ADAMS TWP — Was it great play by Mars or poor play by Highlands?

Probably a little of both.

Either way, the Planets' 17-0 run in the first quarter paved the way for the team's 51-36 Section 1-AAA girls basketball victory Thursday night.

The Rams received a conventional 3-point play from senior guard Sidney Grabigel to open the scoring.

The Planets took control after that, receiving eight points from Ashley Lynch and seven more from Alexa Lee by the end of the period.

Mars' dominance included forcing eight turnovers in the first eight minutes.

"We've gotten off to some slow starts this season, so we wanted to come out more aggressively on defense tonight," said Planets coach Tony Howard. "We wanted to match up and do some trapping and hope that it turned into some offense for us."

Though the Rams were outscored just 34-33 from the second quarter on, their first-period hole was simply too big to escape.

Trailing 27-14 at halftime, Highlands began the third quarter with a 9-2 run to pull within six points, but Lee drained a 3-pointer at 4:15 to push Mars' lead to nine points at 32-23.

By the end of the third period, Mars' edge was back to double digits at 36-25.

Lee led all scorers with 21 points and three 3-pointers, while Lynch added 15 points and a pair of trifectas.

The two players combined to make 13-of-14 free throws, as the Planets shot 20-of-22 as a team.

"Both of our guards are shooting the ball with so much confidence right now," Howard said of Lee and Lynch. "They've shown they can hit the 3 and they know when to take them."

The win moved the Planets (5-5, 3-1) into second place in the section, while the Rams, 6-4 overall, dropped to 2-1 against section foes.

"We've played well on defense all year, we just have to keep things going on offense," said Howard. "I like where we're at right now."

Grabigel led Highlands with 16 points and Vicki Crise added eight.

Highlands coach Meghan Ziemanski was unavailable for comment.

HIGHLANDS 36Shayna Panchik 2 0-0 5, Sidney Grabigel 6 2-4 16, Brittany Cook 2 0-0 4, Brittanie Cassoni 1 1-2 3, Vicki Crise 3 2-3 8, Taylor Becker 0 0-0 0, Nicki Greene 0 0-0 0, Carly Hines 0 0-0 0, Kaitlin Emmanuelson 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 14 5-9 36.

MARS 51Ashley Lynch 3 7-8 15, Meghan Kelly 3 0-0 6, Elaine Hasek 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Pelles 0 7-8 7, Alexa Lee 6 6-6 21, Carly Clark 0 0-0 0, Lizz Tumminello 0 0-0 0, Corinne Gressang 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 13 20-22 51.

Highlands 3 11 11 11—36Mars 17 10 9 15—513-point goals: Highlands 3 (Grabigel 2, Panchik); Mars 5 (Lee 3, Lynch 2).

Monday: Mars at Valley