple said.The Planets’ achievement that season has earned the team induction into the Butler County Sport Hall of Fame. The squad will accept that induction during the HOF’s annual banquet April 26 at the Butler Days Inn.Mars will become the fourth team to be enshrined, joining the 1950 Butler football team, 2000 Karns City girls basketball team and 1995 Seneca Valley baseball squad.“These girls deserve this,” their head coach, Carol DeVenzio, said. “Girls sports were just starting to grow back then, shortly after Title IX, and they were excited about playing.“Their families were supportive and we were together for a long time, from Nov. 1 through March 28. We grew into a family and that bond is still very much there today.”The top six players on that team — all of whom started at various points of the season — were guards Kathy “Pebbles” Lisman Wood, Carolyn Shott and Kathy Doman, center Leda Best, Leslie Aiken Brooks and Linda Trump McLaughlin.Best and McLaughlin were co-captains of the team.“Speed was our big thing,” Best said. “We would grab a rebound and not even look down court — we would just throw the ball down there.“Pebbles and Carolyn Schott were so fast. We knew they’d already be down the floor waiting for the pass. Our fast break helped us win a lot of games.”Coming off the bench were Joyce Adams Simpson, Kathy Kier Maitland and Leslie Bannerot Leopold.Junior varsity games were canceled that season due to the energy crisis. Semple referred to the JV players on that team — Susie Starr, Nancy Molnar Raymond, Val Danner, Kim Burford Geyer and Lisa O’Connor Denham — as the Fabulous Five.“They didn’t get any playing time that year, but they kept the varsity on their toes in practice every day,” Semple said. “They were dedicated to that team.”When the Planets did practice in the high school gym, it was at 8 a.m., before the heat came on. Often times, they practiced in a gym across the street that had a low ceiling, or at the Richland Youth Center with the heat turned off.“You couldn’t arc a shot in the place across the street or it would hit the ceiling,” DeVenzio said. “Some of our girls practiced in gloves, it was so cold inside those buildings.”“Sweatshirts and gloves,” point guard Lisman Wood recalled, laughing. “But we loved to play the game. And our parents were nothing but supportive.”The tallest player on the Mars team was 5-foot-7. The Planets faced Brentwood — a team with three players taller than 6-foot — in the WPIAL title game and won, 44-42.“We knew the basic stuff. We boxed out and beat teams bigger than we were,” Lisman Wood said.At Turtle Creek, the Planets trailed by 15 at halftime and came back to win the game.“Our coaches were always so positive. There was no yelling or screaming,” Lisman Wood said. “They believed in us and cared about us as people. And we believed in ourselves.“We were all such good friends off the court. On the court, we knew each other’s every move and that helped us win games.”The team’s grade point average was 3.8. Players on that squad went on to become nurses, doctors, teachers, CPA’s, etc.“Everyone went on to be successful,” Semple said. “That was a special, special group of girls.”“I believe every girl on that team went to college,” Lisman Wood said. “That was unheard of in those days.”Tickets for the Hall of Fame banquet are available at www.bcshof.com, any Hall of Fame director, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Bill’s Beer Barn, Snack n’ Pack, Parker Appliance in Chicora, Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople or Saxonburg Drug
